Questions about selling beef, eggs and honey online
Straight answers for ranches, farms and market sellers: what it costs, how buyers pay, pickup and shipping, your own web address, and moving over from another platform.
Getting started
Do I need to be technical?
No. A quick setup of six short steps walks you through it and saves as you go, and everything works on a phone.
I sell eggs, vegetables or honey, not meat. Is it for me?
Yes. Anything with a set price works: by the dozen, the bunch, the jar or the each. The meat parts (shares, cuts, package labels) stay out of your way until you turn them on. Honey sells by the jar or case, each batch with its packed date and lot. It sells for pickup on any plan and ships from Starter ($29); check your state's food-sale rules.
What happens after the 14 days?
Nothing is charged. Your store moves to the Free plan and keeps working; pick a paid plan whenever you want more. Prices are on the pricing page.
Selling, payments and pickup
How do customers pay?
PayPal, Zelle, Venmo, cash or check at pickup. Card payments with your own Stripe or Square account are coming soon. We never take a cut.
Can buyers order ahead for the farmers market?
Yes. Add the market as a pickup place with its day and hours. Buyers pick it, pay ahead, and you get the list of who is coming.
Can I ship?
Yes, from the Starter plan ($29) and up, for things that travel without ice, like honey or jerky. You choose what can ship, a flat fee and the states. Meat that needs to stay frozen stays pickup only.
What about labels and weights?
Every package in your inventory carries a label number and a weight, whether the list comes from your processor or from you. Rules differ by state and by product, so check yours; the store keeps the information in one place.
Your website and getting found
Can I use my own web address?
Starter and up: yes. Small: yes, when paid yearly. Free uses the free address every store gets. You can also try your own address during the free trial. It is one address, like www.yourranch.com (it covers yourranch.com too). Ranch Pro includes a second, for a separate livestock site. The app walks you through it step by step.
Can you match my current website?
Yes. If you already love your site, or paid a designer for it, we can match its look for your store as custom work, for a fee. Tell us about it and we will reply with what it takes.
Will buyers find my store?
Your store is set up for Google from day one, and Grow writes your posts each week. Stores on a paid plan are also listed in our farm directory, where buyers look for beef, eggs and honey by state and town. You can turn the listing off any time.
Do you help with marketing?
Yes, and it is included. Every week your store writes posts from what is true right now (market day, what is fresh, harvest dates, reviews) for you to copy and post. Short lessons cover Google Maps, photos, posting and email, and a checklist walks you through getting found on Google.
Switching and your data
Why not just use Shopify or Square?
For jerky and honey shipped in a box, they are fine. A half beef is not a cart item: it needs a deposit, a harvest date, a hanging-weight invoice, a cut sheet and a pickup day, and a farmers-market pre-order needs the market as a place with its hours. Those are the parts we build. The honest comparison, dated.
Why not Barn2Door?
Barn2Door is a good, full system. It also costs $399 to $599 to set up and $119 to $299 a month (less when paid yearly), with a fixed card rate of 2.9% + 30¢ on every sale. Their pricing page also mentions merchant support fees without publishing a rate. We have no setup fee, start free, and never take a cut. What they do well and where we differ, every number dated.
I already sell on another platform. Is switching hard?
No. Export your customers and products from Barn2Door, Shopify, Square or Local Line, or use a spreadsheet, and import them here; you check a preview before anything is added. What you build here stays yours: download everything as a spreadsheet any time. Want help? Tell us about it.
Who owns my data?
You do. Your customers, orders and invoices are yours. Download all of it as a spreadsheet any time from Settings, and export your paid invoices for QuickBooks Desktop for your bookkeeping.
Still wondering about something? Tell us about it.