TinyStore

Web and SaaS

storefront builder

SHOW HN2021

144points
71comments
#345of 2,533 in 2021
Top 14%of 2021 by points

How HN took it

MixedNo clear lean

6 positive, 15 neutral or asking, 1 mixed, 16 critical, out of 38 comments about the project. Thread score -0.21.

Execution: 0 for, 6 againstDesign: 3 for, 3 againstIdea: 2 for, 3 againstPricing: 0 for, 3 againstDocs: 0 for, 1 against

The thread, comment by comment

Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.

positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker

What HN said

What people liked

  • Clean minimal design

    From 2 comments
    • Will this work with the other plans as well? I was looking into Shopify the other day, would like to accept non-credit card payments as well (so need a higher plan) but I love…
      dstick on HN
    • Looks good! Could add a favicon.
      andreasha on HN
  • Smart idea for low-end Shopify merchants

    From 1 comment
    • Agree with some of the other commenters here – this seems really really smart, but only because I live and work deep in Shopify land. It was immediately obvious to me what this…
      blairbeckwith on HN

Objections

  • Keyboard and screen reader accessibility is poor because product links are divs

    From 1 comment
    • I'd really encourage you to download a screen reader such as NVDA (or use VoiceOver if you're on a Mac), make use of the Lighthouse accessibility audit in Chrome dev tools, and…
      whylo on HN
  • Savings over Shopify Basic are small, so the niche is narrow

    From 3 comments
    • I’m going to be the contrarian here :) I would just pay $29/month for Shopify basic plan. Is the $20 difference worth self hosting and tweaking a custom thing? You’ll quickly…
      throwarayes on HN
    • I was wondering this too. The price difference is actually $16 not $20. Shopify Lite ($9) + TinyStore ($5). It seems like a pretty narrow niche and easily killed should Shopify…
      twalling on HN
    • actually savings is only $15.
      vira28 on HN
  • Landing page does not explain what the product does

    From 3 comments
    • I think you need to work on your landing page. There's almost nothing on there that makes it obvious to me what this actually does.
      hellweaver666 on HN
    • If there's one thing I'd suggest, it would be putting a blurb something like the above on your website as well - as someone with 0 contextual information about Shopify, there was…
      InvertedRhodium on HN
    • Love how minimal the landing page is but maybe an FAQ or something below the fold? I see you have an FAQ hidden in footer but I'd drop something more on the apex landing page.…
      harrisonjackson on HN
  • Product navigation is broken: back button and product links

    From 2 comments
    • I would not shop at this store - it's completely broken. I went to "live demo" to check it out. Scrolled to bottom and clicked on LED Hightops. Read the description. Hit "back."…
      astura on HN
    • Surprised I haven't seen a comment about this yet - there doesn't seem to be a way to link to or share individual products? I've tried clicking on products from a few places and…
      0x62 on HN

Requests

  • Add a clear explanation of the product on the landing page

    From 2 comments
    • If there's one thing I'd suggest, it would be putting a blurb something like the above on your website as well - as someone with 0 contextual information about Shopify, there was…
      InvertedRhodium on HN
    • I think you need to work on your landing page. There's almost nothing on there that makes it obvious to me what this actually does.
      hellweaver666 on HN
  • Make product links shareable and keyboard accessible

    From 2 comments
    • Surprised I haven't seen a comment about this yet - there doesn't seem to be a way to link to or share individual products? I've tried clicking on products from a few places and…
      0x62 on HN
    • I'd really encourage you to download a screen reader such as NVDA (or use VoiceOver if you're on a Mac), make use of the Lighthouse accessibility audit in Chrome dev tools, and…
      whylo on HN
  • Full-screen image view

    From 1 comment
  • Fix scroll-to-top when clicking a product

    From 1 comment
    • Clicking a product scrolls to the top of the page, it's quite annoying.
      jonny_eh on HN

Questions

  • Why not just upgrade to Shopify Basic for $29/month

    From 2 comments
    • Why would someone use this + Shopify Lite instead of just upgrading to "Basic Shopify" for $29 per month? You'd save $15 (29 - 5 - 9) a month, but is there another reason?
      mritchie712 on HN
    • I’m going to be the contrarian here :) I would just pay $29/month for Shopify basic plan. Is the $20 difference worth self hosting and tweaking a custom thing? You’ll quickly…
      throwarayes on HN
  • Does it work with plans above Lite

    From 1 comment
    • Will this work with the other plans as well? I was looking into Shopify the other day, would like to accept non-credit card payments as well (so need a higher plan) but I love…
      dstick on HN
  • Whether this conflicts with Shopify's terms of service

    From 2 comments
    • Haven't read the full terms of service for shopify, but i could imagine that this doesn't align well with the strategy of shopify?
      ako on HN
    • Indeed. Nice work, but it feels like you're circumventing the exact restriction of the Lite plan. I imagine they'd shut you down if you got too much business.
      mr_ploppy on HN

Alternatives named

  • Shopify Basic plan

    From 2 comments
    • Why would someone use this + Shopify Lite instead of just upgrading to "Basic Shopify" for $29 per month? You'd save $15 (29 - 5 - 9) a month, but is there another reason?
      mritchie712 on HN
    • I’m going to be the contrarian here :) I would just pay $29/month for Shopify basic plan. Is the $20 difference worth self hosting and tweaking a custom thing? You’ll quickly…
      throwarayes on HN
  • WooCommerce

    From 2 comments
    • Since its relevant going to ask for recommendation here. I am setting up an online store for my parents. I can host and manage it at least for the initial days where they can…
      vira28 on HN
    • I've used WooCommerce before for my wife's online store. I hosted it in DO. It's okay, but not as good as Shopify in terms of payments, inventory management etc. I also ended up…
      hapiben on HN
  • Shopify headless storefront (Buy Button snippets)

    From 1 comment
    • It's been a few years since I built a Shopify store but iirc they give you an HTML/JS/iFrame "snippet" of your products you can copy paste anywhere you like.
      neither_color on HN

Category, keywords, summaries and labels on this page were made by AI (Thread Reader v2) and not checked by hand. Each point links to the comments it came from.

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