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You spend hours perfecting your designs in Canva. Your digital products are polished, your creative assets are ready, and you know people would buy them if you could just figure out the selling part. You’ve likely looked at platforms like
But it’s possible to build a gorgeous, working online store using the Canva skills you already have—for free. You can turn those designs into dollars without ever leaving the platform you know and love. It’s not just possible; it’s surprisingly simple.
This guide will show you, step-by-step, how to build a stunning online store directly on a Canva website. We’ll turn your designs into a real, sellable product with a professional checkout experience and get you ready to make your first sale.
How It Works: The “Two-Tool” System
Before jumping into Canva, let’s break down how this process works. While Canva is a world-class design tool, it doesn’t handle payments by itself. To make this work, we use a simple “Two-Tool System.”
Think of it like this: Canva is your beautiful, creative storefront—the window display where customers browse your products. Then, a free, secure payment tool called Stripe will be your checkout engine—the part that safely handles the transaction.
This combination is powerful because it gives you total design freedom in Canva while relying on one of the world’s most trusted payment systems to handle the serious business of payments. The best part is that Stripe is free to set up, has no monthly fees, and only takes a small percentage when you make a sale. This means you pay nothing until you’re actually making money. Let’s get the payment side sorted out first.
Step 1: Set Up the Payment Engine in Stripe
First, you need to create your product and provide a way for people to pay for it. For this, head over to Stripe.com. If you don’t have an account, you will need to create one. It’s a good idea to do this first, as Stripe needs to verify your information and bank details, which can sometimes take a day or two. Go through their sign-up process, link your bank account so you can get paid, and complete your account setup. Stripe handles all the complex aspects like payment security and compliance, so you can be confident that your data—and your customers’ data—is safe.
Once you’re in your Stripe dashboard, the process is straightforward. You need to do two simple things: first, create a “Product,” and second, create a “Payment Link” for it.
Let’s pretend we’re selling a “Minimalist Digital Planner.”
First, find the “Product Catalog” in your Stripe dashboard and click “Add Product.” Here, you’ll fill in the details:
- Name: “The Minimalist Digital Planner 2026.”
- Description: Write a snappy summary of what your customer is getting.
- Image: Upload a great-looking image of your product. A sharp mockup can make all the difference.
- Pricing: Set it as a one-time payment and enter the price. Let’s say it’s $15. Choose your currency and click “Add Product.”
Your product now officially exists in the financial world. But customers need a way to buy it. With the product ready, it’s time to generate its payment link.
Still in Stripe, look for a “Create Payment Link” button or find it under the “Create” menu. Select the product you just made. Stripe will show you a preview of a clean checkout page it generates for you automatically. This page handles the customer’s name, email, and payment info. It even has Apple Pay and Google Pay built-in, which can help increase sales.
You can customize this page slightly—add your logo or change the colors—but the default looks great. Once you’re satisfied, hit “Create Link” in the top corner. Stripe will provide a unique URL. This link is the key. Copy it and keep it handy for pasting into your Canva site. You can repeat this process for any other products you want to sell.
Step 2: Design Your Canva Storefront
With your payment links copied and ready, it’s time for the fun part: designing a gorgeous storefront in Canva.
Log into Canva. In the search bar, type “Website” and select that option to see all the templates. Canva has thousands of professional-looking templates to start with. Find one that fits your brand’s vibe. Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect—every single element can be changed. For our planner example, a clean, modern-looking template would be a good choice.
A game-changing update from Canva is that websites are no longer just one long scrolling page. You can now build a full multi-page site. This means you can have a dedicated “Shop” page, an “About” page, and a “Contact” page for a more professional user experience.
Start with the homepage, as this is your first impression. Tweak the main section with a killer headline like “Organize Your Life, Beautifully.” Swap the stock photos for your own branded mockups that show the planner in action. Then, adjust the colors and fonts to match your brand.
Now, let’s build the “Shop” page itself. You can add this section to your homepage or create a new page called “Shop.” Create a layout that’s visually appealing. For each product, it’s a good idea to include:
- A beautiful mockup or product image.
- The product title, such as “The Minimalist Digital Planner 2026.”
- A short, punchy description that highlights the main benefit.
- The price, displayed clearly.
The most important part of each listing is the call-to-action button. Go into Canva’s elements, search for a “button,” or draw a shape yourself. Make it stand out with a contrasting color. The text should be a clear command, like “Buy Now” or “Get Instant Access.” Design this entire area to be clean, clear, and irresistible. Remember, this is your virtual shelf—make it look amazing.
Step 3: Connect Your Design to Your Checkout
You have a beautiful Canva storefront and powerful Stripe payment links. It’s time to connect them.
Go back to your Canva design. Find the first product you listed and click on the “Buy Now” button you created for it. With that button selected, look for the “link” icon in the toolbar at the top right, which looks like a small paperclip or chain. Click it.
Paste the Stripe payment link you copied for that specific product into the box and hit enter. Here’s a pro-tip for a better user experience: click the link again and choose the option to “Open in a new tab.” This way, when a customer finishes their purchase, your website remains open in their browser.
Here’s another tip: sometimes the button’s text is a separate object from the button’s shape. To ensure your button works no matter where someone clicks, group the text and the shape together first, and then add the link to the entire group.
That’s it. You have just connected your design to a live checkout. Repeat this exact process for every other “Buy Now” button on your site, pasting the correct Stripe link for each product. Your Canva design is no longer just a pretty picture; it’s a real, working storefront.
Step 4: Publish and Test Your Store
With the site designed and the links connected, the final step is to publish your website and run a quick test.
In the top right corner of Canva, click the “Publish Website” button. Canva provides a few options. You can publish to a free Canva domain, which will look something like yourname.my.canva.site. This is a fantastic way to get started at no cost. Alternatively, if you have Canva Pro, you can connect a custom domain you already own for an extra professional touch.
Before you publish, double-check that the “Resize on mobile” option is enabled so your site looks great on phones. Go through the final settings, add a site description for Google search results, and hit “Publish.”
Your website is now live. Before sharing it, it’s crucial to test it. Open your live website URL in a new browser window. Go to your shop and click one of your “Buy Now” buttons.
You should be taken immediately to the secure Stripe checkout page for that product, where you’ll see the name, price, and payment fields. To perform a full test without spending your own money, you can use Stripe’s “test mode” and their list of test credit card numbers. This allows you to go through a simulated purchase from start to finish. After a successful “payment,” you’ll see a confirmation page and receive a notification in your Stripe account.
Once you’ve confirmed everything works smoothly, you are officially in business.
Conclusion
Just like that, you have a beautiful, fully functional online store ready to sell your creative work, built entirely on Canva for free. You’ve gone from an idea to a live product with a secure checkout, all without writing code or paying for an expensive subscription. By combining the design power of Canva with the financial security of Stripe, you have built your own small business online.
If you have any questions about this process—Stripe, Canva, linking, or anything else—feel free to drop them in the comments below.
Finally, if this guide was helpful and gave you the confidence to start selling your own products, please consider sharing it. You have incredible value to offer, and now you have a simple, beautiful way to share it with the world.
