Online Store — Marketplace, Platform, or Custom Shop

Marketplace (Amazon, eBay, Etsy) You sell on a platform that belongs to someone else. Customers come to Amazon — not to you. The platform gives you access to millions of buyers, but in exchange takes a commission on every sale and controls the rules. Advantages: instant access to traffic, zero store-building costs, customers trust the platform. Disadvantages: commissions eat your margin (often 10-15% or more), no control over appearance and features, customers belong to the platform — not to you, you compete on price with hundreds of other sellers of the same product. SaaS Platform (Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce) You have your own store, but on the provider's infrastructure. You pay a monthly subscription, get ready-made tools, choose a template, and start selling. Advantages: quick start (days, not months), low upfront cost, no need to worry about hosting and updates, many ready integrations. Disadvantages: limited customization (you work within what the platform offers), transaction fees (some platforms), limits on products or traffic, difficulties with non-standard features, vendor lock-in. Custom Dedicated Store A store built from scratch or on a flexible system, tailored to your needs. You decide on every element — from appearance to business logic. Advantages: full control over features and appearance, no platform commissions, ownership of customer data, ability to build unique features (configurators, ERP integrations, B2B), scalability without limits. Disadvantages: higher upfront cost, longer implementation time, need for technical maintenance.

When starting out and testing a product. You don't know yet if people will buy. A marketplace lets you test demand without investing in a store. When selling commodity products. Electronics, books, standard clothing — products people search for by name and compare on price. Here availability and price matter, not unique shopping experience. When you have no marketing budget. Amazon or eBay have traffic. Your own store you must promote yourself. Signs it's time to move beyond marketplace: • Commissions are starting to exceed your profit on the product • You want to build brand recognition, not be "one of many sellers" • You need direct contact with customers (remarketing, newsletter, loyalty programs) • The platform changes rules and your sales drop overnight

When starting out and wanting to launch quickly. A Shopify or BigCommerce store can be launched in days. You don't need a developer to start. When you have a simple sales model. A few dozen to a few hundred products, standard checkout, basic courier and payment integrations. When your budget is limited. Monthly subscription is a fraction of a custom store cost. Signs the platform is starting to limit you: • You need a feature that no plugin provides • Plugin and add-on costs are growing faster than your revenue • The site slows down with more traffic • You want to integrate the store with warehouse management, ERP, or non-standard payment gateway — and it's impossible or very expensive • Your products require configurators, individual quotes, or B2B logic • Platform transaction fees become significant at larger scale

When your business has outgrown ready-made platforms. You have thousands of products, hundreds of orders daily, complex logistics — and ready solutions become a bottleneck. When you need unique features. Product configurator (e.g., custom furniture, personalized items), quote calculator, B2B panel with individual customer pricing, integration with production system. When building a premium brand. You want the store to look and work exactly as your brand requires — without compromises from template limitations. When you want full ownership. Customer data, order history, site traffic — everything belongs to you. You're not dependent on the platform provider's decisions. When planning expansion. Multi-language, multi-currency, different warehouses in different countries — this level of complexity is where ready platforms struggle.

Marketplace You don't pay for a store, but you pay commissions. Depending on platform and category: 5-20% of every sale. Plus often fees for promotions, internal advertising, seller subscriptions. Example: you sell a product for $100 with $30 margin. At 12% commission, you keep $18. With your own store, payment processing is only 2-3% — you keep $27-28. On every transaction you lose almost half your margin. SaaS Platform Monthly subscription plus transaction fees (some platforms), costs of paid plugins, premium templates. Real monthly cost for a small/medium store can significantly exceed the base subscription once you add all necessary add-ons. Custom Store One-time investment in building plus monthly hosting and maintenance fee. Cost depends on complexity, but the key difference lies elsewhere — in the ownership model.

This is the most important difference between models, and hardly anyone writes about it. Marketplace is renting a booth in someone else's store. You pay commission on every sale. You have no brand of your own — you're "a seller on Amazon." Customers belong to the platform. Platform changes rules — your sales drop. SaaS is renting a store. You pay subscription every month. You have "your" store, but you're actually renting. Stop paying — the store disappears. After several years of subscription you've spent a significant amount and own nothing. Custom store is buying. You invest in building, pay for hosting and care, but the store belongs to you. After several years you have a working store that's your asset. You can sell it, move it, develop it without limits. With SaaS you often also pay transaction fees. With your own store — only payment processor fees. When does renting make sense? SaaS makes sense at the beginning when: you're testing an idea and don't know if it'll work, you need a store now without waiting, budget is very limited. But when business is running and you plan to be in the market for years — renting stops making sense. Every month of subscription is money you could have invested in ownership.

Advanced product configurators Customer selects size, color, material, adds engraving — and sees visualization and price in real time. Ready plugins handle simple variants, not complex logic. Individual B2B pricing Every business customer has different discounts, credit limits, payment terms. This requires a separate panel, not standard checkout. Deep integration with company systems ERP, WMS, production system, CRM — real-time synchronization, not CSV export once a day. Non-standard order logic Subscriptions with flexible terms, partial orders, reservations, rentals, auctions, group purchases — each such model requires a dedicated solution. Performance at high traffic Ready platforms have limits. A custom store can scale to any level.

"Store for a very low price" For minimal cost you can at most configure a ready template. You can't build a professional, dedicated store. If someone promises custom development for a very low price — they either don't understand what they're selling, or are deliberately misleading you. Unclear scope and pricing "We'll make a store" is not a specification. A good developer asks: how many products, what integrations, B2B or not, what payments, what delivery logic. And prices based on that. If you get a price without these questions — there will be surprises. Handoff and goodbye A dedicated store is not a business card site. It requires updates, monitoring, responding to problems. A developer who builds the store and disappears leaves you with a system that in six months may stop working after a payment update or courier API changes. No exit option When the developer keeps the store "on their side" with no migration possibility. You should be certain that if needed you can move the store to another provider — with code, data, everything. It's your business, not theirs. Everything "included" without specification Free fixes, unlimited changes, support included — sounds great until it turns out every change is "out of scope." An honest contract clearly defines what's included and what costs extra. No contract or schedule A professional developer works on a contract with clear scope, timeline, and payment terms. "Trust me, we'll do it" is a recipe for a project that never ends.

Understanding your business A good developer asks about your sales model, target audience, growth plans. Not just "how many products and what colors." If someone doesn't ask — they won't understand what you need. Clear cost communication You know upfront: what the project costs, what's in scope, how changes are billed, what post-launch maintenance costs. No surprises after the fact. Post-launch care A store is not a one-time project. You need someone who will handle updates, respond to problems, help with minor changes. The best model is where the developer takes responsibility for the store working — not just that it "was built." Exit option Even if the developer hosts and maintains the store — you should have a guarantee that if needed you can move everything. Code, data, domain — it's your business.

We build online stores — from simple to complex e-commerce systems with integrations and B2B logic. Store built on proven technologies Flexible, scalable, tailored to your business. Without limitations of ready platforms, without sales commissions. Hosting and care included We don't leave you with files to maintain yourself. We host the store, handle updates, monitor performance. You focus on selling, we focus on keeping everything running. Migration from ready platform Have a store on Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce and want to move to your own solution? We'll handle the migration preserving products, customers, and order history. Integrations Payments, couriers, warehouse systems, ERP, CRM — we'll connect the store with the tools you use. Custom features Product configurators, B2B panels, quote calculators, subscription systems — we'll build what you need. Warranty and growth We respond when something doesn't work. We develop the store as your business grows. And if you ever want to move elsewhere — we'll hand over everything.