Wix to Big Cartel Migration Guide

Navigate to your Wix dashboard and go to Store Products to export your product catalog. Wix provides CSV export functionality, but you'll need to manually export product images separately. Download your product data and organize all product images into folders by product name. Note that you'll need to consolidate products if you have more than 50 variants total, as Big Cartel has stricter variant limits.

Visit bigcartel.com and create your free account, choosing a subdomain name that matches your brand. Select the appropriate plan based on your product count - the free Gold plan supports up to 5 products, while paid plans support more. Complete your store setup by adding your business information and connecting your social media accounts. Big Cartel's interface is designed for artists, so focus on your creative brand story during setup.

Browse Big Cartel's theme gallery and select a theme that showcases your artistic products effectively. Most themes are designed with visual artists in mind, featuring large image displays and clean layouts. Customize your chosen theme by uploading your logo, adjusting colors to match your brand, and configuring the layout to highlight your best work. Big Cartel themes are generally simpler than Wix but more focused on product photography.

Using your exported Wix data, manually add products to Big Cartel through their product management interface. Upload product images one by one, write compelling descriptions that appeal to art buyers, and set up your pricing structure. Since Big Cartel limits variants to 50 total across your entire store, consolidate similar products or reduce variation options. Focus on your best-selling or most representative pieces first.

Set up payment processing through Big Cartel's integrated options, which include Stripe and PayPal. Big Cartel's payment setup is streamlined for small businesses and artists, with competitive transaction fees. Connect your bank account for payouts and configure your payment preferences. Test the payment flow to ensure everything processes correctly before going live.

Configure your shipping settings in Big Cartel's straightforward shipping interface. Set up shipping zones, rates, and options that work for your art pieces, considering factors like size, weight, and fragility. Big Cartel's shipping tools are simpler than Wix but adequate for most artists' needs. Create shipping profiles for different types of products (prints vs. original artwork) and set realistic delivery timeframes.

Set up tax collection in Big Cartel based on your business location and requirements. Big Cartel provides basic tax configuration suitable for small artists and makers, allowing you to set tax rates by location. Configure sales tax for your state or region, and set up any applicable VAT or international tax requirements. The system is designed to be simple for creative businesses that may not have complex tax needs.

Recreate your essential pages from Wix in Big Cartel's page builder, including your About page, artist statement, and contact information. Big Cartel's content management is simpler than Wix, focusing on essential pages that art buyers care about. Write compelling copy that tells your story as an artist and explains your creative process. Add any necessary legal pages like terms of service and privacy policy.

If you have a custom domain from Wix, configure it to point to your new Big Cartel store (requires a paid Big Cartel plan). Set up basic redirects from your old Wix URLs to your new Big Cartel pages to maintain SEO value. Big Cartel's redirect options are limited, so focus on redirecting your most important product and page URLs. Update your domain DNS settings to point to Big Cartel's servers.

Thoroughly test your Big Cartel store by placing test orders, checking payment processing, and verifying shipping calculations. Test the customer experience from browsing to checkout completion, ensuring all product images load correctly and descriptions are accurate. Verify that email notifications are working and that your inventory tracking is functioning properly. Test on both desktop and mobile devices as many art buyers shop on mobile.

Once testing is complete, officially launch your Big Cartel store and announce the migration to your existing customers. Create social media posts showcasing your new store design and any special launch promotions. Send an email to your customer list (if you exported contacts from Wix) announcing the new store location. Update all your marketing materials, business cards, and social media profiles with your new Big Cartel store URL.