Pilot Project
From a weekend collecting hobby to an online store ready to scale.
Two collectors rescue one-of-a-kind antique bottles from long-gone homesteads. Their business ran on flea markets and word of mouth, and they didn’t want a second job just to sell online. Now they have a storefront at secondlightbottleco.com and listing a new piece takes a photo and a click.
1 day
from kickoff to a live, public storefront
1 photo
to start a complete, ready-to-review listing
0
spreadsheets or extra inboxes to keep up with
What We Built
The brief, in one sentence: take a photo, upload it, done.
A storefront that sells the story
Every bottle gets its own page with its history, era and condition, organized the way buyers shop: collectors, decor, gifts and wholesale.
Listing in a photo, not an evening
Snap a photo and a full draft listing is waiting, from description to suggested price. The owners review and approve every one before it goes live.
One dashboard for the whole business
Requests, inventory, sales and insights in one place, so nothing slips through and there's no spreadsheet to maintain.
Ready for real customers
Search-friendly pages, fast photos, accessibility built in, privacy-safe images and the policies a shop needs before its first sale.
How We Got It Ready
More than a build: every step a real business needs before customers arrive.
- 01
Discovery and plan
How the owners find, sell and ship, turned into an approved plan before any build.
- 02
Design and build
A storefront and admin designed around their process, not a template.
- 03
Functionality review
Every flow tested end to end, from upload to listing to buyer request.
- 04
Compliance review
Terms, privacy, shipping and returns, checkout consent and sales tax, handed off as an attorney-ready checklist.
- 05
Privacy and security review
Location data stripped from every photo, protected admin access and safeguards for one-of-a-kind sales.
- 06
Accessibility review
Screen reader, keyboard and contrast checks across the site.
- 07
Search setup
Unique page titles, product details search engines understand, and a sitemap.
- 08
Launch, audit and refine
Live in a day, then a full post-launch audit with every fix verified before it shipped.
- 09
Training and handoff
A walkthrough of everything the owners run themselves.
Compliance reviews are research to support the client’s own legal review, not legal advice.
Behind the Scenes
The whole operation runs from a few simple screens. Real screenshots, not mockups.
Dashboard
Every request and every piece of inventory, on one screen.
Review a listing
A complete draft, ready for a quick check and a click to publish.
Insights
Sales, inquiries and inventory health at a glance.
The Result
A real online business, without a second job to run it.
Rare pieces now have pages that do their history justice, buyers can find and request them any time, and the owners spend their time finding bottles instead of fighting software. When they’re ready for live payments, shipping labels or bookkeeping, it all plugs into what’s already there.
What We Can Build for You
Have a passion, a side hustle or a business that deserves a better home online?
- A custom storefront or website that tells your story and sells for you
- An admin built around how you actually work, not a template's idea of it
- Listing, intake and paperwork shortcuts that give you your evenings back
- Search, accessibility and the legal basics handled from day one
Second Light was built as a no-fee founding pilot project.