Advice on price for an e-commerce site

ber123

Hi all,

As the thread suggests, I’m looking for advice on a price for a fully optimised e-commerce site. I have received a quote for EUR 3250.00 + VAT @23% for a site with the following (all of which I need!):
• A dashboard where I can log in
• Dashboard for each customer
• An automated invoicing system
• A reporting system whereby I can allow/disallow certain users
• A payment system
• Shopping cart containing 2 accounts, as customer chose a particular package
• A domain, basic site (not too much detail on the site) and basic SEO package
• Tabs whereby I can add video, as part of an online programme
• Security measures so the online programme cannot be shared
• Free 1 year warranty and support for 1 year

So the programmer has quoted me EUR 3250.00 + VAT @23%. There is no annual maintenance charge on top of this. He has experience creating similar e-commerce sites. I have seen the back end of these sites and they look really well and straightforward to use. Someone suggested using Joomla or Wordpress and buying plug-ins etc but I’m cautious about going down the cheap route, as I want a really good quality site that can handle a large volume of traffic.

So what do you think?
Many thanks in advance.

ChRoMe

ber123 wrote: »

Hi all,

As the thread suggests, I’m looking for advice on a price for a fully optimised e-commerce site. I have received a quote for EUR 3250.00 + VAT @23% for a site with the following (all of which I need!):
• A dashboard where I can log in
• Dashboard for each customer
• An automated invoicing system
• A reporting system whereby I can allow/disallow certain users
• A payment system
• Shopping cart containing 2 accounts, as customer chose a particular package
• A domain, basic site (not too much detail on the site) and basic SEO package
• Tabs whereby I can add video, as part of an online programme
• Security measures so the online programme cannot be shared
• Free 1 year warranty and support for 1 year

So the programmer has quoted me EUR 3250.00 + VAT @23%. There is no annual maintenance charge on top of this. He has experience creating similar e-commerce sites. I have seen the back end of these sites and they look really well and straightforward to use. Someone suggested using Joomla or Wordpress and buying plug-ins etc but I’m cautious about going down the cheap route, as I want a really good quality site that can handle a large volume of traffic.

So what do you think?
Many thanks in advance.

Seems very good, however I'm pretty sure he will be using some sort of CMS (Joomla, Wordpress etc) with plugins....

Giblet

Yeah, 3k is extremely cheap for a fully fledged e-commerce site.

KonFusion

Why don't you get a quote from some other companies and contrast and compare?

Aswerty

Not all that familiar with e-commerce sites so I'll leave judgement to the experts but you should definitely ask if he can put you in contact with 1 or 2 of his previous customers as part of your due diligence. Also does everything you have listed fully meet your business requirements? You also need to nail down what 1 years support entitles you to. Does it just include technical support or will you be able to request ongoing changes? You didn't mention hosting, will he be handling that for you and what is the recurring cost of it? For me the ability to grow and change the website as the business grows along with having the confidence that your developer will work with you over the long term has to be up there in terms of priority.

Also as to the tecnology that is backing the site that shouldn't be too much of a concern as long as you do your due diligence and determine what you are getting meets your requirements. I think my points reflect the fact that we see the solution here but we don't see your spec and the former only has meaning in the context of the latter.

@Giblet, it's a lot closer to the 4k mark. I've no idea if that's cheap or not but my gut would say it's not exactly rock bottom for what he's getting (assuming he's an independent contractor and not a firm). It seems fairly hum drum and the buillet point list seems a little padded with regards to puffing up perceived value. Not that I'm advocating looking for rock bottom solutions or anything like that.

Though I'll reiterate once again this is not my speciality.

ChRoMe

Aswerty wrote: »

@Giblet, it's a lot closer to the 4k mark. I've no idea if that's cheap or not but my gut would say it's not exactly rock bottom for what he's getting

It is completely rock bottom, in fact it seems too cheap.

Aswerty

ChRoMe wrote: »

It is completely rock bottom, in fact it seems too cheap.

My reasoning was that I've seen quite basic sites with shopping carts integrated costing in the mid to high hundreds. These certaintly aren't busy sites (or great sites) but there's noting in the opening post that indicates he's getting much more beyond this (though I expect he is considering the cost difference). The OP indicated he was getting a basic site and this is what prompted my reponse.

You could be quoted anything from €1k - €10k and well beyond for a site like this but unless you see exactly what is going to be delivered there's no way to deduce whether it is value for money or not.

gargargar

He will definitely be using some shopping cart and building on top of it. Possibly a reuse of some of his existing sites. That doesn't matter as long as the site looks different.

I think it is a good price. I would ask to speak to a previous customer. If that is positive then I would take it.

stevenmu

That seems like a really good price to me anyway. OP some things you should check are:

-Hosting, how it's handled etc, how much it will cost after the first year
-Do you own the site and any customisations, i.e. can you take a copy and deploy it on some other hosting after the first year (or at any time)
-What payment system is used, there's a variety of common payment systems, you should check it out and make sure it meets your needs.
-Mobile: what level of support is there for phones/tablets etc