Starting an eCommerce company with clean books.
Every online order is also a record: a sale, a fee, a payout and sometimes a refund. DIGITALON builds WooCommerce stores on the Sunshine Coast, set up so your bookkeeper can follow the money from the very first order.
Every order leaves a paper trail.
A new eCommerce company soon has three sets of numbers: the orders in WooCommerce, the payouts from Stripe and PayPal, and the deposits in the bank account. They rarely match line for line, because payment providers take their fees, group several orders into one payout and hold back refunds or disputed payments. A store set up to make that trail easy to follow saves hours every month.
We build stores on WordPress and WooCommerce. We put the company's legal name and ABN on the site and in its order emails, add PDF tax invoices with Standard, and set up the reports and exports your bookkeeper will use. Decisions about the company's structure, GST and accounting treatment stay with your accountant.
Records that add up.
Orders, fees, payouts and refunds that can be matched each month.
- Legal name and ABN shown
- Tax invoices when registered
- Exports for the bookkeeper
Every order, in full.
The store's records are the starting point for the company's books.
- Order totals with GST shown
- Refunds saved on the order
- Reports by day, month or year
Set up the money side from day one.
Five habits that make a new eCommerce company easier to run and to account for. None of them needs special software to start.
Your legal name and ABN, visibly
Show the company's legal name, ABN and contact details on the contact page or footer, on invoices and in order emails. Shoppers look for them before buying, and the ATO's tax invoice requirements include the seller's identity and ABN.
Tax invoices if you charge GST
A GST-registered company issues tax invoices; one that is not registered charges no GST and shows none. Standard includes PDF invoices and packing slips made from each order with your details, and the store's tax settings follow whichever position your accountant confirms.
Payouts matched to orders
Stripe and PayPal pay out in batches after deducting their fees, refunds and disputed amounts. Their dashboards list the payments in each payout, so a monthly match against WooCommerce's order report shows where every dollar went before it reached the bank.
Every refund saved on its order
Refund from the WooCommerce order screen and the money returns through the same payment provider, with the amount, the items and the reason saved against the order. That is where your bookkeeper will look when a payout comes in short.
Exports your bookkeeper can use
WooCommerce's reports can be downloaded as spreadsheets for any date range, and products export as CSV files. A connection that sends orders to accounting software such as Xero or MYOB can be quoted once re-keying them becomes a chore.
Packages for a new eCommerce company.
One-off build prices with GST included, and a tax invoice for each payment you make. Standard adds the PDF invoices and customer accounts a growing company usually wants.
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.
Questions about the money side of a store.
Packages, GST, invoices, business details, payouts, refunds, accounting connections, logins, timing, search and upkeep.
Ask us about your storeWhich package gives a new company proper invoices?
Standard. It adds PDF invoices and packing slips made from each order, customer accounts with order history and Google Analytics, on top of Basic's payments, shipping and security. Basic still sends WooCommerce's order emails as a record of each sale. Compare every inclusion on eCommerce pricing.
Does your tax invoice show the GST in the build price?
Yes. Basic at $4,990, Standard at $5,990 and Premium at $7,990 all include GST, and our tax invoice shows the GST amount for your bookkeeper. Whether your company can claim it, and whether it must charge GST on its own sales, are questions for your accountant.
What business details should the store display?
At least the company's legal or trading name, its ABN, a way to contact you and the address returns go to. Put them on the contact page, in the footer or policy pages, and in order emails and invoices. Your accountant or lawyer can tell you whether anything else applies to your company.
Why don't payouts match the day's orders?
Because payment providers pay out in batches on their own schedule, after taking their fees and any refunds or disputed payments. Each payout lists the payments it covers, so matching it against WooCommerce's order report explains the difference. Your bookkeeper can do this monthly from the two reports.
Where does a refund show up in the store's records?
On the order itself: the amount, the items and the reason are saved with it, and WooCommerce's revenue report shows returns beside gross and net sales. The money goes back through Stripe or PayPal, whose payout reports show the refund as well, so both sides of the books can be matched.
When is it worth connecting the store to accounting software?
When re-keying orders or matching them by hand takes real time each week. A connection can send each order, its GST and its payment to Xero or MYOB; we scope and quote it once we know your accounts and volumes. Until then, monthly exports from WooCommerce do the job.
Who in the company should hold the administrator login?
The owner or a director, kept to as few people as possible. Staff who handle orders and products can use WooCommerce's Shop manager role instead, and everyone gets their own login, so changes in the store can be traced to the person who made them. The login and the store belong to the company.
When should the company's details be ready for the build?
Ideally before the build starts: the legal name, ABN, contact details, the bank account for payouts and whether the company is registered for GST. A basic store takes about two to three weeks, and missing details can keep a finished store waiting to open.
Does search work come with the company's first store?
With Standard, yes: keyword and category research and on-page SEO for the store's pages, with Google Analytics to measure it; Premium adds AI search optimisation (GEO). Results take time and no one can promise a ranking; ongoing work is in our SEO packages.
How are the company's order records backed up?
Our maintenance packages back the store up every night, keep its software updated and monitor its security, with eCommerce site updates in the Advanced and Premium levels. The orders and customer records stay in the company's own WordPress database, on hosting it chooses.
Start the company with clean records.
Tell us about the company you are starting, what it will sell and who will run the store day to day. Our team at Wurtulla on the Sunshine Coast will recommend a package, set the store up for your records and give you a written quote first.
