What selling online really costs

When people compare platforms, they look at the monthly price. It's rarely the biggest number on the bill.

Commission on sales

Many platforms keep a percentage of every sale, on top of the subscription and on top of Stripe's fee. On €2,500 a month in sales, the difference between 1% and 5% is €100, which is more than the subscription.

Ask about that percentage before you choose. It's usually written down, just not on the first page.

Separate subscriptions

A website with one provider, email with a second, booking with a third, a store with a fourth. Each one looks cheap on its own. Add them up and they usually cost more than one platform that does all of it.

The hidden cost here isn't money, it's the time spent moving data between them, and the mistakes that happen along the way.

The cost of leaving

Before you pay, check whether you can export your contacts and content and whether the domain stays yours. A platform that's hard to leave has fewer reasons to keep you with quality.

What to add up

The monthly price, plus the commission on your expected sales, plus what you already pay for tools you'll stop using. That's the number worth comparing, not the price of the cheapest plan.