01The costs at a glance
US prices as of October 2026, from providers' pages and published 2026 guides.
| Cost | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Store platform | $0 to $105 a month | Shopify Basic is $39/mo monthly or $29/mo yearly |
| Marketplace fees | About 10% per sale on Etsy, more with ads | $0.20 listing, 6.5% transaction, 3% + $0.25 processing |
| Payment processing | About 2.9% + $0.30 per online sale | Varies by platform and plan |
| Domain | Around $10 to $20 a year | Often free for the first year with a plan |
| Apps and themes | $0 to $100+ a month | Reviews, email, upsells; easy to overspend here |
| Inventory | $0 to thousands | $0 for print on demand, dropshipping or digital goods |
| Packaging and shipping | Per order | Weigh your packed product and compare carriers |
| Marketing | $0 to whatever you choose | Usually the largest ongoing cost once you scale |
02Platform costs compared
Hosted platforms charge monthly; marketplaces charge per sale; self-hosted software is free but needs hosting. As of 2026, published guides list Shopify Basic at $39 a month billed monthly ($29 a month yearly), Grow at $105 ($79 yearly) and a $5 Starter plan for selling through links and social media, per Website Builder Expert's Shopify pricing guide. WooCommerce itself is free, with hosting it estimates at $25 to $350 a month for most stores on its pricing page. Etsy charges per listing and per sale instead of monthly.
For a deeper look at each, see is Shopify worth it?, WooCommerce vs Shopify and Etsy vs Shopify.
03Three realistic starting budgets
| Store | Setup | First month cost |
|---|---|---|
| Digital downloads | Etsy listings or a $5-to-$29 store plan | Under $50 plus per-sale fees |
| Handmade goods, 20 products | Etsy or a basic store, own photos | About $50 to $150 plus materials |
| Branded products with stock | Shopify Basic, theme, inventory, ads test | Often $1,000 to $3,000 with inventory |
04The costs people forget
- Returns and damaged items, including return shipping.
- Apps that each add $10 to $30 a month and quietly stack up.
- Sample products and photography before you sell anything.
- Sales tax registration and accounting, depending on where you sell.
- Chargebacks and dispute fees on card payments.
- Your time, especially for customer emails and packing orders.
05How to keep startup costs low
- 1Validate before you stock upTake pre-orders or sell a small batch before buying inventory in bulk.
- 2Start with free or cheap plansUse trials, starter plans or a marketplace until sales justify more.
- 3Avoid app overloadAdd an app only when a specific problem costs you sales.
- 4Use your own photosA phone, daylight and a plain background beat stock images and cost nothing.
- 5Delay paid adsSpend on ads once you know your margins and which products convert. How to get your first sale online covers free channels first.
06When it is worth spending more
Spend where it changes sales. A useful test is whether a cost puts the product in front of more buyers or makes more visitors buy; if it does neither, it can wait. Professional product photography for visual products, a well-designed homepage that makes a small brand look established, and packaging for products people gift or post about. A store that looks trustworthy converts better; Baymard Institute found that 19% of shoppers who abandoned checkout did so because they did not trust the site with their card details, per its cart abandonment research.
What people who tried it say
Experienced sellers on Hacker News warn new store owners to judge success by profit after every cost, not revenue, and note that platform fees, shipping and advertising quietly eat the margin on cheap products.
- How to start an e-commerce store that doesn't dropshipHacker News
Commenters argue revenue figures mean little without expenses; the store owner says he aims to keep 25-35% of gross after costs, depending on shipping.
Looking for more first-hand opinions? Search Reddit for “how much does it cost to start an online store”. We link the live threads rather than summarizing them, so you read them in full.
Our take
the cheapest store is not the one with the lowest platform fee; it is the one where you know your margin on every order. Do the per-order math before choosing anything.
Where this falls short
Prices vary by country, billing period and plan, and providers change them often; these are US figures checked in October 2026. Your real costs depend heavily on product type, shipping and how you market the store.
Sources
- 1.Shopify pricing 2026: plans and fees explained · Website Builder Expert
- 2.WooCommerce pricing · WooCommerce
- 3.The complete guide to Etsy fees · Craftybase
- 4.Cart abandonment rate statistics · Baymard Institute
Researched and written by the Orlume team · Updated October 2026
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