Candy Press

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  • I tried drop ship books for my tiny store — here’s what actually worked

    I run a small book shop from my kitchen table. It’s not fancy. It’s coffee, my laptop, and a cat that sits on the keyboard like it owns the place. I wanted to sell books without stacking boxes in my hallway. So I tested drop ship book tools. I used them with real orders. Some days were smooth. Some days…not so much.

    Let me explain what I did, and what I’d tell a friend.
    I’ve tried a handful of different product niches over the years—from candles to auto parts—and each has its own set of curveballs.

    My setup, in plain terms

    • Store: Shopify (I also tested a basic WooCommerce site)
    • Goal: sell my own books and a few bargain titles
    • Tools I used: Lulu Direct, BookVault, IngramSpark (Direct Orders), and Book Depot’s Ship to Consumer

    If you're curious how these print-on-demand suppliers stack up feature-for-feature, here's a comprehensive comparison of print-on-demand book suppliers that breaks down costs, quality, and hidden gotchas.

    If you’re still hunting for a plug-and-play storefront that handles digital and physical book sales in one place, you might peek at CandyPress — it’s a niche platform built specifically for indie publishers.

    Each one felt a bit different. Like four cashiers with four moods.

    Lulu Direct + Shopify — my starter win

    I used Lulu Direct for my self-published spiral cookbook, “Weeknight Pots & Pans.” I set it up with the Lulu app in Shopify. You can skim an in-depth review of Lulu Direct's integration with Shopify for a closer look at the setup flow, user hiccups, and real-world speed tests.

    It took a Saturday, two coffees, and one small tantrum over SKU codes.

    Real example:

    • Print cost: $6.42 per copy (80 pages, color, coil)
    • Sale price: $18.99
    • Average U.S. shipping paid by buyer: $4.79
    • Print time: usually 3–5 business days; faster in fall than in winter
    • Orders fulfilled: 63 in two months
    • Issues: 2 misprints (one cut off a header; one had a light streak)

    Lulu replaced both misprints in 48 hours. No drama. The boxes came plain, which I liked. The packing slip showed my store name. My customers thought I shipped it myself. One wrote, “Smells like fresh ink and soup.” Honestly, same.

    What I liked:

    • Easy app. The product sync felt clear.
    • Spiral bound looked neat and lay flat on the counter.
    • Customer support replied the same day. Not robotic.

    What bugged me:

    • Canada shipping was slow near the holidays.
    • Real-time shipping rates were a little off for Alaska.
    • The color print ran a shade dark on one batch. Not awful. But I noticed.

    Would I use it again? Yes, for my own books. It felt simple once it was set.

    BookVault + Shopify — best for those bright picture books

    I made a 32-page kids book with bold art called “Nora and the Night Bus.” I used BookVault for the gloss cover and the heavy paper. The colors popped more than Lulu on this title. The Shopify app felt solid too.

    Real example:

    • Print cost: $3.78 per copy (32 pages, color, gloss cover)
    • Sale price: $12.99
    • U.K. orders: 2–4 business days to print; U.S. orders: 4–7 days
    • Orders fulfilled in November: 27 (holiday gift push)
    • Issues: 1 order with pages bound upside down; reprint sent free

    Small note: my first run used matte. It dulled the purples. I switched to gloss and it fixed it. The switch took five minutes. You know what? That felt like a tiny win.

    What I liked:

    • Color quality on gloss. Punchy and clean.
    • White-label packing slip. My branding, not theirs.
    • Solid rate cards. Fewer surprise fees.

    What bugged me:

    • U.S. shipping times varied during peak weeks.
    • The app threw one sync error on variants. I had to re-map the SKU.

    Would I use it again? Yes, for color books and U.K. buyers. It shines there.

    IngramSpark (Direct Orders) — the grown-up choice, but fussy

    I used IngramSpark for a hardcover art book. Think thick pages, full bleed, moody photos. I did not use their full retail distribution for this test. I used Direct Orders to ship single copies to my own customers.

    Real example:

    • Print cost: $12.84 per copy (hardcover, 96 pages, premium color)
    • Sale price: $34.99
    • Print time: 3–5 business days; shipping varied a lot
    • Orders: 18 in one month (preorders rolled in)
    • Setup fee: none for the title, but I paid for one file revision later
    • Workflow: I pushed orders with a CSV export from Shopify, then placed them in IngramSpark. A bit manual.

    The book looked beautiful. Corners stayed sharp. The jacket wrapped tight. But the process felt…touchy. One week was fast; the next was slow. Support help was good but not instant.

    What I liked:

    • Hardcover quality. It felt like a real gallery book.
    • Global print network. My buyer in Germany got it within 8 days.
    • Good for bigger runs, too.

    What bugged me:

    • The manual order flow took time. Not hands-off.
    • Shipping timelines swung during peak season.
    • Revision fees add up if you tweak files often.

    Would I use it again? Yes, for premium books and global buyers. But I plan for buffer days and fewer edits.

    Book Depot Ship to Consumer — bargain books, thin margins

    I wanted a back-to-school sale with cheap kids workbooks and a few cookbooks. Book Depot sells remainders. Good prices. I used their Ship to Consumer program for direct orders.

    Real example:

    • Cost per book: $2–$5 for many titles
    • Sale price: $7.99–$12.99
    • Orders: 41 in three weeks
    • Out-of-stock cancellations: 3 (fast-moving bargains disappear)
    • Branding: none; plain packing; no custom slip
    • Average net profit per book after shipping: about $2.10

    It worked for deals. But stock moved fast. I had two cases where a customer bought a book, and 10 minutes later it went out of stock. I emailed, refunded, and added a small discount code as an apology. People were kind about it, but it still stings.
    That mini-fiasco reminded me of the straight-up rip-offs I’d hit in the past; I once documented the worst of them so you don’t have to repeat my mistakes.

    What I liked:

    • Low prices. Easy impulse buys.
    • Fast pick-and-pack on weekdays.

    What bugged me:

    • Stock volatility. You must keep your listings fresh.
    • No branded unboxing. Feels like a warehouse, not a “shop.”
    • Data feed needed more babysitting than I hoped.

    Would I use it again? Yes, for sales events. Not for core brand stuff.

    Small surprises I didn’t expect

    • Proofs save headaches. I skipped one proof to save time. Then I found a typo on page one. Page one! I fixed it and paid the revision. Lesson learned.
    • Shipping copy matters. I added a line on the product page: “Printed on demand. Ships in 3–5 business days.” Support emails dropped by half.

    For my spicier romance zine, I also tested giving readers a real-time place to gush about characters and snag discount codes on launch night. I set up a free private chat room through Free Chat Now — it takes seconds to create, needs no installation, and doubles as a zero-cost way to gauge engagement before you invest in a full-blown help-desk or community platform.

    • Paper choice changes mood. Gloss felt bright and cheerful. Matte felt calm but can mute color. Pick based on the book.
    • Holiday chaos is real. I padded my ship times by 3 days in December. Most folks were fine with it.
    • Want to see what happens when you list products you’ve never touched? My blind drop-shipping experiment pulls no punches.

    Quick advice by goal

    • Selling your own book and want it simple: Lulu Direct or BookVault
    • Need strong color and U.K. reach: BookVault
    • Want premium hardcovers and global options: IngramSpark Direct Orders
    • Want bargain books for flash sales: Book Depot S2C
    • Craving a green angle? I ran an organic-only drop-shipping store and spilled the real tea.

  • I Ran an Ecommerce Warehouse. Here’s What Actually Worked.

    I’m Kayla. I sell home goods and pet stuff online. Think storage bins, dog brushes, that kind of thing. I’ve run my own warehouse. I’ve packed late at night. I’ve cried over labels that wouldn’t print. So this is my real take on ecommerce warehouse management—what I used, what broke, and what saved my bacon. If you want a second opinion from another warehouse operator, check out this ecommerce warehouse field report.

    My Setup (The Mess and the Map)

    • Space: 6,000 sq ft, three aisles, 600 SKUs
    • Peak: 500–700 orders a day during Black Friday week
    • Team: 9 pickers, 2 packers, 1 receiver (me, many days)
    • Tools: Shopify, ShipHero (WMS), ShipStation, Zebra scanners, Rollo and Zebra label printers, and a short test with ShipBob for overflow
      If you’re still picking your cart software, consider checking out CandyPress; it’s a lean, self-hosted option that keeps costs predictable.

    It smelled like cardboard. The tape gun sang all day. Pallets came in. Pallets went out. Things got real fast.

    One quirky discovery from the pet aisle: cat-centric copy converts. Subject lines or product names that drop “minou” (French for kitty) consistently out-clicked plain English versions in my email tests. It’s a cheeky reminder that language sells—just peek at this playful example, “Je montre mon minou,” over on Plan Sexe for a quick case study on how bold wording and visuals can crank up engagement around feline-themed products.

    The Core Tool: ShipHero WMS (Daily Driver)

    I used ShipHero for inventory, picking, and returns. It sat between Shopify and the real world. The scanners ran the show.

    If you want unbiased user perspectives, you can scan the ShipHero reviews on the Shopify App Store to see how other operators rate the same features.

    What I liked

    • Wave picking: I made waves by zone and order size. That cut walking. We went from 35 lines per hour to around 72.
    • Lot and bin tracking: Bins like A1-04 and B3-11. No more “where’s the teal brush?” guesswork.
    • Mobile app: The Zebra TC21 scanned fast. I set it to beep once for good, twice for oops. It saved us from dumb slips.

    What bugged me

    • Wi-Fi dead spots: The app would hang in aisle C, far corner. I learned to hang a mesh node on a beam. Ugly, but it worked.
    • Returns screen: Good, but slow when photos were big. I had to shrink images or it lagged.

    Real story
    On Cyber Monday, we pushed 2,900 orders in 48 hours. We ran waves by aisle. Small orders first, then the weird ones. Error rate was 0.7%. The year before, without tight waves, it was 3.1%. That gap? That’s the difference between “We got this” and “Please don’t email me again, Megan.”

    The Starter: SkuVault (My First WMS)

    I used SkuVault my first year. It did the basics well and it didn’t scare my team.

    What I liked

    • Simple cycle counts: I counted 20 bins each morning with coffee. That kept stock clean.
    • Easy reorder points: It warned me when slow movers got low. Saved me from stockouts on boring items that still sell.

    What bugged me

    • Reports loaded slow on Mondays.
    • Kitting felt clunky for bundles with many parts.

    Why I moved
    Once we hit 300+ orders a day, I needed faster waves and tighter mobile scanning. So I switched to ShipHero. If you’re under 200 orders a day, SkuVault still makes sense.

    Need an even deeper dive that compares ShipHero across industries? Skim through the ShipHero reviews on Capterra for side-by-side scores and anecdotes.

    Labels and Rates: ShipStation (The Glue)

    I used ShipStation to compare rates and print labels in big batches.

    What I liked

    • Rules: Orders with glass? Flag for Fragile. Orders over 5 lbs? Default to UPS. Set it once, breathe more.
    • Batch labels: 400 labels in a run felt like a magic trick on a good Wi-Fi day.

    What bugged me

    • Customs forms: Canada orders sometimes threw errors after a software update. I had to re-map HS codes. Not fun at 1 a.m.

    Real story
    On one wild Friday, we printed 1,200 labels in one push. The Rollo hummed. The Zebra sulked. More on that next.

    Scanners and Printers: The Little Heroes

    Zebra TC21 handheld

    • Good grip, loud beep, hot-swappable battery.
    • It fell off a cart once. Scratched, but fine.
    • Set to Code 128 barcodes. Fast, clean scans.

    Honeywell Voyager (corded)

    • Sat at pack stations. Never missed a beat.
    • Cheap, sturdy, ugly in a cute way.

    Rollo thermal printer

    • Fast. Small. Eats 4×6 labels like candy.
    • Only jam I had was with a bad roll that curled in winter. I flipped the stack and it fixed itself.

    Zebra GK420d

    • Solid, but picky. Cold mornings made the labels curl. We learned to pre-warm the stack near the heat vent.
    • When it jammed, it jammed hard. I kept a tweezer by the station. Not kidding.

    A Quick 3PL Test: ShipBob for West Coast

    I sent 80 SKUs to ShipBob for 2 months to speed up West Coast orders.

    What I liked

    • Two-day ship times jumped. Happy folks in LA and Seattle.
    • Their portal showed units in transit and on hand. Clear enough for me.

    What bugged me

    • ASNs had to be perfect. I messed up inner case counts once. Fee city.
    • Kitting add-ons were pricey for small bundles.

    Would I use it again?
    For overflow, yes. For my core line, I like my own space. I want control. I also like knowing what’s going on by the sound of the room.

    If you're still on the fence about keeping stock versus pure drop-ship, give these field notes a look: one merchant's take on running an organic drop-shipping store and another who tested auto parts drop-shipping for a year. Both nail the trade-offs.

    The Flow That Saved Us

    Slotting like a grocery store

    • A items near the pack wall. B in the middle. C stuff up high or far.
    • I moved top sellers every season. Spring was pet brushes. Fall was bins. Feels like musical chairs, but it cut steps by a lot.

    Batch vs. single picks

    • Orders under 3 lines went in small batches of 20. One cart, one loop.
    • Big kits or odd stuff got a single picker with a fresh cart.

    Pack stations

    • U-shape table. Scale on the left, tape in reach, bins behind.
    • I kept one “fix-it” station for weird orders. That station had a measuring tape, bubble, and a marker that never moved.

    Cycle counts

    • 20 bins a day. No drama. Drift stayed under 1%.
    • Mondays we counted returns bins first. Keeps the monsters small.

    Kitting

    • Simple BOM in the WMS. We pre-built top bundles on slow afternoons. A little prep saved us on rush days.

    Fail Moments (That Taught Me Plenty)

    • We lost 36 teal dog brushes. Guess what? They were up high, behind a pallet of yoga mats. Turns out I’m not the only one who’s wrestled with mats—see this yoga shop fulfillment story for a familiar headache.
    • A picker turned off the beep sound. Quiet scans felt faster. They weren’t. Error rate doubled in two days. Beeps came back.
    • Friday rain made the ramp slick. One box fell, shampoo everywhere. We moved liquid stuff to low shelves and added grip tape.

    Curious how things unravel when you never touch the product at all? Peek at this brutally honest blind drop-shipping post-mortem.

    Numbers That Matter

    • Pick lines per hour: 35 → 72 after waves and slotting
    • Order error rate: 3.1% → 0.7% with scan-to-pack
    • Dock-to-stock time: 24 hours → same day for most POs under 200 cases
    • Returns processing: 3 minutes each → 90 seconds with photo notes and presets

    Small lifts add up. The room feels lighter when the numbers behave.

    What I’d Tell a Friend

    Under 100 orders a day

    • Shopify + ShipStation + a Rollo printer + a corded Honeywell scanner

  • “I sell kratom online. Here’s what actually worked for me.”

    I’m Kayla. I run a tiny kratom shop from my kitchen table. It started with a few blends for friends. Then a real store. I learned fast. Some tools love herb shops. Some do not. If you want the full origin story and every test I ran, I laid it all out in this deep dive.

    I’ve tried more platforms than I want to admit. I’ve broken carts, fixed carts, cried over carts. You know what? The right setup makes your day calmer. The wrong one eats your sleep. I even tested the top ecommerce platforms for SEO to see which ones could get my tiny shop noticed.

    Quick heads-up: laws change. Some states and cities ban kratom. Payment rules change too. Please check your local rules and each platform’s policy. I do that before I change anything now. If you need a starting point, the FDA’s updated public health page about kratom is worth bookmarking.

    First lesson: Big sites say no

    I tried listing a “botanical tea mix” on eBay once. Boom—pulled in a day. Amazon? Nope. Etsy? Also nope. Marketplaces don’t want kratom. So I built my own site and kept it clean and clear: no medical claims, age gate on the home page, lab reports on product pages. That helped.

    Shopify: Pretty, but I got flagged

    I started on Shopify because, well, it looks great. Setup took one afternoon. I loved the themes. My store looked like a real brand, not a random blog.

    Then payouts paused. Shopify Payments doesn’t allow kratom. I switched to a third-party processor. That worked for a bit, but I got another review note and a warning. Also, using a non-Shopify processor adds a small extra fee per sale. That stung during holiday rush.

    What I liked:

    • Design and apps are top-tier.
    • Easy inventory and shipping labels.

    What tripped me up:

    • Payments were a headache.
    • Extra fees with outside processors.
    • Policy reviews made me nervous.

    Would I do it again? Only if I already had a rock-solid high-risk merchant account on day one and I was ready for surprise reviews.

    BigCommerce: More friendly to “high-risk” shops

    BigCommerce felt calmer. They don’t handle payments themselves, so I plugged in a gateway. I used PaymentCloud to set up a kratom-friendly merchant account. It took about two weeks with all the docs: IDs, bank letters, supplier info, COAs, the usual.

    Once live, it stayed stable. No surprise pauses. I added an age-check app and kept my pages simple.

    What I liked:

    • “High-risk” use felt normal here.
    • Good product tools. Bulk edits didn’t lag.
    • Phone support actually understood my niche. That’s rare.

    What I didn’t:

    • The monthly bill’s not tiny when you add apps.
    • The admin has more knobs and switches. Took me a weekend to learn.

    My real result: I ran two seasonal sales on BigCommerce. Zero payment holds. That alone made me breathe easier.

    WooCommerce (WordPress): The one I use now

    I wanted control. So I moved to WooCommerce on WordPress. I host with a managed WordPress host. Nothing fancy—just reliable and fast.

    Payments: I use an NMI gateway tied to a high-risk merchant account (Durango set mine up). No Stripe. No PayPal. Both said no to kratom.

    I added:

    • Age Gate (simple pop-up age check)
    • WooCommerce Table Rate Shipping (to price out heavy orders)
    • MaxMind minFraud (helps flag weird orders)
    • A “no medical claims” disclaimer in the checkout

    Good days:

    Hard days:

    • Updates. You have to keep plugins fresh.
    • If something breaks, it’s your problem first.
    • I had to block a few states and cities that have bans. It’s doable, just fussy. I toyed with the idea of jumping to Magento at one point, and even put together an honest take on Magento ecommerce SEO from my shop’s perspective. Spoiler: it’s powerful but heavy.

    A real moment: Last Black Friday, we doubled traffic. Site held up fine. NMI didn’t blink. I packed orders with peppermint tea and hand-wrote thanks. Small thing. It matters.

    Shift4Shop (formerly 3dcart): Knows the category, looks a bit dated

    I tested Shift4Shop because folks in our space kept mentioning it. Their team actually knew what “kratom” means. That was a nice change. I couldn’t use their free plan (it needs their processor), so I paid for a regular plan and connected my high-risk merchant.

    What I liked:

    • Lots of built-in features. Less app hunting.
    • Support didn’t treat me like a problem.

    What I didn’t:

    • Templates felt old. I had to tweak to look modern.
    • Checkout had a couple of odd fields I hid with CSS.

    It worked. It just didn’t feel like my brand by default.

    If you’re comfortable with a more hands-on .NET cart, CandyPress is another self-hosted option that lets you pair a fully owned store with whichever high-risk merchant you prefer.

    Wix and Squarespace: Pretty, but payments said no

    I built test sites on both. Super fast design. But their default payment partners don’t allow kratom. I tried external invoice links once and got a warning. I shut that down fast. Not worth losing the site.

    The money part: who actually processed my orders

    Here’s what said yes to me, with real trade-offs:

    • PaymentCloud: Set up my first high-risk account. Took about two weeks. Had a small rolling reserve at the start (they held a bit of my money for chargeback safety). Rates were higher than Stripe, sure, but stable.
    • Durango Merchant Services: Switched later for better rates once I had history. They connected me to NMI. Smooth.
    • Soar Payments: I tested them on a side brand. Also workable for kratom.

    What didn’t work:

    • Stripe, PayPal, Square: All said no to kratom. Friendly emails. Firm answers.

    Chargebacks happen. I added:

    • AVS checks (address match)
    • Signature on orders over $150 (UPS Adult Signature)
    • Manual review on first-time buyers with mismatched info

    That cut my chargebacks in half. Worth the extra steps.

    Shipping and packaging: small details, big peace

    • USPS for small, light orders. Cheap, fast.
    • UPS for big boxes or signature needs.
    • I use plain boxes and simple labels.
    • New buyers over a set amount: I require adult signature. Costs a bit more. Saves me three emails later.

    Also, I never write “for human consumption.” I keep product use clear and compliant with site policy. No medical claims. Not a medicine. That language matters.

    Compliance basics I follow

    • Check local laws often. I block areas that ban kratom.
    • Age gate on entry. ID checks if needed for big orders.
    • COAs on product pages. People ask; I show them.
    • No health claims. None. That keeps me safe with banks.
    • Clear refunds and terms page. Processors ask for it.

    For a wider federal perspective, the Congressional Research Service’s kratom brief offers a quick snapshot of ongoing legislative discussions.

    Similar compliance hurdles crop up in other age-restricted niches online—adult content, for example, lives under the same scrutiny from processors and regulators that we see with kratom. If you’re curious to see how an explicit site handles up-front age disclaimers, gated access and user warnings in practice, check out PlanSexe’s “Je montre mon minou” photo diary—it’s a clear (NSFW) illustration of how tight content labeling and visitor verification can keep a high-risk site on the right side of policy.

    Is it extra work? Yep. But it keeps the lights on.

    My picks, plain and simple

    • Best control for me: WooCommerce + NMI + a high-risk merchant (Durango or PaymentCloud). It’s work up front. Then it hums.
    • Easiest hosted choice: BigCommerce + a high-risk merchant. Fewer moving parts. Good support.
    • Works but felt older: Shift4Shop + high-risk merchant. Safe bet if you don’t mind the look.
    • Not worth it for kratom: Shopify (unless you love reviews and fees), Wix, Squarespace, and all big marketplaces.

    If you’re planning to serve wholesalers as well as retail customers, I also shared [how I built our B2B ecommerce from scratch](https://www.candypress.com/i-built-our-b2b-e

  • I Tried LoopNet + WordPress. Here’s What Actually Worked (And What Didn’t)

    I’m Kayla. I set up LoopNet search on two WordPress sites this spring. Both were for small brokerage teams that needed listings live, fast. I’ll be straight: it works, but it’s not perfect. I’ve got real examples, little wins, and a few facepalm moments too.
    If you want the granular, step-by-step breakdown, I wrote a separate case study here.

    First, what “integration” really means

    There’s no official WordPress plugin from LoopNet. (For a quick comparison of manual embedding, iFrames, or LoopLink, see this breakdown.) What you get (through CoStar) is LoopLink. It’s a chunk of code that shows your LoopNet listings on your site. Think of it like a little window to LoopNet living inside your page. That line matters, because it limits how much you can change.

    You paste the code on a page. It loads the search, the filters, and the detail pages. It looks like your site… about 80% of the way.

    Example 1: Dallas team, Astra theme, Elementor

    • Goal: one “Search Properties” page with filters (office, flex, industrial; for lease vs. for sale).
    • Tech bits: WordPress (Astra + Elementor), Custom HTML block for the LoopLink code.

    How I did it:

    • CoStar sent the snippet with our account ID. I pasted it into a full-width page.
    • I set the iframe height to 2000px to stop the double scrollbar on phones. Kinda clunky, but it worked.
    • I hid the WP header on that page to give the map more room.

    What worked well:

    • Data was always fresh. No manual updates.
    • Filters felt familiar to clients. “Show me office space under 5,000 SF” was easy.
    • It took me one afternoon to set up (after CoStar turned on our code).

    Where I bumped my head:

    • Styling. Fonts and buttons inside the LoopLink area didn’t match. It sits in an iframe, so you can’t style it much.
    • SEO. Google can’t read the listing content inside that window. So, I made separate landing pages for key properties.
    • Speed. That one page ran heavy. I moved the search off the homepage to keep it fast.

    A real listing moment:

    • 1011 Elm St, Dallas. The photo gallery was slow the first time it loaded. My fix was simple: I added a big, sharp hero photo above the embed, so the page felt alive while the gallery caught up. Sounds small. Helped a lot.

    Tracking leads:

    • I used Google Tag Manager to track clicks that jump out to LoopNet pages. I named the event “LoopNet Click.”
    • Inside the iframe, I couldn’t track much. That’s a limitation.

    Bonus tip:

    • I added a sticky bar under the header with “Call” and “Email” buttons. Old-school, but lead volume went up.

    This agent had eight listings and didn’t want extra monthly fees. So I used a lighter plan. (If you’d rather lean on purpose-built tools, some third-party WordPress plugins let you host a custom property database while syncing feeds.)

    What I built:

    • A “Properties” grid, each as a WordPress post.
    • I wrote short copy for each. I used the main photo, a bullet list (sf, price, parking), and a big “View on LoopNet” button.
    • Leads stayed on our site with a Gravity Form. When they wanted full docs, they clicked out to LoopNet.
      On a larger multisite install, I’ve locked sensitive offering memorandums behind login screens; the exact method I used is outlined in this walkthrough.

    Why this worked:

    • SEO from our own pages. We could write unique content and get indexed.
    • Full control of style and layout.
    • Fewer moving parts. Faster pages.

    What I had to manage:

    • Manual updates. If a suite leased, I had to update the post. I kept a simple spreadsheet and spent 15 minutes every Friday.

    A real property:

    • 2450 W River Dr. It ranked on Google for the address plus “warehouse suite” in about three weeks. Calls came from folks who never touched the LoopNet button. That made the agent very happy.

    What surprised me (the good and the messy)

    Good things:

    • Fresh listings without me babysitting.
    • Filters that brokers understand right away.
    • Quick launch. One afternoon, plus CoStar setup time.

    Messy bits:

    • Styling mismatch. The iframe looks “close,” not exact.
    • SEO gap. Content in the window isn’t your content to Google.
    • iPhone quirks. A few users with content blockers saw a blank search until they reloaded. Not common, but it happened.
    • Speed hit. That page alone ran heavier than others.

    Money and time:

    • LoopLink is a paid add-on. CoStar took five business days to enable ours. Support was kind, but replies were not fast.
      If you’re weighing other fee-heavy plugins (think payments or memberships), my notes on WooCommerce’s cut of each sale might save you a surprise bill—read them here.

    My simple setup steps (that I’d repeat)

    • Create a full-width WordPress page named “Search.”
    • Paste the LoopLink code in a Custom HTML block.
    • Set the iframe height around 1800–2000px to avoid double scroll.
    • Add a short intro above the search with keywords (city, asset type).
    • Put a sticky contact bar on that page.
    • Track outbound clicks to LoopNet with GTM.
    • Keep top listings as separate WordPress pages with real copy and a “View on LoopNet” button. I used Yoast for meta and a basic schema plugin for structured data.

    Who it suits (and who will hate it)

    Great for:

    • Small teams who need listings now and don’t want custom builds.
    • Brokers who value accurate data over pixel-perfect style.

    Not great for:

    • Marketing teams who live on SEO and want total control.
    • Anyone who needs deep analytics inside the search box.

    Final take

    LoopNet + WordPress works fine when you treat it like a window, not a full system. It’s fast to launch, steady, and simple to manage. But you give up style, SEO, and deep tracking.

    You know what? For many broker sites, that trade is okay. If you want polish and search traffic, pair the embed with your own property pages. That mix gave me the best results, and fewer headaches.
    And if you’re still deciding whether WordPress is even the right base or you should write on something like Substack instead, my candid comparison lives here.
    And if you ever graduate to a platform that lets you own the entire data flow—without iframes—check out CandyPress for a fully customizable approach.

  • I Tried 3PL Drop Shipping For My Store — Here’s What Actually Happened

    I run a small Shopify shop. I sell home items and a few fitness bits. Think shelf brackets, bands, planners. Cute, light, and pretty simple SKUs. I pack well. But last spring, I hit 300 orders a month. My living room said, “Please stop.” So I tested 3PL drop shipping. If you want the blow-by-blow numbers of that trial, you can peek at my full recap of how I tried 3PL drop shipping for my store.

    Was it perfect? Nope. Did my back stop hurting? Yes. You know what? That alone felt huge.

    Why I Even Went 3PL

    I needed faster ship times. I wanted clean packing slips. No “Thanks, Mom” notes. I also needed help with returns. My USPS line was getting awkward. I don’t love small talk at 7 a.m.

    Also, my sales were lumpy. Big spikes on TikTok, then quiet. A 3PL could flex up and down. Well, that’s what they promised. Doing my homework first helped; the resource library over at CandyPress had a great primer on fulfillment terms that saved me from sounding clueless on my first sales call. For a deeper dive into the nuts and bolts of working with outsourced logistics, this comprehensive guide on 3PL drop shipping walks through setup, inventory rules, and fulfillment workflows in detail. (If you’re still debating whether to outsource or build, this guide on how one founder actually ran an ecommerce warehouse is a solid reality check.)

    My First Run With ShipBob

    I sent in 7 SKUs. About 1,200 units on two pallets. I booked a dock time. I made an ASN (that’s a heads-up sheet with counts and SKUs). They checked in my stuff in 48 hours. Not bad.

    Orders started flowing the next day. First pick/pack was included. Extra picks cost a bit. Storage was by bin and pallet. Postage was standard carrier rates. My average all-in per order (pick, pack, label, mailer) landed near $5.20, plus shipping. Ground to most of the U.S. hit 2–4 days. My old average was 5–7.

    What I liked:

    • The dashboard showed inventory in real time.
    • I could add gift notes and stickers. They actually used them.
    • Two warehouses (PA and NV) cut West Coast times a lot.

    What bugged me:

    • My first Q4 storage bill jumped. Bins add up. Pallets too.
    • A Saturday batch got stuck in “picking” till Monday. Support replied Monday morning. Not helpful on Sunday.
    • One SKU barcode printed too light. They had to relabel 200 units. It delayed orders by a day. Totally on me, but still a gut punch.

    Real win? My East Coast customers got orders two days faster. My refund emails dropped by half.

    Flexport/Deliverr Gave Me the “2-Day” Boost

    I tried Deliverr (now under Flexport) for my top two SKUs. They offered a 2-day badge on my Shopify store. The badge wasn’t magic, but it nudged clicks.

    We placed inventory in their network. Orders routed smart from the closest node. My average ship time for those SKUs went from 3.8 days to 2.1. Conversion on those pages rose about 11% over four weeks. Small store, small sample, but still nice.

    One hiccup: during their system change, I had a 4-hour sync lag. Stock showed “available” when it wasn’t. I oversold 19 units. I sent apology codes and split shipments. It wasn’t the end of the world, but it was a sweaty afternoon.

    ShipMonk Was My Kitting Helper

    I also do a monthly “reset” box. It has a planner, pen set, and a tiny candle. It needs kitting. ShipMonk set a neat SOP. They added a branded card, folded tissue, and sealed with my logo sticker. (If you’ve ever thought about turning candles themselves into a standalone offer, this story of someone who tried drop-ship candles is a fun rabbit hole.) My rep, Maria, sent photos of the first build. That saved me from a crooked sticker problem. Sounds small. Looked sloppy on camera.

    During my December spike, they kept a 24-hour SLA on kitting. Their damage rate on that batch stayed under 0.2%. I checked. I’m a little nerdy about numbers now.

    A Hybrid That Actually Worked

    Here’s a twist. Not every product sat in a 3PL. My rustic floating shelves ship from a wood shop in North Carolina. They drop ship for me. We used neutral packing slips. At first, the box had their logo tape. A customer asked, “Who’s this?” We switched to plain tape and it fixed the fuss. (Blind drop shipping can be risky—this candid take on blind drop shipping breaks down why customers notice more than you think.)

    So my setup looked like this:

    • 70% inventory at a 3PL
    • 30% drop shipped by a trusted vendor
    • One order router in Shopify that split items by location

    It sounds fancy. It wasn’t. But I did have to test a lot. If you’re leaning eco-friendly, check out how another merchant ran an organic drop-shipping store for fresh ideas on packaging and sourcing.

    Real Numbers From My Store

    Before 3PL:

    • Average delivery time: 6.2 days
    • Order defect rate: 2.1% (late, lost, or damaged)
    • Shipping cost per order: about $8.90
    • Hours I spent packing each week: 12–14

    After 60 days with 3PL + vendor drop ship:

    • Average delivery time: 3.7 days
    • Order defect rate: 0.8%
    • Shipping cost per order: about $7.40
    • Hours I spent packing: 2–3

    I’m not Amazon. Those numbers felt good.

    Stuff That Bit Me

    • DIM weight got me. I used a box that was too tall by one inch. My band kits got billed like bricks. I moved to a shorter mailer. Saved about $0.70 per order.
    • Q4 storage rates rise. I should’ve run tighter stock. I held 90 days on hand. I now hold 45.
    • Alaska and Hawaii. My “2-day” badge didn’t cover them. I had to set fair rules and clear shipping options. No more angry emails from Maui at midnight.
    • If you ever end up sifting through classified-style marketplaces for supplier leads, especially the adult-oriented boards that popped up after Backpage vanished, this rundown of the best Backpage replacement sites to hook up tonight breaks down which directories still have a pulse, which ones look sketchy, and the red-flag patterns that can help you dodge scammy listings.
    • While browsing those adult-oriented directories, I also discovered that some entrepreneurs study regional “sugar” economies to gauge luxury-gift spending; the localized overview at Sugar Baby Columbus offers insider statistics on how high-end allowances and gifting trends play out in central Ohio, insight you can repurpose when crafting premium bundles or influencer campaigns aimed at aspirational shoppers.
    • I also kept this horror story of getting burned by drop-ship scams in mind whenever a “too good to be true” supplier emailed me.

    Support, People, and Pace

    ShipBob had decent weekday support. Flexport answered faster in chat. ShipMonk was best on kitting questions. I asked for a Slack channel with my main 3PL. It helped. Quick photos. Quick answers. Fewer tickets. If you can get one, ask.

    I also placed test orders every month. I used a friend’s address in Ohio and my aunt’s place in Texas. I watched tracking, box quality, and how the packing slip read. Boring? Maybe. It caught two label mix-ups before they turned messy.

    Who Should Try 3PL Drop Shipping

    Still deciding if a third-party partner is the right move? An up-to-date look at the benefits and best practices of 3PL fulfillment services highlights the key features you should demand from any provider.

    • You ship 200+ orders a month and feel stuck.
    • Your SKUs are simple. Not 19 parts per order.
    • You care about 2–4 day speed but don’t need same day.
    • You can handle setup time. It’s a few weeks, not a day.

    Who should wait:

    • You ship