If You Started a Stall and Stopped, This Is for You

There's a pattern I see in our numbers that I think about a lot. Someone downloads SideStall, registers, hits “create stall”, and then stops. The stall sits there: no name, no products, invisible to everyone. They got right up to the edge of something and life got in the way.

If that's you, this post is for you, and I promise it's short.

You're one step away, and it's usually the same step

Almost every unfinished stall is missing one of three things:

• A name. Don't overthink it. “Kate's Eggs” has sold a lot of eggs in this country. One thing worth knowing: the name and handle are permanent once set, so pick something simple you're happy to keep.
• A first product. One product, one photo taken on your phone in daylight, one price. You don't need a full catalogue to open. Most stalls start with a single thing done well.
• Flipping it open. There's a switch that says whether your stall is open or closed. Until it's open, nobody can find you. It's one tap, and it's the one that puts you on the map.

What happens when you finish

Your stall appears on the map, and locals can genuinely find it within days. It costs nothing to set up, and there's no monthly fee to take payments on any plan. We take a small service fee plus card processing only when a buyer actually pays you, and a cancelled or refunded order costs you nothing.

And if you're stuck

If something confused you, that's useful for me to know, because it means it's confusing other people too. Email me at hello@sidestall.au and tell me where you got stuck. I read every reply, and I'll walk you through the last step myself.

Open the app. Finish the stall. I'll see it when it goes live, and that's not a figure of speech; we're small enough that I really do.

Santo Arabia is the founder of SideStall.