Selling direct from the farm online: website, orders and payments

To sell farm produce online in Australia, start with how the food will reach people (farm gate pickup, set pickup points, your own delivery run or a courier), then choose a shop setup that can handle stock that changes each week and order cut-off times. Take payment at the time of order, tell your local food regulatory agency about the business before you start, and ask buyers at checkout whether they’d like to hear about next week’s produce.

This guide is for farms selling direct: meat boxes, eggs, fruit and vegetables, honey, preserves or anything else you grow or make. It covers the practical setup, not marketing theory, and it points you to the right authorities rather than guessing at rules that differ between states and products.

Start with how you will get food to people

Your delivery method shapes everything else: what you can sell, how far you can reach, how often orders close and what your website needs to do. Decide it first.

Most farms do best with one or two fixed delivery or pickup days each week. Customers learn the rhythm, you harvest or pack for known orders, and you can group deliveries by area. For regional customers, a weekly pickup point in town is often more practical than door-to-door.

Shop options: marketplace, hosted shop or your own site

There are three broad ways to take orders online.

Marketplaces and food hubs

Some online farmers’ markets and food hubs list many producers and handle the shop for you. They’re quick to start and bring you buyers, but they take a commission, own the customer relationship and set the rules on pickup and delivery days.

Hosted shop platforms

Platforms such as Shopify or Square Online give you a shop on your own domain with a monthly fee. They handle payments and security. Check that the platform can do local pickup, delivery zones by postcode and order cut-off times before you commit; some need add-ons to do it well.

Your own website with a shop

A WordPress site with WooCommerce, or a similar setup, gives you the most control: your story, your photos, your rules for pickup and delivery. It also needs someone to keep it updated and secure. Choose based on who will look after it, not just on features.

Whichever you pick, own your domain and your customer list. If you later move platforms, those are the two things you can’t afford to lose.

Taking orders when stock changes every week

A normal online shop assumes stock is steady. A farm’s isn’t. The setup that works for most direct-selling farms is an order window:

1. Open orders on a set day with what’s available this week.
2. Set stock levels for each product, so items show “sold out” automatically.
3. Close orders at a fixed cut-off, giving you time to harvest, pack or collect from the butcher.
4. Pack and deliver on your fixed days.

Some practical points:

• Sell meat by the box or bundle rather than by exact weight where you can. If you must sell by weight, say how the final price is worked out and when you’ll charge the difference.
• Keep product descriptions short: what it is, quantity, how it’s packed, and storage.
• Let people choose their pickup point or delivery day at checkout, and only show the options that apply to their postcode.
• Send an automatic order confirmation with the pickup or delivery details, and a reminder the day before.

Payments, deposits and pre-orders

Take payment when the order is placed. It cuts no-shows at pickup and saves you chasing money. Most shop platforms connect to a payment provider for card payments, and many buyers will expect to pay with a phone or digital wallet. If you’re choosing a provider, our comparison of Stripe vs Square covers how they differ for small businesses.

Pre-orders and deposits suit larger or seasonal items, such as a whole or half animal, a Christmas order or a season’s share of produce:

• Take a deposit to hold the order, and the balance before pickup.
• Write the terms where buyers see them before they pay: what the deposit covers, when the balance is due and what happens if you can’t supply.
• For subscription boxes, use recurring payments, and make pausing and cancelling easy.

Keep cash and bank transfer as a backup for regulars at the farm gate, but put those orders through the same system so your packing list is complete. For setting up card, deposit and recurring payments properly, see our online payments and invoicing service.

Food safety and registration: who to ask

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) says that no matter how big or small your food business is, including if it’s home-based or online, you must tell your local food regulatory agency before you start, and again when your activities change. In most states that’s your local council; in some cases it’s a state or territory health department or food authority.

Some products carry extra requirements. Chapter 4 of the Food Standards Code has primary production and processing standards for products including seafood, poultry, meat, dairy, eggs, seed sprouts, berries and leafy vegetables. How those are applied, including any licences, accreditation or approved processing, is managed by each state and territory.

The rules depend on your product and your state, so don’t rely on what a neighbour in another state was told. FSANZ keeps a list of food regulatory agencies for each state and territory. Call yours, describe exactly what you plan to sell and how it will be stored and delivered, and write down what they tell you. This is general information, not legal advice.

Bringing buyers back: order reminders and updates

Direct selling works on repeat orders. Your most valuable message is a short note when the order window opens: what’s available this week and when orders close.

That message is marketing, so Australia’s Spam Act applies. According to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), you need consent before sending marketing emails or texts, every message must identify your business and include contact details, and there must be an easy unsubscribe that’s honoured within five working days. ACMA also says inferred consent doesn’t cover someone who has just bought something from you, and you can’t send a message asking for consent.

So ask at checkout. A tick box saying “Email me when orders open each week” (and a separate one for texts, if you use them) gives you clear consent. Keep a record of when and how each person agreed.

Order confirmations and pickup reminders are different. A message with only factual information about an order someone has placed doesn’t need consent, but ACMA has warned that adding any promotional content makes it commercial. Keep “your box is ready Thursday” and “lamb is back next week” in separate messages. This is general information, not legal advice; check ACMA’s guidance for the detail.

A simple first season plan

1. Call your local food regulatory agency and confirm what you need for the products you plan to sell.
2. Pick one or two delivery or pickup days and the areas you’ll cover.
3. Choose a shop setup you can maintain, on a domain you own.
4. List a small range first: your best sellers, with stock levels and a weekly cut-off.
5. Take payment at checkout, and add an opt-in box for weekly updates.
6. Send a confirmation with every order and a reminder the day before pickup.
7. After the first season, look at what sold, which days worked and who reordered, then expand.

If you’d like help putting the shop, payments and weekly updates together, our website design and build work covers order windows, pickup options and delivery zones, and our agriculture page shows how we work with farms and growers.