# Building a webshop in Belgium: costs and affordable options | Fokuus [Home](https://fokuus.be/en/) [Blog](https://fokuus.be/en/blog/) Building a webshop in Belgium: costs and affordable options # Building a webshop in Belgium: costs and affordable options How much does a webshop cost in Belgium? Real prices for Shopify, WooCommerce hosting and Bancontact, what can be free or cheap, and when cheap turns out more expensive. [Anton Pycarelle](https://fokuus.be/en/about/) 19 August 20267 min read time Updated on 15 October 2026 ## In this article - [When a webshop is the wrong answer](https://fokuus.be/#wanneer-een-webshop-het-verkeerde-antwoord-is) - [Renting: Shopify, and what that costs per month](https://fokuus.be/#huren-shopify-of-lightspeed) - [Owning yourself: WooCommerce](https://fokuus.be/#zelf-bezitten-woocommerce) - [What does a webshop really cost?](https://fokuus.be/#wat-kost-een-webshop-echt) - [Starting free or cheap: what's possible and when it gets expensive](https://fokuus.be/#gratis-of-goedkoop-starten) - [Customization is the exception, not the standard](https://fokuus.be/#maatwerk-is-de-uitzondering) - [Belgian reality: Bancontact, VAT and returns](https://fokuus.be/#belgische-realiteit-bancontact-btw-retours) - [That's how you decide.](https://fokuus.be/#zo-beslis-je) A webshop on Shopify Basic costs 24 euros per month in Belgium if you pay annually, plus 39 cents for every payment with Bancontact. That is the bare platform price on the [Belgian Shopify pricing page](https://www.shopify.com/be/prijzen) , checked on 28 September 2026. Having a webshop built costs more, and sometimes the honest answer is: no webshop. Arvaro sells second-hand cars. Their site shows every car with photos, price and a button to call or email, but no shopping cart: nobody pays for a car without having sat in it first. Arvaro needed a [central management system](https://fokuus.be/en/cases/arvaro/) that puts every car live on its own website, AutoScout24 and Facebook Marketplace after a single entry. So the choice starts with how your customer buys. ## When a webshop is the wrong answer A webshop works like three things: your products are standard, your prices are fixed and you can deliver without prior discussion. Clothing, food, parts, books: fine. If one of the three falls away, it becomes wringing. If you sell to order or after a quote, a checkout button is more likely to drive customers away. And anyone expecting a handful of orders per month pays more in subscription, payment costs and returns than the shop brings in. Then a good product catalogue with a smooth contact flow is the better answer. ## Renting: Shopify, and what that costs per month With a platform like Shopify, you rent your webshop. Hosting, updates, security and the payment page are taken care of; you add products and sell. The Basic plan costs 24 euros per month with annual billing and 32 euros with monthly billing. After three free days, most plans charge 1 euro per month for three months. On top of that, you pay per sale. With Shopify Payments, a standard online card payment on Basic costs 2 percent plus 25 cents, and a Bancontact payment costs 39 cents. If you choose a different payment provider, Shopify charges an extra 2 percent transaction fee on Basic. Shopify does not state on its pricing page whether these amounts include or exclude VAT. We only build new webshops on Shopify. How that works, you can read on our page about [having a webshop built with Shopify](https://fokuus.be/en/webshop-laten-maken/) . The downside: you stay within the lines of the platform, and every deviation becomes an app with its own monthly price. ## Owning yourself: WooCommerce WooCommerce is a [free, open-source plugin](https://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce/) for WordPress. You pay no platform subscription, but you do pay for hosting. At the Belgian [Combell](https://www.combell.com/nl/woocommerce-wordpress-webshop) the entry-level Managed WooCommerce Business package costs 8.99 euros per month in the first year and 21.99 euros after that, excl. VAT. For the payments, you can use, for example, [Mollie](https://www.mollie.com/be/pricing) : no subscription, but 39 cents per Bancontact payment and 1.80 percent plus 25 cents per payment with a European consumer card. In return for that hosting, you own your data and are not tied to any platform. WordPress, WooCommerce and every plugin do get updates; with this package, Combell tests and installs them itself, if they are compatible with your site. Whether your shipping rules, VAT settings and payment methods still work correctly afterwards remains your responsibility, or that of whoever manages your shop. ## What does a webshop really cost? What it costs to have a webshop built breaks down into three items. First, the work to set it up: your catalogue with variants and images, payments, shipping rules, VAT settings and testing. Have us do that, and you get a custom quote from us, fixed before we start; do it yourself, and you pay with your own hours. Then the fixed costs for platform or hosting and domain name, more than 300 euros per year from the second year onwards in the two examples below (excl. VAT at Combell). And finally, an amount per sale, such as 39 cents per Bancontact payment. With a .be domain name at Combell, according to the pricing pages on 28 September 2026. We do not publish a starting price for the setup. In our proposal, the costs of Shopify, apps, themes and transactions are listed separately from the project price, and we charge standalone assignments at 80 euros per hour, excl. VAT. How a project price is built up, you can read in [our web site cost guide](https://fokuus.be/en/blog/wat-kost-professionele-website-belgie/) . Tip #### The purchase price is not the total price Calculate every quote over three years, including subscription or hosting, payment costs and apps. As an example: a shop costing 3,000 euros with 150 euros per month in subscription, apps and maintenance then costs more than a shop costing 6,000 euros with 40 euros per month. These are example amounts, not Fokuus rates. ## Starting free or cheap: what's possible and when it gets expensive Where can you build a webshop for free? Nowhere, if you mean: on your own domain name and with online payments, because that domain name alone already costs money. WooCommerce is free software, but needs paid hosting. Shopify is free for three days. And with Wix's free package, online payments and your own domain name are [not included](https://support.wix.com/nl/article/upgraden-naar-premium) . Going cheap is possible, if you set it up yourself. The chart shows what that costs in fixed terms: in the first year, WooCommerce with Combell is cheaper, and from the second year the two routes barely differ. On Shopify, choose Shopify Payments then, not Mollie, to avoid that extra 2 percent per sale. For a first shop of your own, we still recommend Shopify, because store, hosting, updates and payment page all come from one source. You start with a subscription, one of the [free themes](https://themes.shopify.com/themes?price%5B%5D=free) and your own photos and texts; you pay for the rest with your own time. Building it yourself doesn't mean doing it alone: [Bernamo](https://fokuus.be/en/cases/bernamo/) builds and manages its own Shopify webshop and brings us in for targeted adjustments and the technical work. My honest answer to the question of where to get a cheap webshop built is, therefore: with yourself, with help for the parts you cannot finish alone. Going cheap is smart as long as you are testing whether your product sells online, with a small range and time to learn it yourself. It becomes expensive once your own hours are worth more than the help you save, or once your shop needs to do something no theme or app offers. ## Customization is the exception, not the standard Our position: most SMEs should not have a custom webshop built. A custom build only pays off when your process truly does not fit a platform. That was the case at Arvaro: no standard package covered a single entry that goes to three platforms at once, so we built [the system](https://fokuus.be/en/autovoorraad-synchronisatie/) ourselves. Custom-built, then, but not a webshop. The strongest counter-argument holds up: with a platform you keep paying and you are locked in. So calculate it over several years, apps included. Lock-in only becomes a real problem at high volume or with special processes, and by then you at least know exactly what you need to have built. ## Belgian reality: Bancontact, VAT and returns Anyone selling in Belgium offers Bancontact. With both Shopify Payments and Mollie, a Bancontact payment costs 39 cents: on an order of 10 euros, that is almost 4 percent of your revenue. Sell to consumers, then it applies [Right of withdrawal](https://economie.fgov.be/nl/themas/verkoop/reglementering/herroepingstermijnen/herroepingsrecht-bij-aankoop) : your customer can withdraw from a purchase made at a distance within 14 calendar days. The FPS Economy also mentions a withdrawal function on your website or app, which lets your customer withdraw from the agreement easily. Check how your platform handles this, and factor in returns from day one. The price you show a consumer must, according to the [FPS Economy](https://news.economie.fgov.be/227005-mag-een-product-meer-kosten-in-de-winkel-dan-op-de-webshop/) be the total price, incl. VAT. Above 10,000 euros per year in sales to private individuals in other EU countries, you charge, according to the [FPS Finance](https://financien.belgium.be/nl/ondernemingen/btw/e-commerce/oss/verkoop-goederen-vanuit-en-aan-eu) the VAT of your customer's country. Discuss that with your accountant before you open the shop, not after. ## That's how you decide. The short decision rule: - Your customer only buys after a conversation or quotation: no web shop, but a strong catalogue with a smooth contact flow. - Fixed products and prices, but no proof yet that they sell online: start on Shopify yourself. - It sells, and a platform may manage the store software: have a Shopify webshop built. - You want software and data in your own hands, and someone to keep up the maintenance: WooCommerce. - Your process demonstrably fits no platform at all: a custom build, but only after proven sales. Not sure which situation your business is in? On our [webshop page](https://fokuus.be/en/webshop-laten-maken/) you answer three short questions, or put your situation straight to us. We will also tell you honestly when the answer is "no webshop", or "start on your own first". If you would rather work with an agency nearby, take a look at our page about [having a website made in Kortrijk](https://fokuus.be/en/webdesign-kortrijk/) . ## Is an online store right for your business? Explore our approach to Shopify stores and the choices we discuss with you before starting. [Explore our online store approach](https://fokuus.be/en/webshop-laten-maken/) Webshop E-France Prices Shopify Customization Share [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffokuus.be%2Fen%2Fblog%2Fwebshop-laten-maken-belgie%2F) [DotsApp](https://wa.me/?text=Webshop%20laten%20maken%20in%20Belgi%C3%AB%3A%20kosten%20en%20goedkope%20opties%20https%3A%2F%2Ffokuus.be%2Fblog%2Fwebshop-laten-maken-belgie%2F) [Email](mailto:?subject=Webshop%20laten%20maken%20in%20Belgi%C3%AB%3A%20kosten%20en%20goedkope%20opties&body=https%3A%2F%2Ffokuus.be%2Fblog%2Fwebshop-laten-maken-belgie%2F) ## Get Fokuus updates. New articles and Fokuus's updates in your mailbox. You can unsubscribe at any time. ## Anton Pycarelle Founder of Fokuus Anton builds and optimizes websites for Belgian SMEs from Kortrijk. He writes about choices and experiences from real projects. [More about Fokuus](https://fokuus.be/en/about/) ## Keep reading. [All articles](https://fokuus.be/en/blog/) Website Costs · 8 min read time ### What does it cost to have a website built? Pricing in Belgium explained What does it cost to have a website built in Belgium? The five choices that determine your price, what can be free, and which costs really come back from year two. [Website Costs · 8 min read timeWhat does it cost to have a website built? Pricing in Belgium explainedWhat does it cost to have a website built in Belgium? The five choices that determine your price, what can be free, and which costs really come back from year two.](https://fokuus.be/en/blog/wat-kost-professionele-website-belgie/) Maintenance & Technique · 7 min reading time ### Secure a WordPress or PHP site: 10 things to check Secure a WordPress or PHP site: ten points, from a supported PHP version to an emergency plan, and who does each: you, your web developer or your host. [Maintenance & Technique · 7 min reading timeSecure a WordPress or PHP site: 10 things to checkSecure a WordPress or PHP site: ten points, from a supported PHP version to an emergency plan, and who does each: you, your web developer or your host.](https://fokuus.be/en/blog/php-wordpress-site-beveiligen/) [Bron](https://fokuus.be/en/blog/webshop-laten-maken-belgie/) · [Agentdocumentatie](https://fokuus.be/developers/)