01Why first sales are hard
A new store has no traffic, no reviews and no reputation. Store owners on Hacker News describe the first sale as genuinely difficult and marketing as the hardest part of running a store, more than the technical setup. The good news is that the first ten sales do not need scale; they need effort pointed at the right few people.
02Ten ways to get the first sale
- 1Message people individuallyFriends, former colleagues, community members who fit the customer profile. Personal notes, not a group post.
- 2Post where customers already areNiche forums, groups and communities, contributing first and sharing when relevant.
- 3List on a marketplaceEtsy or similar for built-in shoppers while your store grows; Etsy vs Shopify compares them.
- 4Show the making or the storyShort videos of how the product is made or chosen travel well on social media.
- 5Partner with a small creatorSend products to creators with engaged niche audiences rather than paying large ones.
- 6Launch offerA limited first-customer discount or bonus gives people a reason to act now.
- 7Local channelsMarkets, pop-ups and local shops for physical products.
- 8Answer questions onlineHelpful answers in communities and on your own blog build trust over time.
- 9Email anyone who showed interestCollect emails from day one, even before launch, with a simple landing page.
- 10Ask for referralsEvery early buyer knows someone similar.
03Make the store ready to convert
Traffic is wasted if the store does not earn trust. Use real product photos from several angles, state the price including shipping, show delivery times and returns, and make it obvious who is behind the store. How to reduce cart abandonment covers the checkout side; extra costs revealed late are the top reason ready buyers quit, per Baymard Institute.
- Real photos, including the product in use.
- Price, shipping and delivery date visible on the product page.
- A short about section with a real person behind the store.
- Returns policy and contact details linked from every page.
04When to start paid ads
Ads amplify what already works. Start once you know your margin per order, which products sell, and which message people respond to, all of which the first organic sales teach you. Then start small, track cost per sale against margin and stop anything that loses money. How much does it cost to start an online store? helps you work out what you can afford to pay for a customer.
05After the first sale
Thank the customer personally, ask for a review and a photo, and follow up to see how they like it. Early customers often become the best source of feedback and referrals. Note where each sale came from, and double down on the channel that produced it. How to start an online store covers the steps that come before and after.
What people who tried it say
Sellers on Hacker News and Indie Hackers agree that the first sales come from direct effort, not discovery: personal outreach, communities and marketplaces, with marketing described as harder than building the store.
- I run an ecommerce store from Shopify which fulfills orders by drop-shippingHacker News
The store owner says getting the first sale is seriously hard and that marketing, content and advertising are the hardest parts of running a store.
- First info product saleIndie Hackers
A founder celebrates a first sale, and replies share what drove their own first customers, mostly personal networks and communities.
Looking for more first-hand opinions? Search Reddit for “how to get your first sale online”. We link the live threads rather than summarizing them, so you read them in full.
Our take
the first ten sales are a sales job, not a marketing job. Talk to people one at a time; it does not scale, and it does not need to yet.
Where this falls short
What works depends heavily on the product and audience; a niche hobby product and a B2B tool need very different first steps. The examples here are illustrative, not data.
A store homepage that looks established helps early sales from strangers. Orlume designs one from a description of your product and story, and publishes it in one click.
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Sources
- 1.Cart abandonment rate statistics · Baymard Institute
- 2.Quarterly retail e-commerce sales · US Census Bureau
Researched and written by the Orlume team · Updated October 2026
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