Guide

How to sell baked goods online from your home kitchen

To sell baked goods online, first confirm what your state's cottage food rules allow (many limit or ban shipping across state lines), then choose one channel to start with, price every item for its packaging, payment fees and delivery, take a deposit on custom orders, and keep every order in one place. Most home bakers already sell online without calling it that: a photo on Instagram, a message on WhatsApp, a payment link, a pickup on Saturday. This guide turns that into a routine you can repeat, with a worked pricing example for cookies, a comparison of the main channels, and a list of what travels well.

Check the rules before your first online sale

In the United States, selling food made in a home kitchen is governed by state cottage food laws, and they differ a lot. Some states let you ship anywhere inside the state, some only allow sales handed over in person, and most cottage food laws do not cover shipping to other states, which usually needs a licensed commercial kitchen. Online ordering with local pickup or delivery is allowed in many states even where shipping is not.

Read your state's rules, or the guide for your state on this site, before you build a menu. The points that matter most for online sales are below. This is general information, not legal advice; your state or county health department has the final word.

• Whether online or phone orders are allowed, and whether the hand-off must be in person.
• Whether you may ship or mail within the state, and to other states.
• Which foods are allowed: shelf-stable items such as cookies and breads are usually fine; cream fillings, cheesecake and anything needing refrigeration often are not.
• Labeling: many states require your name, address, ingredients, allergens and a statement that the food was made in a home kitchen, and some want that information shown on the online listing too.

Read next: Cottage food laws by state, Selling baked goods from home, legally and for a profit

How to sell baked goods online in seven steps

Start small and make it repeatable. A short menu you can bake well every week beats a long one you dread.

• Pick three to six products that travel and keep well, and that you can make in batches.
• Cost each one fully: ingredients, packaging, your time, oven time and a share of overhead.
• Set a price per channel, with pickup, local delivery and shipping priced separately.
• Choose one place to take orders: a messaging app, a social profile, a marketplace or your own page.
• Set an order deadline and a bake day, for example orders close Wednesday night for Saturday pickup.
• Take payment or a deposit before you bake, especially for custom cakes and large orders.
• Keep every order, customer and payment in one list, so nothing lives only in a chat thread.

Read next: How to calculate recipe cost, step by step, Cake and bakery order form: a free template for home bakers

Where to sell: the main channels compared

You do not need a website to start. Most home bakers begin where their customers already are and add channels once orders are steady.

Read next: Bakery social media and marketing ideas for home bakers, Selling baked goods at a farmers market, and making it pay

Price for online orders, not just for the market table

Selling online adds costs a market table does not have: sturdier boxes, cushioning, card or payment link fees, and delivery or postage. If your online price is the same as your market price, those costs come out of your profit.

Here is an example for one dozen chocolate chip cookies, using illustrative numbers. A batch of four dozen takes two hours; at 18 USD an hour that is 9.00 USD of labor per dozen. The price uses a 40 percent target margin: price = cost / (1 - 0.40).

In this example the shipped dozen needs a price of 32 USD plus shipping, against 27 USD for pickup. Your numbers will differ; the point is that each channel gets its own price, worked out from its own costs. Farinu prices from a markup on cost instead of a margin, so there the same 40 percent margin is a 66.7 percent markup: 16.30 x 1.667 = 27.17 USD.

Read next: How to price baked goods for profit, Profit margin calculator for bakers

What sells well online, and how to sell cookies online

If you plan to ship, choose items that stay good for several days at room temperature and survive a bumpy ride. Cookies are the classic choice, which is why so many bakers start by selling cookies online: they stack, they keep, and a dozen fits in a standard mailer box.

For local pickup and delivery the list is longer, but the same test applies: will it look as good on the customer's table as it did in your kitchen?

• Travel well: drop cookies, shortbread, brownies and blondies, biscotti, granola, loaf cakes, and many breads.
• Need care: decorated sugar cookies (heat-seal each one), macarons (cushion and avoid heat), cupcakes (inserts that hold each one).
• Usually local only: tiered cakes, cream-filled pastries, cheesecakes and anything that must stay cold.

Read next: Cookie pricing calculator

Take orders and deposits without losing track

The hard part of selling online is rarely the baking. It is remembering who ordered what, for which day, whether they paid the deposit, and how much is still owed at pickup. When orders come in through three apps, one gets missed.

Farinu keeps that list for you today. Each customer has a name and an optional WhatsApp number. Each custom order has a delivery date, the items priced from the price list you choose, such as retail or wholesale, the deposit, the balance, and a status from confirmed to ready, delivered and paid. When an order is paid, its items go into your sales log, so your monthly profit and loss is up to date without extra typing. The production plan shows what to bake for the orders due, and helpers can work on orders without ever seeing your costs.

Farinu also gives you an online shop with one link to share on WhatsApp or Instagram: customers see your menu and next pickup days, and on the same page pick products from your price list and a pickup day you can still bake for, and each request arrives in Farinu as a draft order for you to confirm. The free plan includes it, with up to 50 orders a month and costing for up to 10 recipes; Team removes the order limit.

Read next: Order management for bakeries, A bakery online ordering system that turns requests into real orders, How to make a bakery website: five blocks and a free storefront

Questions

Can I sell baked goods online from home?

In most US states, yes, under cottage food laws, but the details vary: some allow online orders only with in-person pickup or delivery, and shipping to other states is usually not covered. Check your state's cottage food rules or health department first.

How much should I charge for shipped cookies?

Start from your full cost per dozen, add the extra packaging and payment fees, apply your margin, and charge shipping separately or build it into the price. In the example above, a dozen that costs 19.00 USD to make and pack sells for 32 USD plus shipping.

Can Farinu take online orders for me?

Yes. Share the link to your online shop: customers choose products and a pickup day you can still bake for, and each request arrives as a draft order that you confirm or decline. Farinu takes no card payments; you agree the deposit with the customer and record it on the order.

Related pages

• Order management for bakeries
• Cottage food laws by state
• Selling baked goods from home, legally and for a profit
• Cake and bakery order form: a free template for home bakers
• Cookie pricing calculator
• A bakery online ordering system that turns requests into real orders
• Permits to sell cakes in Mexico from home