Guide

Checklist: preparing an online shop

What you should clarify before requesting quotes for an online shop. The more of this is clear beforehand, the more reliable the quotes will be.

Request assessment ↗Online shop

Quote on request6 to 12 weeksAs of 2026

In short

Before deciding on an online shop, a brief assessment is worthwhile: which workflow takes the most time, who will maintain the system later, and whether the necessary content is even available. The complete checklist is further below.

01 — Checklist

Clarify before the first quote

What should improve? In one sentence, no jargon.
How will you know? One number that should change.
Who decides? One person, not a committee.
What budget is available? A range is enough — it makes quotes comparable instead of arbitrary.
By when? And what the deadline depends on.
Which systems are involved? And who has access to them.
What do you already have? Content, data, preliminary work — this reduces the cost.

02 — Participation

What we need from you

A contact person who can make decisions — not just forward them.
Access to the affected systems, in time and not on launch day.
Real examples from daily business — the messier, the more useful for testing.
Two to four hours for coordination, distributed over the project duration.
An answer to the question of what success means. Without it, nothing can be assessed afterward.

03 — Questions

Questions you should ask

What happens if the project becomes more expensive than estimated — who bears that?
Who owns data, access, and, if developed, the source code?
What does operation cost in the second and third year?
What does the documentation we receive at the end look like?
How would you measure whether the project was successful?
Is there a case in which you would advise us against this?

04 — Questions

Frequently asked questions

How does VAT work for EU shipping?

Above the threshold, tax is paid in the destination country, usually through the One-Stop-Shop procedure. The store must calculate tax rates correctly for each country — this is set up during setup and isn't a detail you patch afterward.

What does ongoing operation cost?

Platform fees, payment providers, hosting and maintenance are ongoing costs, even before the first order comes in. How much that is in each case depends on the chosen platform and the product range — we calculate this transparently in the quote so there are no surprises.

Does our shop need to be accessible?

Yes, very likely. Online shops in consumer business are explicitly listed in the Austrian Barrierefreiheitsgesetz (Accessibility Act), which has been in effect since June 28, 2025. The exemption for micro-enterprises applies to services, not to product sales. Violations can be penalized with administrative fines up to 80,000 euros.

What about returns?

The cancellation policy and the technical process for returns are part of the legally compliant basic setup. How you handle returns in practice remains your decision — we implement what you define.

Can we sell internationally?

Yes, that's a matter of setup, not platform: languages, currencies, shipping zones and tax rates per target country need to be configured properly — we plan that in from the start if desired.

Shopify, WooCommerce or something else?

Shopify if you want to start quickly and can live with the ongoing fees. WooCommerce if you already run WordPress and have someone who does updates. With complex inventory management, it's worth looking at specialized systems. There's no answer that's right for everyone.

How many products are still manageable without expensive additional systems?

Up to a few hundred products, the standard features of common platforms are perfectly sufficient. Only with several thousand products with complex variants is it worth looking at specialized inventory management.

05 — Next

Online shop by region

Next step

Initial assessment, no obligation.

Briefly describe what you need. You'll get an honest answer about what's realistic and what it will roughly cost.

Send inquiry ↗ office@pipeline-solutions.at OR +43 681 207 64 203