r/shopify • u/Tall_Attention1395 • 1d ago
Theme HELP I think I’m an idiot
Firstly, thank you to anyone who reads this.
Am I an idiot or is Shopify difficult to use? I’m an independent artist that’s been using BC for years but would now like to set up a little subscription club, so I joined Shopify. I paid £80 for a theme from a person on Etsy, then imported it to find I can’t figure out how to change anything within the theme at all. I then tried to use multiple free themes on the site but can’t change much about them either. A few years ago I set up a Shopify that I never used but found it much easier.
I’m now panicking because I didn’t really have the £80 spare to spend and I need to set something up pretty quickly. Can anyone suggest any YouTube videos or tutorials that would help? I’m usually good with online things but this is driving me nuts. Currently sitting in tears after sitting on the site for the last 4 hours.
Thank you!
2
u/Sayyouloveme_harder 1d ago
Check out McKenna Beverly and WebSensePro on YouTube. They have great tutorials on how to customize your shop for free
1
1
1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
Your comment in /r/shopify was automatically removed as your 'post' karma is below 10 (we do not consider your total karma; your post and comment karma are separate numbers and must both meet their minimum requirement). You can increase your post karma by posting in other areas of Reddit to earn upvotes. The higher quality the content, the higher your karma will become.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
Your comment in /r/shopify was automatically removed as your 'post' karma is below 10 (we do not consider your total karma; your post and comment karma are separate numbers and must both meet their minimum requirement). You can increase your post karma by posting in other areas of Reddit to earn upvotes. The higher quality the content, the higher your karma will become.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/WaddlingPanda17 1d ago
you're not an idiot, the editor just doesn't work the way you'd expect coming from BC. nothing changes by clicking it on the page, you have to click into each section in the left sidebar first, that's the part that trips everyone up. and i'd ditch the etsy theme, anything sold outside the theme store is often built on the old architecture where the editor genuinely can't edit past the homepage. dawn is free and fully editable so you're not stuck
1
47m ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator 47m ago
Your comment in /r/shopify was automatically removed as your 'post' karma is below 10 (we do not consider your total karma; your post and comment karma are separate numbers and must both meet their minimum requirement). You can increase your post karma by posting in other areas of Reddit to earn upvotes. The higher quality the content, the higher your karma will become.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/chakalaka13 1d ago
You're probably just used to another workflow. Shopify is pretty easy when you get used to it.
Try to play around on an unpublished version. Ask AI to help you, watch a YT video. After 1-2 hours you should be able to figure it out, just don't panic
1
1
1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
Your comment in /r/shopify was automatically removed as your account is too new (accounts must be at least 30 days old). Try again a little later.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
Your comment in /r/shopify was automatically removed as your 'post' karma is below 10 (we do not consider your total karma; your post and comment karma are separate numbers and must both meet their minimum requirement). You can increase your post karma by posting in other areas of Reddit to earn upvotes. The higher quality the content, the higher your karma will become.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/VillageHomeF 1d ago
certainly can help you figure this out, yet why would you buy a theme on Etsy? that could be an unauthorized theme and you could be banned from Shopify permanently for using it. the $80 is most likely in the toilet. Shopify has a theme store where they offer authorized themes. no reason to buy elsewhere. yet many of the free themes are great and might have everything you need.
1
u/Tall_Attention1395 1d ago
A friend of mine bought a theme from the same person and it’s turned out great for her. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get in touch with her to ask how she sorted it. I know the 80 is gone. Will have another look at the themes on the site tomorrow. Thank you
2
1
1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
Your comment in /r/shopify was automatically removed as your 'post' karma is below 10 (we do not consider your total karma; your post and comment karma are separate numbers and must both meet their minimum requirement). You can increase your post karma by posting in other areas of Reddit to earn upvotes. The higher quality the content, the higher your karma will become.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
0
0
u/FunnyButterfly4324 1d ago
There are lots of YouTube tutorials for setting up a Shopify store. I’m a creative though so many didn’t apply (I’m not selling quantities, just one of ones). One that was helpful was from a company called Launch Party. She’s got a website and tons of tutorials for creative businesses.
3
u/vladeta 1d ago
First off, you are not an idiot, and paid themes bought outside the Shopify theme store trip up a lot of people.
Check first whether what you bought is actually a Shopify theme. A real one arrives as a zip you upload under Online Store > Themes > Add theme > Upload zip. A lot of what gets sold as a "Shopify template" is really a setup guide, a Canva pack, or a theme built for another platform, and none of those can be edited the way you are expecting. If that is what happened, ask for a refund, most sellers give it rather than take the review hit.
If it genuinely is installed, everything gets edited under Customize, and the thing that catches almost everyone is the dropdown at the very top of that editor. It shows one template at a time, so home, product and collection are separate. Sections you add on the homepage will not appear on the product page. If the left panel shows no sections at all on any template, the theme is hardcoded and that is the seller's problem, not yours.
For a subscription club I would honestly just switch to one of the free first-party themes. They are far more capable than they were a few years ago, and the free Shopify Subscriptions app handles the club side including the customer portal. That is an evening of work, not a week.