How to Hire Someone to Build Your Online Store: What to Send and What to Ask

The fastest route to an accurate quote is a one-page brief: what you sell, how many products, where you ship, how you take payment, and what you already have. Then ask five questions before you sign — is the price fixed, which platform, what it takes from each sale, who writes the content, and what happens after launch. Most bad store projects fail on one of those five, not on design.

What to send before the first call

A builder can only quote what they can see. Vague requests get padded quotes, because padding is how an agency protects itself from the unknown. Send this and you will get a sharper number, faster:

• What you sell, and to whom. One sentence. "Hand-poured candles for gift buyers in the US" tells a builder more than a mood board.
• How many products, and how many variants. Catalog size is the single biggest driver of cost. Fifty products in three sizes is 150 things to set up, photograph and describe.
• Where you ship, and what it costs you. Domestic only, or international? Flat rate or calculated? This decides how shipping and tax get configured.
• How you want to be paid. If you already have a payment processor account, say which one.
• What already exists. Domain, logo, product photos, written descriptions, an existing store. Moving a live store is a different job from starting fresh, and it is priced differently.
• Your deadline, and why. "Before the holiday season" and "before my trade show on the 14th" lead to different plans.
• Two or three stores you like. Say what you like about each. That is worth more than any adjective.

Five questions to ask before you sign

1. Is the price fixed, and what exactly does it cover?

A standard store is a known quantity. There is no good reason to bill it by the hour with no cap. Ask for a fixed price with the scope written next to it: how many pages, how many products loaded, what is configured. Then ask what happens if you go over — a clear per-item rate is fine; "we'll figure it out" is not.

2. Which platform, and can I leave it?

Every builder has a platform they prefer, and that is normal. What matters is whether you can take your products, customers and orders with you if you ever move. Ask how you would export your data, and who holds the account.

3. What does the platform take from each sale?

Monthly plan prices are easy to compare. Per-sale fees are not, and they add up faster. A 2% platform fee on $50,000 a month of sales is $12,000 a year, on top of what your card processor charges. Ask for the platform fee and the processing fee separately, in writing.

4. Who writes the product content and takes the photos?

This is where timelines quietly slip. Many quotes assume you will supply every photo and description, finished and ready to paste. If you have not written them yet, say so up front, and ask whether loading and formatting them is included.

5. What happens the day after launch?

Ask whether you will be trained to run the store yourself, how long the builder fixes problems at no charge, and what ongoing help costs. A store you cannot update without emailing someone is a store that goes stale.

Red flags

• Your domain or payment account in their name. Both should be registered to you, on your login, from day one. A builder needs access, not ownership.
• Open-ended hourly billing for a store with a normal catalog and a standard checkout.
• No live stores to show. Ask for links to stores that are taking orders today, not mockups.
• Promised rankings or sales. Nobody can guarantee where Google puts you or how much you sell. A builder who does is guessing out loud.
• No written scope. If it is not written down, it is not in the price.

What a good quote looks like

It is short and specific. For reference, here is how ours reads — we are one of the agencies you might hire, so weigh it accordingly. A new store is a flat $3,000, live in 48 hours: custom design, up to 5 pages or a catalog of up to 50 products, payments, shipping and tax configured, contact forms and analytics set up, and training at handover. It is built on ShopsWired, the platform we build and run, which charges 0% transaction fees — you pay only your payment processor's standard rate.

Just as important is what it does not include. Stores are built on ShopsWired, not on Shopify, WooCommerce or a platform of your choosing. Larger catalogs, custom plugin work and moving an existing store are quoted separately. Whoever you hire, you should be able to read their quote and know exactly where those lines are. Our full list is on the pricing page.

When hiring is the wrong call

Paying someone to build a store makes sense when you know what you are selling and your time is worth more spent on product and marketing. It is the wrong call in two cases:

• You have not sold anything yet. If you are still testing whether anyone wants the product, a marketplace listing or a basic DIY store is a cheaper experiment. Hire someone once you have proof.
• You enjoy the building. If tinkering with themes is how you want to spend your evenings, do it yourself. The trade-off is time, not money.

If you are somewhere in between, our comparison of done-for-you vs DIY stores walks through the decision in more detail.