"How much does an e-commerce site cost?" is about as open as "how much does a house cost?". The real problem is not the vagueness but that most quotes show only the build fee. The true bill appears at the end of year one.

We are not giving figures here, because they vary many times over with product count, integrations and platform. Instead, here are the items that must be in your budget. If a quote is missing one, ask who is paying for it.

One-off items

• Design: a ready theme, a customised theme or a design from scratch. The gap is wide.
• Development and setup: installing the platform, building pages, connecting payments and shipping.
• Integrations: e-invoicing, accounting software, ERP, marketplaces, warehouse systems. Each is separate work, often a separate fee.
• Migration: moving products, customers and old URLs from an existing site. Skip the redirects and you can lose your search rankings.
• Content: product photos, descriptions and category copy. The most underestimated item, and one of the most influential on sales.
• Legal texts: distance-selling agreement, privacy notice, cookie policy, return terms.

Recurring items

• Platform or server fees: a monthly plan on a ready platform, hosting on a custom build.
• Apps and plugins: on ready platforms, extra features are usually separate subscriptions.
• Payment fees: the payment provider takes a share of every sale, more on instalments. As revenue grows, this outgrows the platform fee by far.
• Shipping: your negotiated rate and free-shipping threshold set your margin directly.
• Maintenance: security updates, small changes, bug fixes.
• Marketing: traffic does not arrive on its own. A store opened without an ad, content and SEO budget is an empty shop.

The most expensive e-commerce site is the one built cheaply with nothing left to bring visitors to it.

How to split the budget

There is no fixed ratio, but there is a rule: keep a meaningful share of your first-year budget for marketing and content, not the build. Building everything at the top tier and having nothing left for traffic is the mistake we see most. How to size ad spend against margin is in our piece on e-commerce ad budgets.

Questions to ask when comparing quotes

• Which integrations are included, and which are extra?
• Whose name will the code, design files and domain be in?
• Are bug fixes in the first month after launch included?
• What does the monthly maintenance fee cover, and what does it not?
• Will URL redirects from the old site be set up?

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a company to run an e-commerce site?

In Türkiye, selling online regularly creates tax and invoicing obligations. Whether a sole proprietorship or a limited company suits you depends on volume and product. Settle it with an accountant before building the site; payment provider applications depend on it.

Bank virtual POS or a payment provider?

Bank virtual POS terminals often charge lower commission but can take longer to approve. Payment providers offer a fast start, easy integration and instalments from several banks in one place. Starting with a provider and adding a bank POS as volume grows is a common route.

Is a monthly maintenance fee really necessary?

On a ready platform, maintenance is in the monthly plan. On a custom system, security updates and backups cannot be skipped; you need a maintenance agreement or your own team. An unmaintained store handling payments and personal data is a serious risk.

If you have not yet chosen between a ready platform and a custom build, start with this comparison. For a clear, itemised quote, book a free strategy call or see our web and e-commerce page.