How To Sell CBD Online & Find The Best Platform

We like that Square’s CBD program allows you to sell most CBD products online and in person without restrictions outside of federal laws. The transparent pricing structure is a refreshing take on CBD payment processing, especially for small businesses that need to carefully monitor their spending.

Plus, Square’s POS and eCommerce store builder integrations give you the freedom to sell any way you want, whether that’s in person at a pop-up stand or store, one-off online transactions, or recurring subscriptions.

• Free: $0/month
• Plus: $29/month, billed annually
• Premium: $79/month, billed annually

Square Online’s best features include its easy-to-use online store builder, in-person POS (point of sale) software integration, and omnichannel marketing tools.

The online store builder allows you to sell individual CBD items, CBD kits/bundles, subscriptions, tickets to events, subscriptions, set up private shopping appointments, accept product requests, sell gift cards, and more. You can use abandoned cart recovery tools to guide people back toward your website to complete their purchases.

With Square’s in-person POS integration, you can sell online for in-store pickup, local delivery, or shipping. You can also accept returns and exchanges in-store. Plus, Square’s mobile POS app allows you to sell on-location at events or pop-up shops.

Unfortunately, Square does not support dropshipping at this time.

Square POS on iPad, Square Register, and Square contactless card reader.

You can supplement your online CBD sales by attending trade shows, events, or opening your own physical storefront with the help of Square POS hardware.

Square POS card readers range from the $49 Square contactless card reader to the $799 Square Register.

Here are Square’s payment processing costs:

• 3.5% + $0.10 per transaction for in-person (card-present) transactions
• 3.8% + $0.30 per transaction for online and in-app transactions
• 4.4% + $0.15 per transaction for keyed-in and card-on-file transactions

There are no long-term commitments or monthly subscription fees required to start selling CBD online with Square.

If Square finds out that you are violating or potentially violating any CBD-related laws, the company may freeze or terminate your account at its sole discretion.

We love that BigCommerce offers an affordable way to create a holistic eCommerce solution for businesses looking to scale on a national and/or international level. All BigCommerce storefronts come with multiple currency options, several real-time shipping tools, and a number of payment processors to help a CBD business of any size operating in any location get the best payment processor rates (and the company doesn’t charge any transaction fees for using a third-party payment processor.)

With BigCommerce, you also get an entire suite of resources specifically made for CBD sellers and has partnered with several CBD-friendly shipping services to help you get a legally-compliant, fully-functional CBD store up quickly.

• Standard: $39/month ($29/month with annual billing); $30/month/additional storefront
• Plus: $105/month ($79/month with annual billing); $50/month/additional storefront
• Pro: $399/month ($299/month with annual billing); $100/month/additional storefront
• Enterprise: Ask for pricing; $100/month/additional storefront

BigCommerce is one of the first eCommerce platforms that started offering CBD-specific eCommerce services and features in addition to their standard plans. These features include:

• Integrations with POS systems from CBD-friendly payment processors like Square
• Integrations with payment processors like Bankful to provide multicurrency payment processing services
• Partnerships with hemp-friendly shipping carriers and product fulfillment services
• Age verification add-on

BigCommerce’s best international sales features include the ability to create storefronts in multiple languages, set shipping zones and rules based on region with real-time shipping tracking, and multicurrency settings on every BigCommerce store plan.

You can also create multiple storefronts if you’d like to sell multiple distinct brands of CBD.

The platform is also great for large-scale stores because of the beautiful theme templates designed specifically for large store catalogs and B2B sales functions like price lists, adding products by category so B2B customers can quickly buy in bulk, and the ability to communicate well with customers on everything from custom product label creation to requesting a sample line. You can create custom pricing tiers and hide pricing altogether so that customers will contact you about custom CBD orders.

BigCommerce does not have its own POS system. The company has partnered with several payment processors, including Square and Bankful, that offer both hardware and payment processing services.

BigCommerce cannot currently process payments, but the company has partnered with payment processors like USAePay and Bankful to provide payment processing services.

BigCommerce requires store owners to follow federal and local CBD sales guidelines.

We like that Shopify is a highly versatile eCommerce platform that will meet the needs of online CBD businesses, no matter how large or small. There are excellent inventory listing, management, and shipping functions built into all Shopify merchant dashboards. The company’s POS solution is also an affordable and flexible solution for store owners who want to sell online and in person.

Note: Shopify offers a three-day free trial; no credit card is required.

You can build an online store for selling CBD on the following plans:

• Shopify Basic: $39/month ($29/month with annual billing)
• Shopify: $105/month ($79/month with annual billing)
• Shopify Advanced: $399/month ($299/month with annual billing)
• Shopify Plus: Ask for pricing

Every Shopify plan includes the free Shopify POS Lite app, which gives CBD sellers a way to sell in person and on the go. However, most of the best in-person sales features, such as staff permissions and purchase ordering, come with the $89/month Shopify POS Pro add-on.

Note: Some Shopify apps from the company’s app market will cost an extra monthly fee.

Shopify’s best features are its beautiful store builder, comprehensive Shopify Shipping suite, omnichannel sales capabilities, and the Shopify app store.

If you’re looking to create a completely polished, branded website with minimal effort, you can choose from hundreds of free and paid Shopify themes to work with, all of which look great on mobile devices and work well with Shopify add-on apps. You can add wish lists, pre-orders, and gifting options to your site.

Shopify Shipping allows you to create different shipping zones with preferred CBD-friendly shippers (and shipping discounts), start dropshipping CBD products, show real-time shipping rates at checkout, and offer tracking numbers for your customers. Shopify will also generate shipping labels for you, which can be connected to a label printer or printed from any computer.

With Shopify’s omnichannel business tools, you can (depending on your plan level):

• Sell online for in-store pickup or delivery
• Accept exchanges and returns in-person or online (with a customer self-serve return portal for online returns)
• Sync your social media channels for marketing purposes (since you can’t currently sell CBD directly on social media platforms)
• Sync your inventory so you can track your stock in real-time
• Sell gift cards for use online or in-store

The Shopify app market offers 8,000+ apps (some may not be available for CBD sellers) for things like email marketing software, social media integrations, and accounting software. You can also install apps for CBD subscription sales to build recurring income and try-before-you-buy options to lower the barrier to entry for new customers and convert them to returning ones.

You cannot use any POS hardware that requires Shopify Payments, as CBD sellers do not qualify for this service. You also need to use an external card reader from your chosen third-party payment processor.

Read our full Shopify hardware post for more information on purchasing Shopify POS hardware such as iPad stands and barcode scanners for your business.

Shopify will not process CBD sales. The company has partnered with DigiPay and Bankful to fulfill your payment processing needs.

You must review and submit an Attestation for the Sale of Hemp and Hemp-Derived Products to Shopify, which is only available for merchants in the US. This attestation confirms that you understand Shopify’s requirements for selling CBD online, which includes following all FDA, state, and local laws concerning the sale of CBD products in the US.

We appreciate that Shift4Shop offers a free fully-featured enterprise-level plan for CBD sellers, as long as you meet certain payment processor requirements. The provider offers excellent shipping capabilities, customer account management features, and unique inventory management functions, plus CBD-specific online store themes and an optimized one-page checkout capability.

Shift4Shop has also developed a B2B-specific sales solution, complete with modules for taking phone orders, managing customer/sales rep relationships, and providing B2B customer portals.

Note: Make sure to compare Shift4Shop payment processor rates with ones from eCommerce platforms such as BigCommerce. If you end up paying more in payment processing fees with Shift4Shop, then the free software plan isn’t really worth it.

Like Square, Shift4Shop offers a completely free plan, but requires you to use Shift4 Payments, the company’s in-house payment processor. However, unlike Square, Shift4Shop requires you to process at least $500 per month with Shift4 Payments to qualify for the free plan.

Shift4Shop provides an excellent B2B/wholesale solution that includes:

• Phone order quotes and sales representative/customer relationship management modules
• Restricted catalog access for registered users
• Bulk and tiered pricing, with minimum order requirements
• Kits and bundling, which you can also use to send free CBD samples
• Saved card on file and store credit so your B2B customers can easily order on a recurring basis
• Return module that allows customers to start returns and exchanges on their own

You can sell B2B and B2C with Shift4Shop, with both customer segments benefitting from the platform’s optimized one-page checkout. One-page checkout reduces the amount of time and work customers have to purchase your CBD products, which makes them more likely to complete a purchase. If they don’t complete their purchase at the time, their cart will be saved for when they venture back to your site.

Plus, if your business wants to start a CBD affiliate program, that is definitely an option.

Shift4Shop has its own POS system, Harbortouch, offered for free to merchants who use Shift4 Payments.

Shift4Shop will process CBD sales through the company’s in-house payment processor, Shift4 Payments. The only other payment processor option is PayPal, but PayPal prohibits CBD sales, so Shift4 Payments is your only option for selling CBD online.

Shift4Shop requires you to post all product descriptions, ingredients, and labels to be reviewed and approved for sale. You must also sign a CBD compliance statement form, provide a copy of your hemp handler license or licensing information, certify your products through a third-party laboratory, and get all state-related CBD sales licenses/registrations.

You must also enable Shift4Shop’s age verification tool.

We believe that WooCommerce is hands-down the most flexible, customizable online store builder on the market right now. There are thousands of developers building WooCommerce-specific plugins, as well as WordPress plugins, which will also work for WooCommerce stores.

Do keep in mind that with great flexibility comes the potential for extra work to get your store up and running.

WooCommerce is a free plugin for WordPress users, which means you have to pay for site hosting and security. You may also need to purchase WooCommerce extensions if you want to offer subscriptions, one-page checkout, etc. Extensions can cost between $0 and $300.

To spend your money effectively, only pay for plugins you really need. You can also do some research to find which free plugins work best for WooCommerce stores.

WooCommerce is a store builder plugin for sites built with WordPress. The core plugin is free, but there are thousands of plugins available to give your store just about any feature you want, including:

• Highly customizable online store templates
• Custom code injection
• Optimized one-page checkout
• Subscription sign up
• WooCommerce shipping suite and dropshipping
• Age verification (free plugin)
• Social media and email marketing integrations
• Discounts, coupons, gift cards, loyalty programs

WooCommerce does not offer dedicated hardware. You can use free and paid POS plugins for in-person shopping that only require a tablet, desktop, or mobile device.

You will probably need to acquire an external card reader from the third-party payment processor you decide to use.

WooCommerce has specifically partnered with Square to process online CBD sales.

There are other third-party payment processors you can integrate with WooCommerce if you don’t want to use Square.

WordPress will not host CBD sites. Many other hosting providers, including WooCart, a WooCommerce-optimized web hosting provider, will host CBD stores. Do your research before you sign up for (or transfer) your website host.

We like that Wix allows merchants to sell subscriptions for free on all eCommerce plans. Customers can also create accounts so they can check out faster in the future.

The eCommerce platform’s free and low-cost email marketing and social media posting functionalities are also very appealing for small business owners who don’t have the time or budget for more focused marketing efforts.

• Business Basic: $27/month
• Business Unlimited: $32/month
• Business VIP: $59/month

Wix’s eCommerce plans are not as comprehensive as some of the other competitors on this list, but they have many features that are appealing to smaller sellers, such as:

• Pricing plans, recurring billing, and subscriptions included in every Wix Business plan
• Customer account creation, including saved payment methods, shipping information, etc.
• Abandoned cart recovery included in every Wix Business plan
• Automated sales tax (starting at Business Unlimited plan, with monthly sales transaction limits)
• Dropshipping functionalities (starting on Business Unlimited plan, with monthly product shipping limits)
• Loyalty program (starting at Business VIP plan)

Also, like Shopify, Wix offers CBD sellers access to the Wix App Market, which offers 250+ free and paid apps to help you improve your online store’s look and the functionalities of your business.

You cannot use Wix POS products for CBD sales. You will need to integrate your Wix store with a third-party POS hardware provider.

Wix has partnered with Square, Pinwheel, and Evergreen Payments Northwest so you can process online CBD sales.

Your business must be managed from a state where Wix supports the sale of CBD products. You must submit a Declaration for Selling CBD Products and adjust your shipping regions to ship only to US states that allow CBD sales.

It’s also very difficult to migrate a Wix site to another eCommerce platform. Consider your long-term needs before signing up for a Wix Business account.