Getting started as a maker

You can open a shop and build your first listing in one sitting. Verification comes later, so nothing blocks you from making a start.

Can you sell here?

Two things have to be true. You need to be based in the UK, because that’s where we can pay out to and where the consumer law we’re built around applies. Northern Ireland counts. The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man sit outside the UK, so we can’t take makers there yet. And what you sell has to be made by you, which what counts as handmade sets out properly.

Orders only go to England, Scotland and Wales for now, so you won’t be posting to Northern Ireland or abroad.

You don’t need to be a registered business. Your responsibilities as a maker covers the tax and safety side, and it’s worth ten minutes before you list anything.

1. Create your account

Sign up at lumamarket.co.uk/sign-up. You’ll need to verify your email address before you can go further.

2. Open your shop

Select Open your shop in the header, or Sell on Luma from the footer, and the setup walks you through:

1. Your shop name. We check availability as you type, so you’ll know straight away if it’s taken. Letters, numbers, spaces, hyphens and apostrophes. Choose carefully: it becomes your web address. You can change it as often as you like until you set up payments. After that, we change it for you when you ask.
2. Your business. Your business structure, confirmation that you’re based in the UK, the name you trade under, your business address, a return address (it can be the same one), and whether you’re VAT registered. Most small makers aren’t. The law says a shopper has to be told who they’re buying from, which is why we ask.
3. What you make. Tell us what you make and how you make it, and add at least one photo of your work. Your website or social accounts are optional, but they help us get a feel for your work.
4. Your commitments. Your fee, the promises every maker on Luma makes about their work and their shoppers, and our terms.

Your progress saves in this browser as you go, so closing the tab doesn’t cost you anything. It won’t follow you to another device, so finish on the one you started on.

3. We check your shop

A real person at Luma checks every new shop by hand before it can go live, so you can’t publish anything until we’ve approved yours. We’ll email you as soon as we have.

While you wait, you can build one listing as a draft to get a feel for how it works, set your postage up and write your shop profile. You can add more listings once your shop is approved.

4. Finish your setup

Your dashboard carries a checklist of what’s left:

• Create your first listing. Drafts don’t need anything else in place first.
• Add your business details. Your trading name and business address. You gave us these in setup, so this one is usually ticked already.
• Add a return address. Where returns come back to. Also usually ticked from setup.
• Verify your details to get paid. Our payment provider (Stripe) handles identity checks and sends your money to your bank. We ask for this once your shop is cleared to sell. It all happens on Luma, so there’s no second account to sign in to.

5. Make your shop look like yours

Shop profile, tagline, header image, logo, social links and postage all live under Manage shop. Take your time over the profile in particular.

Postage is the one worth doing before you list rather than after, because every listing points at it. Setting up postage and delivery covers postage methods, free postage and upgrades.

6. Publish

A listing goes live once the checklist above is done and the listing itself is complete. Publishing your first listing covers both.

7. Share your shop

Your shop will have a public address at lumamarket.co.uk/shop/your-shop-name. While Luma is in beta, only you can open it, so hold off sharing it until we open to shoppers. After that, put it wherever you already talk about your work.

Tips for a strong start

• Photograph in daylight on a plain background. Keep them real: mockups, renders and AI-generated or AI-enhanced images aren’t allowed.
• Write honestly and in detail. Dimensions, materials, care instructions. Shoppers buying handmade want to know exactly what’s coming.
• Give yourself enough days to post. Each listing says how many days you take to post an order. Set it for a busy week, not a quiet one. Posting sooner costs you nothing, but an order posted after that many days counts as late, and late orders move your listings down in search.