Why a €400 E-shop Is Actually the Most Expensive E-shop You Can Buy
Every month, at least one entrepreneur asks me for "a simple e-shop for cheap, say €400." And every month I explain the same thing: a €400 e-shop will be the most expensive investment you'll ever make for your business.
It's not marketing. It's math.
What €400 actually gets you
Let's be honest about what that budget buys:
- A Shoptet Basic template (€12/mo, no real design customization)
- A freelancer who "hacks it together" over 2 days — swaps colors, uploads logo, adds a few products
- Zero strategy — no copywriting, SEO, UX, photography
Technically a functional store that looks exactly like 15,000 other Shoptet e-shops. No differentiation. No reason for a customer to buy from you.
The true 3-year cost: real budget breakdown
| Item | Cheap (€400) | Quality (€2,000) |
|---|---|---|
| Initial build | €400 | €2,000 |
| Shoptet Basic → Advanced (36 months) | €600 | €1,080 |
| Required add-ons (comparison sites, shipping XL, email) | €720 | €720 |
| Design fixes after month 1 (conversion broken) | €800 | €0 |
| SEO audit + fix (after 6 months) | €600 | €0 |
| Redesign after 2 years (ages fast) | €1,600 | €0 |
| 3-year total | €4,720 | €3,800 |
And that doesn't count lost revenue from bad conversion. Poor e-shops convert at 0.5-1%. Good ones at 2-4%. On the same traffic, that's 4-8× more sales.
7 hidden costs cheap e-shops never mention
1. Transaction fees you pay twice. Shoptet Basic charges for the plan AND takes % of every order.
2. Heureka/Google Shopping feed — requires 32-attribute XML. Your freelancer won't build it. You won't appear in price comparisons.
3. Packeta XL module — €14/mo extra. Without it, no pickup points, and 75% of Czech customers want those.
4. Page speed — Shoptet templates average PageSpeed 35/100. Google ranks you below competition, ads cost 20-40% more.
5. SEO basics — products aren't indexed correctly. After 3 months you're on page 47 for your own name.
6. Mobile — 68% of Czech e-shop purchases are mobile. Template is "responsive" but buttons are 20px and nobody can check out.
7. GDPR, T&Cs, cookie banner — without, fine is €2,000. Hire someone else to add, another €120.
What you actually need for a working e-shop
Minimum package:
- Shoptet Advanced (not Basic) — no transaction fees, full API, Heureka feed
- Custom template adjustments — not just colors, but layout, typography, UX of key pages
- Copywriting for 10 key products — selling text, not warehouse listings
- Professional product photos or AI-generated where brand allows
- SEO foundation — meta tags, sitemap, structured data, URL redirects
- Basic analytics — GA4, Facebook Pixel, Hotjar for 3 months
- Checkout optimization — one-page checkout, prefilled fields, Packeta, GoPay
Realistic cost: €1,600 – €2,800. Still template-based (Shoptet). Custom e-shop starts at €6,000.
If you already have a cheap e-shop
You're not alone — 80% of entrepreneurs start this way. Good news: it's fixable.
- Revenue under €4k/month: focus on product + marketing first. Your current e-shop is fine. Save the money.
- Revenue €4k-20k/month: now is the time. Audit + template redesign + SEO + conversion tweaks. Budget €1,200-3,200.
- Revenue €20k+/month and Shoptet is slowing you down: consider custom. €8k-20k investment typically pays back in 12 months.
Summary
A cheap e-shop isn't an investment — it's a price illusion. You pay less now, more in hidden costs and missed revenue, and you rebuild in 2 years anyway.
Either build it properly, or don't build it yet.
Want a quote for an e-shop that actually sells? Free consultation →