Two quotes for an online store can differ widely and both be honest. This guide shows what sits behind the gap and what to ask before you compare them.
Ecommerce website cost depends on the platform, how much of the design is custom, the size and variety of the catalogue, the payment, shipping and tax setup, and any links to other software. After launch you also pay for hosting or a platform plan, payment gateway fees, apps or plugins, and maintenance. Compare quotes by their lists of work, not by the total.
Why ecommerce website cost differs so much between quotes
Ecommerce website cost is the total of a list of work, and every agency writes a different list. An online store is a website plus a catalogue, a cart, a checkout, payment handling, tax invoices, shipping rules and an order system for your staff. One quote may cover all of that. Another may cover only the storefront and leave the rest as extras that appear later.
Four differences usually explain a gap between two quotes.
- The scope is different. One agency priced twenty products and another priced two thousand, and neither wrote the number down.
- The starting point is different. A ready-made theme with your logo is a smaller job than a layout designed around your products and customers.
- The responsibilities are different. Writing product descriptions, editing photographs, loading the catalogue and testing the checkout can sit with you or with the agency.
- The terms after launch are different. Hosting, support, updates and fixes may be included, charged separately or left out.
A lower total is therefore not a better or worse deal until you know which of those four it assumes. The sections below go through each factor so you can see where your own store sits.
What changes the price of the build
These factors move the one-off cost of building the store. The table shows what keeps each one small and what makes it larger.
| Factor | Keeps it smaller | Makes it larger |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | A hosted platform used close to how it comes | A self-managed or fully custom build with its own admin area |
| Design | A theme adjusted with your logo, colours and images | Custom layouts, custom product pages and a bespoke checkout |
| Catalogue | Few products, no variants, simple categories | Many products, sizes and colours, bundles, made-to-order items |
| Product data | Clean data and images from you, ready to import | Data in several formats, missing details, photographs to edit, a move from an old store |
| Payments | One gateway and a plain checkout | Several gateways, rules for local payment methods, wallets, instalment options, saved cards |
| Tax and invoices | One tax setup and a standard invoice | Mixed rates, interstate sales, custom invoice formats, business-to-business invoicing |
| Shipping | One courier and a simple rate | Rates by weight, zone and pin code, several couriers, tracking inside the customer account |
| Customer accounts | Guest checkout and basic login | Wishlists, reviews, loyalty schemes, repeat-order tools |
| Integrations | None, or one | Stock system, accounting software, CRM, WhatsApp messaging, email marketing, marketplace feeds |
| Search and filters | Standard category pages | Search with filters, sorting and recommendations |
| Languages and currencies | One | More than one |
| Admin and staff | One owner login | Several staff roles, approval steps, reports |
Payments, local rules and tax
Taking a card payment through a gateway is routine work. The extra cost comes from the rules around it. If you offer cash on delivery or another manual method, decide whether it should be limited by order value, area or product, and what happens when a parcel is refused. Tax invoices need the right details on every order, and what they must contain is a question for your accountant.
Shipping
Shipping can be one flat rule or a table of rates by weight and destination, with live tracking in the customer's account. The second is more work to build and to test. The courier or aggregator you pick also decides what can be automated.
Catalogue size and product data
The number of products matters less than how different they are from one another. Two hundred products in the same format can be imported from a spreadsheet in one pass. Fifty products with different attributes, sizes and bundles need every setup checked by hand. Ask who prepares the product data, because that is often the biggest task nobody priced.
Template store or custom store: where the difference sits
A template store is usually the smaller job to start. The design, cart and checkout already exist, so the work goes into setting them up, loading products and testing. A custom store is built to your requirements. That means more design time, more development and more testing, and also more freedom over how customers shop.
It does not follow that the template route stays the cheaper one. Features the template lacks are often added through paid apps or plugins, and those can carry subscriptions or licence renewals. A custom build is usually a larger one-off cost, but what is built in has no separate app bill, and the code can be shaped around your catalogue. Which balance favours you depends on how unusual your selling process is. If you sell standard products with a standard checkout, a template is rarely a compromise. If you sell made-to-order goods, bulk orders or items with complicated rules, a template may start to force workarounds.
Many stores sit between the two: a template with a few custom parts. Our comparison of a custom ecommerce website and Shopify covers ownership, flexibility and limits on each side.
The ongoing costs of running an online store
The build is the first bill, not the last. These recurring costs belong in any budget, and a good quote says which of them the agency is responsible for.
- Domain renewal, which comes up every year.
- Hosting, or the subscription for a hosted platform. On a hosted platform the charge usually rises with the plan you need.
- Payment gateway fees, normally a percentage of each order with tax added on the fee. Some hosted platforms add their own transaction fee on top of the gateway's, so check this when you compare platforms.
- Apps, plugins and extensions, many of which are charged monthly or renewed yearly.
- Messaging, such as email, SMS and WhatsApp notifications, which is often billed by volume.
- Security and maintenance: updates, backups, malware scans and fixes. The guide to what website maintenance includes explains this work.
- Changes after launch, such as a new payment method, a seasonal sale or a redesigned product page, either inside a support plan or paid by the hour.
- Photography, copywriting and catalogue upkeep, which fall to you whoever builds the store.
- Marketing, including search optimisation and paid ads, which is a separate budget from the website.
- Courier charges, packaging, returns and refunds. These are costs of selling rather than of the website, but they shape how the store is set up.
What a good ecommerce quote should include
Ask for the quote as a written document you can read line by line. It should answer these points.
- Which platform the store is built on, and whose name the platform, domain and hosting accounts are in.
- How many products are included, how they are loaded and who prepares the data and photographs.
- Whether the design is a template with your branding or a custom design, and how many rounds of changes are included.
- Which payment methods are set up, with any special payment rules.
- How shipping rates and courier connections are handled.
- How tax invoices are produced and which details they carry.
- Every integration, named one by one.
- What is done for search visibility at launch, such as page titles, product page structure and a sitemap.
- How testing works, including test orders on a real phone before launch.
- What happens after launch: the support period, what counts as a bug and what counts as a new request.
- Who owns the code, the content and the customer data at the end.
- What is not included.
The last point matters most. A quote that lists its exclusions was usually written by someone who has thought through the project. If a quote lists none, ask what adding a second payment method after launch would involve and how it would be charged.
How to get quotes you can compare
Write one page that describes your store before you contact anyone: what you sell, how many products you have, which payment and shipping options you need, which tools you already use and what must be live on day one. Send the same page to each agency, so the answers cover the same ground.
Then split every answer into one-off costs and recurring costs. Ask for a quote for the first launch only, with later features priced separately. A phased plan is easier to compare and easier to afford. A sensible first phase is the catalogue, cart, checkout, payments, shipping and invoices. Reviews, loyalty schemes, wishlists and extra languages can follow once orders are coming in and you can see what customers use.
Two questions test a quote quickly. What would it involve to double the number of products later? What would it involve to add another payment method? Vague answers usually mean the quote is thin elsewhere too.
Liftup builds ecommerce websites, and the ecommerce solutions page describes that service. A feature list like the one above is a good thing to bring to a first conversation with any agency.
Questions and answers
Why do ecommerce website quotes differ so much?
Quotes differ because they price different lists of work. The platform, how custom the design is, who loads the products, which payment, shipping and tax setups are included, and what happens after launch can all vary. Ask each agency for its inclusions and exclusions, and compare those lists before you compare the totals.
What are the ongoing costs of an online store?
The usual recurring costs are domain renewal, hosting or a platform subscription, payment gateway fees, paid apps or plugins, messaging, security and maintenance, and changes after launch. Marketing, courier charges and product photography are separate again. Ask which of these the quote covers and which you pay yourself.
Which features make a store more expensive?
Features that carry rules or connect to other systems add the most work. Examples are rules for local payment methods, shipping rates by zone, several payment methods, links to stock or accounting software, product variants and bundles, customer accounts with reviews or loyalty, and more than one language or currency. A plain catalogue with one gateway is the smallest build.
Is a template store cheaper than a custom one?
To start, usually yes, because the design, cart and checkout already exist. Over time it depends. Paid apps for missing features add recurring charges, while a custom build costs more at the start but fits unusual selling processes. The more standard your selling process is, the better a template works.
What should an ecommerce website quote include?
It should name the platform and who owns the accounts, the number of products and who loads them, the design approach and the rounds of changes, the payment methods, shipping and invoice setup, each integration, launch testing and the support after launch. It should also say who owns the code and data, and list what is excluded.
Does the number of products change the cost?
Sometimes, but the variety of the products matters more than the count. A large catalogue in one consistent format can be imported in bulk. A smaller one with many attributes, variants and bundles takes more setup and checking. Ask who prepares the product data, since that is often the biggest unpriced task.
Can I start small and add features later?
Yes, and it is usually sensible. Launch with the catalogue, checkout, payments, shipping and invoices, then add reviews, loyalty schemes or extra languages once orders arrive. Ask the agency whether the platform and the way the store is built will allow later additions without a rebuild.