Usually an e-shop doesn’t run late because of the build. It runs late because material is missing: the photographs haven’t been taken, the prices aren’t final, the bank application hasn’t been started.
Below is the whole list, split into what you do and what we do — in priority order, so nothing gets blocked.
Start here: card payments
We put this first because it’s the one part that depends on neither us nor you — it depends on third parties, and it moves at its own pace.
To accept cards you need an agreement with a bank or a payment provider. The application requires your business details and gets reviewed. That can take days or weeks, regardless of how quickly the site is built.
Practical advice: start the application the same day you decide to build an e-shop. Ask the provider two things: the commission percentage per transaction, and whether there’s a fixed monthly fee. Compare at least two.
Cash on delivery needs no agreement — but it does need an arrangement with a courier. In the Greek market it’s still an important channel, especially for new shops that haven’t built trust yet.
What you prepare
1. The product list
One spreadsheet, one row per product, with:
- Name — as the customer would search for it, not your internal code
- Price (and a sale price, if there is one)
- Category — which “shelf” it belongs on
- Variants, if any: size, colour, flavour, pack quantity
- Weight, if shipping is charged by weight
- Availability — in stock, or made to order?
- SKU, if you keep stock records
The mistake that usually costs time: variants get left for later. A product in 4 sizes × 3 colours isn’t 1 entry — it’s work. Mention it at the start and it goes into the plan. Mention it at the end and it delays delivery.
2. The photographs
This is what decides sales in a shop the visitor doesn’t know. You don’t need a studio:
- The same background throughout — white or neutral. Consistency reads as professional far more than an expensive camera does.
- Natural light, next to a window, no flash.
- The same aspect ratio and framing across all of them, so the category page looks uniform.
- Three shots per product where possible: main, second angle, and one showing scale or use.
Send them at the size they came out of the camera. Resizing and conversion to a modern format is our job — if you shrink them roughly yourself, you lose quality that doesn’t come back. (Why image size matters: the 7 reasons a site is slow.)
3. The shipping decisions
Three questions, and they need specific answers:
- What do you charge? A flat amount, by weight, or by region?
- Is there free shipping over a threshold? If so, from what amount?
- Is collection from your premises an option?
You also need to pick a courier. If you want automatic voucher generation from the shop, say so at the start — that’s a separate integration, not a setting.
4. The copy
Not much, but it has to be yours:
- Who you are — 2-3 paragraphs. On a new shop, this page gets read more than you’d think.
- Contact details — a phone number and email that are genuinely answered. A clearly visible phone number does more for trust than you’d expect.
- Product descriptions — even 2-3 lines each. Copied from the supplier means Google sees the same text across 50 shops.
- Frequently asked questions — how long delivery takes, how returns work, what payments you accept. They answer before someone has to call you.
5. The legal side — with your accountant, not with us
An e-shop is commercial activity, and the specific steps differ case by case. Ask your accountant — it isn’t the builder’s job to tell you what obligations you have.
What does go on the site, and what we prepare together:
- Terms of use and a returns policy. In distance selling within the EU, the consumer has, as a rule, a right of withdrawal of 14 calendar days from delivery (Directive 2011/83/EU; in Greece Law 2251/1994). There are exceptions — perishable food, or goods made to order, for instance — so confirm what applies to yours. Whatever applies has to be stated clearly, not buried.
- Privacy policy and cookies. GDPR requires you to say what data you keep and why; the consent requirement for cookies and tracking tools comes from the ePrivacy rules (in Greece Law 3471/2006). In practice: you don’t switch tracking on before the visitor says yes.
- Business details in the footer, exactly as your accountant gives them to you.
The setup (pages, consent banner, correct load order) is on us. The content of the terms is a legal text and needs its own sign-off.
What we do
So you know where your list ends:
- Domain and hosting — we help you choose them and we configure them. They’re registered in your name, with your details and your passwords — we don’t hold them and we don’t resell them to you at a markup. If you already have them, we work with what’s there.
- WooCommerce store setup — categories, product pages, cart, checkout.
- Design for mobile and desktop. Most people will see your shop on a phone.
- Payment and shipping integration, with end-to-end test orders before going live.
- Speed, security and technical SEO — part of the build, not an add-on charge.
- Product entry from your spreadsheet — a few products are in the base price; for hundreds we agree that separately.
- Training so you can add products and manage orders yourself.
The build starts from €900 + VAT. But note: that’s the base, and some of the above is costed separately depending on scale — hundreds of products, automatic voucher generation, each additional payment method, ERP integration. What’s in the base and what isn’t, in detail: how much an e-shop costs. The final price is written into the quote, before anything starts.
The order that doesn’t block you
If you do only these four things in this order, you won’t be left waiting:
- Today: the card payments application. It’s the slowest, so start it first.
- This week: the product spreadsheet with prices and categories.
- In parallel: photographs. It’s the only part that can’t be done remotely.
- Last: copy and terms — they get written while the shop is being built.
And one decision that saves weeks: don’t wait for every product to be ready. Go live with the ones that are done properly and add the rest afterwards. A shop selling 20 products is learning something; one that spends 6 months getting ready learns nothing.
Want to know where you stand?
Tell us what you sell, roughly how many products you have and what’s already prepared. We’ll tell you what’s missing and what can start in parallel — and you’ll get a written quote with a fixed price and a specific delivery date.
Send us your request or see the e-shop, speed and SEO service in detail.