Service
E-commerce development, setup and operations
Opening the store is the easy part. The real work is connecting payments, shipping, stock and returns — and processing orders without drowning.
First decision: hosted platform or custom build?
The most expensive mistake in e-commerce is choosing the wrong foundation and migrating a year later. The decision depends less on product count than on how standard your workflow is.
Hosted platforms start fast with predictable monthly cost. If you sell in a standard way, this is usually the sensible answer.
Custom software becomes necessary with dealer pricing, made-to-measure production, quote-based sales, complex variants or tight ERP coupling. Forcing these into a hosted platform produces a system that breaks with every update.
We work out which side you are on during discovery. Our own platform sits between the two: it starts with the speed of a ready product and takes custom modules when needed.
What setup covers
Store and catalogue
Category structure, products and variants, filters, search and bulk product import.
Payments
Payment gateway integration, instalment tables, 3D Secure, bank transfer and cash-on-delivery flows.
Shipping
Carrier integration, automatic labels, tracking and delivery notifications.
Marketplace integration
Product and stock synchronisation with marketplaces such as Trendyol and Hepsiburada.
Stock and orders
Stock deduction, low-stock alerts, order states, returns and exchange workflows.
E-commerce SEO
Category and product page optimisation, Product structured data, pagination and canonical strategy.
The five things that cost e-commerce sites the most money
In order — and all of them fixable.
- Slow product pages. A page that takes four seconds on mobile is abandoned before the add-to-cart.
- Forced registration. Without guest checkout you lose a significant share of first orders.
- Shipping cost revealed at the end. Surprise cost in the basket is the single biggest driver of abandonment.
- Marketplaces without stock sync. Selling stock you no longer have means cancellations and rating damage.
- Unclear returns policy. A visible, clear returns policy speeds up the buying decision.
Hosted platform vs custom build
| Criterion | Hosted platform | Custom / our platform |
|---|---|---|
| Time to launch | Days | Weeks–months |
| Upfront cost | Low | High |
| Monthly cost | Subscription + commission | Server + maintenance |
| Custom workflows | Limited | Unlimited |
| ERP/accounting integration | Only what is offered | Built as needed |
| Ownership of data and code | With the provider | With you |
| Best for | Standard retail | B2B, dealer pricing, made-to-measure |
The decision follows how standard your workflow is, not how many products you list.
Market
E-commerce setup prices — 2026 ranges
Setup is one-off, operating cost is forever. Calculate the twelve-month total; commissions scale with turnover.
| Approach | Common range | When it fits |
|---|---|---|
| Hosted platform + stock theme | ₺12,000 – 40,000 | Few products, standard selling, fast start |
| Hosted platform + custom design | ₺40,000 – 120,000 | When brand appearance matters |
| Custom e-commerce software | ₺120,000 – 280,000 | B2B/dealer pricing, ERP coupling |
| Marketplace / multi-vendor | ₺200,000 and above | Platforms with multiple sellers |
| Monthly running (subscription/servers) | ₺1,500 – 15,000 | Plan, turnover tier and traffic |
Source: agency price pages published in Türkiye, August 2026. These are not our prices — they are market ranges and do not constitute a quotation. Published Turkish agency prices usually exclude VAT; ask when comparing quotes. Total cost of ownership including commissions, shipping and returns: e-commerce cost guide.
Payments
Payment infrastructure: five things to know
Payments affect e-commerce margin more than almost anything else, and get discussed the least.
Gateway application
Your company applies; approval takes days to weeks. Put that time in the project schedule from the start rather than discovering it at the end.
Who pays instalment commission?
Will you absorb it or pass it to the customer? This decision sets your margin and must be made up front.
3D Secure
Card verification lowers fraud risk but adds a step. The flow must stay fast so it does not increase cart abandonment.
Alternative methods
Bank transfer and cash on delivery win the segment that will not use cards. Each method is a separate order flow and reconciliation task.
Refunds and cancellations
How and how quickly refunds happen must be written down. Ambiguity produces complaints and legal exposure.
Legal
Legally required elements in Turkish e-commerce
These are not design choices but legal requirements. Missing them risks penalties and payment-gateway rejection.
- Distance selling contract — presented and accepted before the order.
- Pre-information form — product, price, delivery and withdrawal rights.
- Withdrawal and return terms — periods and exceptions stated clearly.
- Business details — trade name, address, contact and tax details visible on the site.
- Privacy notice and cookie policy — mandatory when customer data is processed.
- VAT status of displayed prices — whether prices include VAT must be unambiguous.
Visibility
E-commerce SEO: category and product page structure
Most e-commerce SEO is won not on the home page but on category and product pages.
Category pages
This is where the traffic comes from. Each category needs original copy, correct heading structure and a deliberate indexing strategy for filters; uncontrolled filter combinations create thousands of duplicate pages.
Product descriptions
Hundreds of sites copy the same supplier text and none of them rank. Original copy is required. In large catalogues, start with the best sellers.
Product structured data
Price, availability and rating markup produce rich results and measurably raise click-through rate.
Pagination and canonicals
In multi-page listings, if the primary page is not marked correctly Google cannot tell which one to show.
Out-of-stock products
Deleting the page throws away its ranking. The correct approach is to keep the page and offer alternatives.
On-site search
What visitors search for tells you what to stock and list. On-site search logs are free market research.
Frequently asked
How long does an e-commerce site take?
On a hosted platform with product data ready, 2–4 weeks to first sale. With custom development and integrations it can reach 8–16 weeks. The slowest items are product photography, product descriptions and the payment gateway application — none of which sit with the developer.
Do you handle the payment gateway application?
The application is made by your company; we provide the technical details and build the integration. Bank approval takes anywhere from a few days to a few weeks — plan for it from the start.
Do you integrate with marketplaces?
Yes. The critical part is stock synchronisation: if you sell the same product on your site and a marketplace, stock must be managed from one place. Otherwise you take orders for sold-out items, cancel them and damage your marketplace rating.
Can you migrate our existing store?
Yes — products, categories, customers and orders can be migrated. The critical piece is URL structure: without 301 redirects from old product URLs, you lose your existing Google rankings. This is the most common and most expensive migration mistake.
What are payment commissions?
Commission rates are set by your bank and your volume, not by the agency. Decide up front who absorbs instalment commission — you or the customer — because it directly affects your margin.
Do you write product descriptions?
We can. Copy-pasted supplier text never ranks; original descriptions are required. For large catalogues we recommend starting with the best-selling products — that is where the budget returns fastest.
How much does an e-commerce site cost?
From about ₺12,000 on a hosted platform, rising past ₺120,000 for custom software (table above). But the real question is not setup — it is the twelve-month total. Commissions, shipping, returns and advertising scale with turnover and usually exceed the build cost quickly.
Hosted platform or custom build — which is cheaper?
At low turnover, hosted wins clearly. As turnover grows the commission difference accumulates and at some point owning the platform becomes cheaper. The calculation: if (subscription + commission difference) × 12 months exceeds (setup + servers + maintenance), custom pays for itself.
How fast can I start selling?
With product data ready, 2–4 weeks on a hosted platform. Three things set the pace and none of them sit with the developer: product photography, product descriptions and payment gateway approval. Start those early.
I also sell on marketplaces — will stock get out of sync?
It will, unless stock is managed centrally — and the consequence is costly: selling an item you no longer have means cancellations and a damaged marketplace rating. Stock synchronisation is the first thing we set up in any integration.
Next
Pages people read alongside this one
Let’s plan your store
Tell us what you sell and how you sell it, and we’ll work out whether a hosted platform or a custom build costs you less.