E-Commerce Setup Guide
Everything you need to accept payments and ship products from your AI-built store.
Plan note: E-commerce and real estate templates require a Basic ($49/mo) or Pro ($79/mo) plan.
See pricing →
💳 PayPal Payments Required for payments
Accept credit cards, debit cards, and PayPal payments. Money goes directly to your PayPal account — we never process or hold your funds.
What you need:
- PayPal Client ID — public key that loads the payment button
- PayPal Email — the email on your PayPal account that receives money
Step-by-step:
- Go to developer.paypal.com/dashboard/applications
- Log in with your PayPal business or personal account. If you don't have one, create a free PayPal account first.
- Click "Create App" in the top right
- Enter any app name (e.g. "My Online Store") and select "Merchant" as the type
- Click "Create App"
- You'll see your Client ID — it starts with A and is about 80 characters long. Copy it.
- Paste the Client ID into the "PayPal Client ID" field when building your store
- Enter the email address associated with your PayPal account in the "PayPal Email" field
Test first! Use Sandbox mode in PayPal Developer to test payments with fake money before going live. Switch to Live when you're ready for real transactions.
📦 Shippo Shipping Rates Free tier available
Show real-time USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL shipping rates at checkout. Your Shippo API key stays private on our server — customers never see it.
What you need:
- Shippo API Key — starts with shippo_live_
- Ship-from ZIP code — where you mail packages from
- Average package weight — in pounds
Step-by-step:
- Go to goshippo.com and create a free account
- Verify your email address
- In the Shippo dashboard, go to Settings → API (or click your avatar → API)
- You'll see two tokens: Test and Live. Copy the Live Token (starts with shippo_live_)
- Paste it into the "Shippo API Key" field when building your store
- Enter your ship-from ZIP code (where packages are mailed from)
- Enter your average package weight in pounds
No Shippo account? No problem. Choose "Flat-rate shipping" instead and set your own Standard and Express rates. You can add Shippo later.
Security: Your Shippo API key is stored securely on our server. When a customer enters their ZIP at checkout, we fetch rates from Shippo using your key server-side. The key is never exposed in your website's code.
❓ Quick Reference
| PayPal Client ID | Starts with A, ~80 chars. Public key, safe to include in your site. |
| PayPal Email | The email on your PayPal account. This is where customer payments are sent. |
| Shippo API Key | Starts with shippo_live_ or shippo_test_. Kept private server-side. |
| Ship-from ZIP | The ZIP code where you mail packages from. Used to calculate shipping distance. |
| Avg Weight | Average package weight in pounds. Used to estimate shipping cost per item. |