# How Much Should I expect to Pay



## SkullDude (May 10, 2008)

I am currently getting quotes on building a website and they seem to be all over the ballpark. I am hoping someone here can give me a range on what I should expect to pay. 
1. There will be no more than 10 pages
2. I plan on having no more than 10 different products to start.
3. I am not sure if I should get a merchant account or use just paypal. Do people with merchant accounts do more business on average?
4. I am also not sure if I should have a custom cart made or use something pre-built. Any advice here? 
5. I will need a little bit of graphic work done to theme the general layout and feel of my website. I have sketches, but I will need them made up so they can go on my web page.

Does anyone have a general ballpark figure on what I should expect to pay for this.


Thanks

Josh


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## badalou (Mar 19, 2006)

albert_joshua said:


> I am currently getting quotes on building a website and they seem to be all over the ballpark. I am hoping someone here can give me a range on what I should expect to pay.
> 1. There will be no more than 10 pages
> 2. I plan on having no more than 10 different products to start.
> 3. I am not sure if I should get a merchant account or use just paypal. Do people with merchant accounts do more business on average?
> ...


ask for sample of previous work. get a quote from all. Look at some website that are similar to what you want. Tell you designer about those. I use paypal and never had a problem.. none, zip. been using them for 5 years.


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## tim3560 (Jan 7, 2007)

I was looking at something similar and was told anywhere from $1500-$3000 on average and as high as $9000. It depends on who you ask to do the work for you. If you get a large firm, expect to pay large prices. You can also find someone who freelances or might be starting there own biz doing web design, or might be newer in the biz that could give you a better deal.


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## xbftees (Jun 9, 2008)

albert_joshua said:


> I am currently getting quotes on building a website and they seem to be all over the ballpark. I am hoping someone here can give me a range on what I should expect to pay.
> 1. There will be no more than 10 pages
> 2. I plan on having no more than 10 different products to start.
> 3. I am not sure if I should get a merchant account or use just paypal. Do people with merchant accounts do more business on average?
> ...


You are probably going to get what you pay for so trying to get this all done at the most rock bottom price may mean you end up with a poor quality site and since your site is the face of your business this can cost you a lot in sales. Getting a freelancer instead of a big firm may be less pricey but your site may look amateurish or the customer service may not be amazing. It is really going to depend on the freelancer. Ask to see their past work and make sure it is up to your standards.

Yes, usually people with merchant accounts typically do get more sales than people offering paypal alone. If you are serious about your biz you should probably get a merch account. If you do not want to pony up the cash for a merch account you can skip it but just about every net retailer I know who has gone from paypal only to offering credit card acceptance through their own site has said they've seen a boost in sales as a result. It makes your company seem more professional and trustworthy.

Regarding # of pages and products. This probably shouldn't matter to your developer/designer. If you are looking to save $ they should be planning to do a shopping cart like zencart, cube cart or OS commerce. They are free and not that though to set up and it doesn't matter how many products you put on them. The designer/developer's job is to design and customize your site template and get your shopping cart software integrated. If you do not know HTML and do not plan to learn it your developer may be expecting to set up a CMS (content management system) for you and this will add on to the cost probably.

I would need a better idea of how much custom graphic work you are asking for and how involved it is to say how much I think it would cost.

From what you are describing, my off the top of my head estimate is around $2,500.00. But without more specific requirements for what you asked these designers/developers to do, it is tough to say if I think they are being reasonable.


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## stuffnthingz (Oct 1, 2007)

I charge $100 per page for a flat site, no database or cart functionality with me doing some graphical design. I would question the $1k quote, $3k should give you a good solid site with some designer elements added in. The price should go up according to how whiz-bang you plan your site to be. Also, if you have 10 products, your site is likely a 15 page site at a minimum. A typical site map has an About Us page, FAQs, T&Cs, Contact us, Home and then the product catalog. Within the product catalog if you are hosting your cart, you have a Product list page, Product details Page, shopping cart, Customer information input form, CC input form (SSL) and a thank you page, so now were up to 20 pages You can see that it easily snowballs into alot of pages.


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## peteVA (Nov 11, 2007)

You can have a CubeCart shopping cart, used by many here, for free or the latest version for under $ 200.

You can host it for $ 5 a month, or so.

You can have a custom "skin" or template done for the cart for several hundred dollars.

You can use one of the default or free templates and simply add your own header across the top for hardly anything.

Save your money for product and equipment. And PayPal is fine. There are more people who will ONLY use PayPal than there are who will ONLY use merchant accounts, since PayPal will take the same cards as the merchant accouts take.

Don't get sold a bill of goods.


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## Dphflipper (Feb 22, 2008)

albert_joshua said:


> I am currently getting quotes on building a website and they seem to be all over the ballpark. I am hoping someone here can give me a range on what I should expect to pay.
> 1. There will be no more than 10 pages
> 2. I plan on having no more than 10 different products to start.
> 3. I am not sure if I should get a merchant account or use just paypal. Do people with merchant accounts do more business on average?
> ...


Hi Josh,

In the interest of saving money I recommend that you do as much as possible yourself in the beginning. Use Paypal wait on the merchant account. Down the road you just may discover having a merchant account is not necessary to success.

As far as your site design, first try yourself, keep the pages static with a simple Paypal button. Of course this will require some thought when you consider the various options you have to offer but it can be done.

When you are ready for a shopping cart consider a 3rd party system. Yes there will be monthly costs at this point but these also cover tech issues with the cart software. And, here is why I suggest not getting a merchant account, many 3rd party systems are integrated with Paypal, Google Checkout, etc. 

Many online shoppers are already used to those types of payment options and are comfortable using them. Make things easy for your customer.

Finally, any freelancers you use, I would recommend finding them locally. Reason is that you can sit down face to face holding them accountable much easier. Many kids at your local college would be thrilled for the opportunity to grab some experience.

Also, going local with the freelance manner developes a business relationship you will need down the road! No reason not to have someone you are able to reach easily and visit with in person.

Remember, keep your costs down. Cash flow is the name of the game, no matter how big your business becomes - hold onto your cash!


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## SkullDude (May 10, 2008)

Thanks for the replies. Definitely has given me some things to think about. I have about two to three thousand budgeted for the website. This could be a bad move, but at this point I feel that learning web design is out of the question. I am already stretched very thin - working a fulltime job, plus running my ebay business 40+ hours a week, and then planning and design work for my t shirt line. So, I figured I would leave the web development to the experts. I was mainly hoping that I could get a very professional and clean looking site with some graphic elements, for what I have budgeted ,and from the sounds of it, it seems like I can. Or at least very close.

I will probably use the cubecart that was recommended and also just accept the paypal. 


Thanks for the help,

Josh


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## teeskoo (Jun 17, 2008)

Dear Josh,

Hello, Nice to meet you through this forum. Nice to know, you need to build an online website to market your products.

Please find my thoughts.

1] At the moment, according to me, You should have something real simple and easy to manage.
2] I would not advice using a cubecart for instance, It is a good tool to be used, when you have tried your website
3] Using a custom theme for cubecart, where already 100's of visitors have already had a glance on shall not help to recreate or mark your presence.
4] Since the products to be posted are less and considering the schedule and the multiple activities you handle, It is prompt to go with something as easy as it can be.
5] Please use paypal, As till the time you have not tried options, do not burn pockets.
6] My assumption, you can get a well crafted design with a good catalog site anywhere between 1000 - 1200 USD.

Hope this helps.

Thank you
Teeskoo


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## sconrad84 (May 13, 2008)

ha, welll I created my own site, its reallly simple, i mean simple. But if you like it i would be happy to work on one for you for way less than anyone else. I need college money. haha


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## onesielady (May 1, 2008)

I have seen websites done by glamosites.com - she customizes premade websites that you host by pappashop.com - it includes a free shopping cart. You can manage the site on your own or you can have her do the work. Very nice, professional site for very cheap - about $100.00 for the template, $9.95 for hosting per month and I am not sure what she charges hourly to add your items, but well priced too. Of course, you can have a completely custome designed site made from scratch - but do you really need it? Also, try propay.com for accepting credit cards.


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## Unified Web (Nov 5, 2019)

I work for the team over at Unified Web, we offer custom sites, including a virtual design feature built into the site for as low as $299 installation and $29.95 a month - Much more affordable that the thousands of dollars most charge nowadays, feel free to reach out for more information!


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## LancerFlorida (Mar 20, 2018)

"..only 10 products to start.." 

This is the beginning of your problems. What is 10 products? A slogan Go Bucks on a belt, coaster, totebag, wrap...etc? Or is it Go Bucks on a T-shirt? The last, in some commerce website definitions is about 50 products (one each for every style, every fabric, every size and every color). Some POD sites compel the creation of a product for every variation then they pile on the stuff they want to print instead of you. (aka, steal your customer)
The second issue is whether an active designer module is to be used. $$$$

IF what you plan to sell is static (take a pic, put on on the sales page) then you can make this website yourself very easily. Grandma can put up an Etsy store in 30 minutes using the take a pic, put on page method.
What you pay is directly related to how much autonomy you want to sacrifice. The POD will have you up and running in no time.....but your autonomy is zero.
I paid $5,000 for calculation intense, full autonomy, custom website. Have to pay lots extra to keep the world wide hackers out..and that is not easy. That is one cost of autonomy. That makes those other eCommerce sites where you buy templated space, very attractive.


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