eCommerce web development agency, freelancer or in-house?
Three kinds of team can build and look after an online store, and each suits a different business. DIGITALON is an agency, so here is a fair comparison of all three, including when a freelancer or your own developer is the better choice.
A store needs more than one skill.
Building an online store takes design, WooCommerce development, payment and shipping set-up, search work and testing, and then years of updates, backups and support. One person can be very good at several of these, but rarely all of them at once, and a store keeps needing attention long after launch. Who you hire decides who covers each skill, and what happens when they are busy or move on.
At DIGITALON the design, development, search and support all sit with one in-house team at Wurtulla on the Sunshine Coast, at fixed package prices. That suits businesses that want one accountable team. It is not the only good answer: a capable freelancer can suit a small, simple store, and a business with constant changes may one day justify its own developer.
Price, skills and staying power.
The build price is only the first question.
- Who covers each skill
- Who answers after launch
- What happens if they leave
Cover for its whole life.
Built well, then looked after for years.
- Design and development
- Testing before launch
- Updates and support
Comparing the three ways to hire.
Six questions separate the options. Ask them of any agency or freelancer, including us.
Cost: fixed price, rate or salary
Agencies and freelancers usually quote a project price or an hourly rate; an in-house developer is a salary plus leave and equipment, worth it only with steady work. Our packages are fixed one-off prices, with anything extra quoted before it starts.
Skills: one person or a team
A store draws on design, development, search and support. A freelancer may bring in others for the parts they do not cover; an agency should have them in-house. Ask who will actually do each part of your store.
Availability: holidays and busy weeks
One person's holiday or full schedule becomes your store's waiting time, while a team can usually cover for each other. Whoever you choose, ask how urgent problems are handled, such as a checkout that stops taking payments on a sale day.
Continuity: if someone moves on
Freelancers change careers and staff change jobs. Protect the store either way: keep the administrator login and the domain in your business's name, know where the store is hosted, and choose a standard platform like WooCommerce that other developers can pick up.
Documentation and handover
Custom work that nobody wrote down becomes a problem when someone new takes over. Ask what you will receive at handover: the logins, a list of extensions and their licences, and notes on anything built specially for your store.
When each option fits best
A freelancer can suit a small store with simple needs and a modest budget. An agency suits a store that needs design, development and ongoing care from one accountable team. An in-house developer suits a business with enough changes to keep someone busy every week.
Agency packages at fixed prices.
Design, development, testing and launch by one in-house team, as one fixed, one-off price. Hosting and maintenance are separate and optional.
Basic
A simple online shop with everything it takes to sell properly.
$4,990One-off build price
- 6 pages: home, about, contact, shop, cart and checkout
- Mobile optimisation
- Card and PayPal payments
- Flat-rate or free shipping
- WordFence firewall and SSL certificate
- Links to your social media
- Nightly backups
Standard
A professional store for a real catalogue, with accounts and automation.
$5,990One-off build price
- 10 website pages
- Everything in Basic, plus
- Search engine optimisation (SEO)
- Customer accounts and order history
- Product filters and categories
- PDF invoices and packing slips
- Wish list and discount coupons
- Advanced shipping rules
- Google Analytics
- 1:1 website training
Premium
For stores pushing on sales: more ways to pay, find and follow an order.
$7,990One-off build price
- 20 website pages
- Everything in Standard, plus
- AI search optimisation (GEO)
- Mega menu
- Apple Pay, Google Pay and Afterpay
- Shipping cost calculator and order tracking
- Live product search and product compare
- Blog
- Your CRM integrated
Hosting, your domain, your payment provider’s transaction fees and ongoing maintenance are separate. The page counts are website pages, not a product limit: catalogue size, product imports, migrations and custom integrations are agreed and quoted before work starts. Compare every inclusion and the optional features on eCommerce pricing, or see website design packages if you do not need a shop.
Your store, your hosting, your login.
Every DIGITALON store is a custom WordPress and WooCommerce build. WooCommerce is free and open source, takes no commission on your sales and runs on hosting you choose, with the administrator login yours from day one.
The shop and the pages that bring shoppers to it live in one WordPress site, edited the same way. You can run it yourself, or hand the updates to the team that built it.
No platform commission
Your payment provider charges its transaction fee. WooCommerce itself takes no percentage of your sales and has no monthly platform fee.
Hosting you choose
Keep your own host, or use our managed WordPress hosting, sized for the catalogue and the traffic you expect.
Care after launch
Our maintenance packages cover plugin and WooCommerce updates, backups, security checks and support.
One Australian team
The people who scope, design and build the store are the people who answer your questions, from Wurtulla on the Sunshine Coast.
From brief to first order.
A basic store usually takes two to three weeks. Extra features and integrations add time, and we tell you how much before we begin.
Scope and price
We agree the pages, catalogue, features and search work, then confirm the package, any extras and the payment stages in writing.
Design
You see the design and sign it off before the build starts, while changing a layout is still quick.
Build and test
Products, payments, shipping and tax are set up in WooCommerce, then tested with real orders on a phone and a desktop.
Launch and hand over
We go live and hand over your administrator login. Standard and Premium include one-to-one training on your own store.
Online stores we have built.
These are stores and online sales sites our team designed and built. They show completed work, not a promise of the same result for every business.
Beauty & skincareNatural Skincare Shop
FurnitureOffice Furniture Shop
Made to orderCustom Vinyl Lettering
Books & consultingLegal Consulting & Author
Retreats & coursesHoffman Process Australia
CoursesOnline English TeachingThe client view.
I was very impressed as they were very responsive and helpful as I was a newbie. Good communication with Sabrina who took the time to explain all the process and gave some tips.
eCommerce web development agency questions.
Cost, GST, the team, freelancers, in-house developers and support.
Ask us about your storeHow does an agency's price compare with a freelancer's?
Freelance rates vary widely, so compare what each quote includes rather than the total alone. Our packages are fixed one-off prices, $4,990 for Basic, $5,990 for Standard and $7,990 for Premium, covering design, development, testing and launch, with extras quoted before work starts.
See every inclusion on eCommerce pricing.
Do your agency prices include GST and a tax invoice?
Yes. All three package prices are in Australian dollars with GST included, and we issue a tax invoice for the build, so the price you see is the amount you pay. Hosting, your domain and payment provider fees are separate.
Who will actually work on our store at DIGITALON?
Our in-house team at Wurtulla on the Sunshine Coast. The people who scope, design and build your store are the people who answer your questions after launch, so nothing is lost between a salesperson, a designer and a developer.
When is a freelancer the better choice?
When the store is small and simple, the budget is tight and you are happy to manage the project yourself. Check their live stores, who covers the skills they do not have, and that the store and its logins will be in your name.
When does an in-house developer make sense?
When there is enough work to keep a developer busy every week, such as frequent new features, integrations or promotions. Some businesses start with an agency build and maintenance, then hire once the workload is steady; a standard WooCommerce store makes that hand-over straightforward.
Can our own developer work on a store you built?
Yes. It is standard WordPress and WooCommerce, you hold the administrator login, and we can explain how anything custom was built. Keeping us for maintenance afterwards is your choice, not a condition.
Which package fits if we plan to hire a developer later?
Whichever matches the store you need now; the package does not limit a later hire. Standard suits most growing catalogues with filters, customer accounts and SEO, and Premium adds AI search optimisation (GEO), live search and more ways to pay.
Does an agency take longer than a freelancer to build a store?
Not necessarily: the scope and how quickly content and feedback arrive matter more. A basic store usually takes two to three weeks with us. Integrations and custom features add time, and we tell you how much before work starts, along with the payment stages and what we need from you.
Does the agency cover search as well as the build?
Yes, in-house. From Standard, keyword and category research shapes the store and its pages, and Premium adds AI search optimisation (GEO); our separate ongoing SEO service can carry it on after launch. No one can promise a ranking.
Who looks after the store if our usual contact is away?
Another member of the same team. Our maintenance packages cover updates, backups, security checks and support from the people who built the store, so a holiday does not leave it without cover.
Let's talk about who builds it.
Tell us about your store and how much change you expect after launch. We will tell you honestly whether our agency packages fit, or whether a smaller route would serve you better, and confirm any price in writing before work starts, from our team at Wurtulla on the Sunshine Coast.
