Selling online
E-commerce website design in South Carolina.
Selling online is mostly the unglamorous parts: tax, shipping, inventory that stays accurate, and a checkout that does not lose people on the last step. We build those properly and the store takes care of itself.
- Real payment processing
- Inventory that stays true
- You own the store
First, whether you need a custom store at all
If you sell twenty products, ship them yourself, and do not need anything unusual, Shopify will serve you well and cost less than we will. We will tell you that. It is a better answer than taking your money for something you did not need.
A custom build earns its cost when the off-the-shelf platforms fight you: products priced by dimension or weight, customer-specific pricing, an inventory system you already run that has to stay authoritative, quantity breaks, or a checkout the standard platforms will not bend to. If any of that sounds like your business, keep reading.
What you get
- Payment processing set up properly, with the money going straight to your account
- Product pages built around what a buyer needs to decide, not a grid of thumbnails
- Inventory that stays accurate, including when the same item sells in a store and online
- Shipping and tax configured for how you actually ship, not a flat rate that loses money on half the orders
- Order notifications and receipts that reach people rather than landing in spam
- An admin area where you add products and process orders yourself
- Search basics handled at build time, since a product nobody can find does not sell
Where stores lose the money
Most abandoned carts are not people changing their mind. They are a shipping cost that appeared at the last step, a form that demanded an account, or a checkout that broke on a phone. Those are build decisions, and they are fixable before launch rather than diagnosed a year later.
So shipping cost shows up early, guests can check out without creating an account, and every step is tested on a real phone before the store goes live.
What it costs
Stores start at $4,500 one-time, plus care and hosting from $349 a month. That is higher than a standard site on both counts, and honestly so: a store is a payment system, an inventory system and a website at the same time, and there is correspondingly more that can go wrong at two in the morning.
You get the number in writing before you commit, along with what the payment processor will charge you per sale, so you can see the real cost of selling rather than just the cost of building.
What we don't do
- We don't take a percentage of your sales. You pay for the build and the care plan; what you sell is yours.
- We don't hold your store hostage. The code, the product data and the payment account are all yours and transfer at launch.
- We don't sell you a custom build when Shopify would do. If a platform fits, we will say so, and we will help you set it up if you want.
- We don't handle your sales tax filings. We configure collection correctly; what you owe and where is a question for your accountant.
Questions
What people ask before they start.
More on the process pageQuite possibly, and we will tell you if so. If you sell a manageable number of products, ship them yourself and need nothing unusual, Shopify will serve you well for less than we cost. A custom build earns its price when the platforms fight you, which usually means unusual pricing, an existing inventory system, or a checkout that has to work a particular way.
Usually Stripe, sometimes whatever you already have. The money goes directly into your account, and the processor's per-sale fee is theirs, not ours. We will show you what a sale actually nets you before you launch, so the fee is not a surprise on your first payout.
No. You pay for the build and the care plan. What you sell is entirely yours, and we have no visibility into or claim on your revenue.
Usually yes, if that system has a way for other software to talk to it. Where it works, your existing system stays the authority and the store follows it, which avoids the situation where the website and the warehouse disagree about what is in stock.
We configure the store to collect correctly for where you sell, and connect a tax service when the situation warrants it. What you owe, where you owe it and the filing itself are questions for your accountant. We will not pretend to answer those for you.
Yes, and it is worth doing properly from the start. The usual disaster is selling the last item in person and online within the same hour. That is solved by having one system hold the real count and everything else ask it, rather than keeping two lists in step by hand.
Longer than a standard site, usually eight to twelve weeks, because a store is a payment system, an inventory system and a website at once. Product photography and writing product descriptions is normally what sets the pace, and that part is usually yours.
You issue it from your admin area and the money goes back through the same processor. We set up the return and refund process with you before launch, including what the customer sees, because a store without a clear returns policy loses sales from people who are not sure what happens if it does not fit.
Next step
Tell us what you're dealing with.
One conversation, then a written scope and price back. If we're not the right fit for what you need, we'll say so.