Earlier this year I was planning a trip to the 🇺🇸 US. Despite the current political situation there, I had a great time and met some wonderful people. I did not have a single negative experience.
During trip planning, I started looking for an eSIM. An electronic SIM card for mobile data while I am in the US. There are many options. But I noticed something: not a single one of my options was 🦁 Dutch.
So then I started digging a little deeper into how these operations work. And it turns out it’s pretty straightforward. You have an app or website that is your storefront, and as soon as someone tries to buy an eSIM from you, you place an order with one of the few wholesale suppliers. You take care of delivery and customer service.
I, thinking, ‘What do I have to lose?’ started working on a simple proof of concept, and within 2 weeks my website was live.
That website is
It works like this:
- You go to the website, pick a destination (either country or a region / group of countries)
- You pick a plan (fixed data plan or unlimited).
- You pay
- You install the eSIM
- ???.. Internet!
You’re not tied to a subscription. It’s just install, use, delete, done.
My goal also was to keep the website as simple as possible and as privacy friendly as possible. Like using Umami for tracking visitors and only asking for a name & e-mail (you can leave a phone number so we can find your order when you contact me through WhatsApp).
So now, there is a new, trusted, Dutch eSIM webshop. Somewhere you can pay with iDEAL, get a good price, and get help in Dutch should you need it.
I did not pick a standard eCommerce stack but rather started building on Next.js. Admittedly with some AI help. Which has served me well so far. It helps if you know what you’re doing :).
The reason I am writing this post is I just got my first 25th real, paying customer! It is really fun to see that something I built on the side is actually helping people. And the prices I can offer are (for most countries anyway) competitive.
If you’re interested, the tech stack looks something like this:
| Tool | Use |
|---|---|
| Next.js | Frontend |
| Supabase (Integrates Postgres and PostREST) | Backend API |
| Postal | transactional e-mail |
| Coolify | Automated deployment |
| Chatwoot | Customer service (WhatsApp, email) |
| Umami | Visitor tracking |
| Proxmox | Virtualization engine (runs Coolify and Postal VM) |