Arvaro sells used cars. Their site shows every car with photos, price and a button to call or mail. However, it is not a web shop: there is no shopping basket and no checkout page, because nobody charges for a car without having been in it first. What Arvaros needed was a Central management system that every car automatically sets live on its own website, Autoscout24 and Facebook Marketplace after one entry. The link brings together the management and publication of the offer.
I start with that because "webshop-making" is often the wrong first question. The right question is: how does your customer buy, and what system fits? Only then you choose between renting at a platform like Shopify or Light Speed, owning yourself with WooCommerce, or having custom built.
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 customised, with customer-specific prices or after a quote, then a checkout button will scare customers away rather than selling. B2B customers with their own discounts do not want a public price list. And if they expect a handful of orders per month, pay more in maintenance, payment link and return handling than the shop pays. In these cases, a good product catalogue with a smooth contact flow is the better answer, as with Arvaro.
The three routes below differ mainly in who carries the work: when renting, the platform does that, at WooCommerce you or your desk, a customized development team that you will need after delivery.
Hire: Shopify of Light Speed
You can rent your webshop with a SaaS platform. Hosting, updates, security and payment page are arranged; you fill in products and sell them. Shopify Basic has platform and payment costs. Check the current plan, the billing period and the country to which the rates apply.
Light Speed has several packages. Compare the features and current costs that suit your store. It is especially interesting for traders who also have a physical shop with a cash register system and want to manage their stock in one place.
The limitation of rental: you color within the lines of the platform. Every deviation becomes an app with a month's price. After a few years, your shop runs like this on a pile of subscriptions, and then get away later is a project in itself. For most starters that is a great exchange: you are online for several dozen euros per month and you discover whether you sell or sell your offer before you record thousands of euros.
All platform and transaction rates in this document are exclusive of VAT.
Owning yourself: WooCommerce
WooCommerce is free, open source and runs on top of WordPress. You do not pay a platform subscription, but you will pay for it: at the Belgian Combell The cost varies by package and subscription period. You own your data, you can build or have any feature built, and you are not attached to any platform.
The real cost is not in the host country but in maintenance. WordPress, WooCommerce and every plugin ask for extremes, and late maintenance can cause safety and usage problems. So decide who follows up on the necessary maintenance: yourself, a staff member or an agency. How much work that asks and what appointments fit depends on the store.
Customization is the exception, not the standard
Our position: most SMEs should not have a custom web shop built. The price of customization depends on the functions and technical dependencies. Ask for a concrete demarcation and compare it with what an existing platform already offers. Customisation pays only when your process really doesn't fit into a platform.
Arvaro is the example of this. Webshop platforms do not connect by default with Autoscout24, let alone push one entry at a time to its own site, Autosscut24 and Facebook Marketplace. For Arvaros did not cover that combination, so we built the system The result is customization, but not a webshop: there's nothing to settle. It doesn't solve the real problem, double input work, instead of supposed problem.
The strongest argument to choose customization early is not bad: at SaaS you pay permanently and are stuck on the platform. That's right. But do count it out: compare platform and app costs over several years with building and following up customisation. Lock-in becomes a real problem in large volume or special processes, and by then you know exactly what to build, with a running shop as proof.
What does a webshop really cost?
Our websites start from 1,500 euros for a basic site. A web shop is always above that: there is a product catalogue, payments, shipping rules and VAT logic, plus a lot more testing work. How the price of an ordinary website is built up, read in our web site cost guide. For a webshop, the quotation is concrete once the catalogue, functions and further follow-up are defined.
The construction price depends on the catalogue, design, content and any links. Ask for a proposal with the one-off work and recurring costs separately mentioned.
The purchase price is not the total price
With each offer, count the ongoing costs: platform subscription or the hosts, payment of the servicer per transaction, and maintenance or apps. As a calculation example: a shop of 3,000 euro with 150 euro fixed charges per month costs more than a 6,000 euro shop with 40 euro per month over three years. These are examples, not Fokuus rates.
Belgian reality: Bancontact, VAT and returns
Anyone selling in Belgium offers Bancontact. It is the payment method your customer expects, often together with Payconiq. Via a pay-for provider as Mollie The costs vary by payment method and appointment. Check the current rates for your shop. If you have small orders, these amounts will be counted in your margin.
Sell to consumers, then it applies Right of withdrawal: Your customer may withdraw a distance purchase within 14 calendar days, and you will pay back by default using the same payment method unless the customer expressly agrees to an alternative. That return process must be set up and calculated from day one. If your prices include VAT, and if you also sell to individuals in other EU countries, discuss the VAT thresholds with your accountant before opening the shop, not after that.
That's how you decide.
The short decision rule:
- Standard products, fixed prices, shipping, and you want to test quickly: start on Shopify of Light Speed.
- Same situation, but you want your data in your own hands and someone follows the maintenance: WooCommerce.
- Your process is not proven to fit into any platform: customisation, but only after you have proved the sale with real customers.
- Your customer only buys after a conversation or quotation: no web shop, but a strong catalogue with a smooth contact flow.
Don't you know what your case is? Feel free to show us., in an online introduction. We also tell you honestly when the answer is "no webshop." Arvaro just wondered if all that input work could not simply be automatic; the correct answer was not a webshopping but a management system that keeps three platforms in sync.