Two bills, not one number
Most published store prices are a single number, and that hides half the cost. The first bill is the build: you pay it once and get a store ready to sell. The second is running costs: you pay them every month or on every order, directly to the providers, and they grow with your sales. Budget for the first bill only and the first month of sales will surprise you.
Every line item, and who you pay
| Item | Paid to | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Store build | Me, once | From 15,000 EGP |
| Shopify subscription | Shopify, monthly | Basic $39, or $29 billed yearly. Grow $105 or $79. Advanced $399 or $299 |
| Shopify fee on online payments | Shopify, per order | 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced |
| WooCommerce hosting and domain | The host, yearly | Depends on the plan |
| Paymob payment gateway | Paymob, per transaction | 2.75% + 3 EGP, no monthly fee |
| Shipping and cash on delivery collection | The courier, per order | Depends on the courier and governorate |
Why does Shopify charge extra? Shopify Payments is not available in Egypt, so you connect a third-party gateway such as Paymob, and Shopify takes its fee on every order paid online through it. Cash on delivery orders do not carry that fee. Prices are from Shopify's pricing page and Paymob's pricing page; Paymob settles to your bank account weekly.
On WooCommerce, hosting and the domain are paid to the hosting company. You can compare plans on Hostinger.
Example: the same store on 4 platforms
This is a hypothetical example to show the math: a store with 100 orders a month at an average of 500 EGP, so 50,000 EGP in sales. 30 orders are paid online (15,000 EGP) and 70 are cash on delivery (35,000 EGP). Shipping is left out because it does not change with the platform.
| Platform | Monthly subscription | Platform fees on orders |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify Basic | $29 (billed yearly) | 2% of 15,000 = 300 EGP |
| WooCommerce | None (hosting and domain separate) | None |
| EasyOrders free plan | None | 4 cents × 100 orders = $4 |
| LightFunnels Newbie | $9.99 | 1.5% of 15,000 = 225 EGP, and 0.20% of 35,000 = 70 EGP |
On top of that, if the 30 online orders go through Paymob: 2.75% of 15,000 = 412.5 EGP, plus 3 EGP × 30 = 90 EGP, so 502.5 EGP a month. The figure grows with your share of online payments, so run it on your own numbers.
Free stores: when they fit and when they don't
A free store removes the build cost; payment and shipping fees stay. EasyOrders has a free plan at 4 cents per order, and a $100 monthly plan with no per-order commission for high volumes. LightFunnels offers a 30-day trial with no card, then its lowest plan starts at $9.99 a month.
- A fit when: you are testing one or two products, most orders are cash on delivery, and you have time to upload products and write their pages yourself.
- Not enough when: you have a brand and a large catalog, you will spend on ads from month one, you need to know which campaign sold, and you want the store found on Google.
What 15,000 EGP covers
- 50 products uploaded, so the store opens complete and you learn on them before uploading the rest yourself.
- Hands-on training on running the store, plus a training file to come back to.
- The store set up for search engines, and secured.
- Category and page structure built around how your business sells.
- Cash on delivery, delivery time and returns shown on the product page, before the customer pays.
- GA4, Meta and TikTok tracking installed and tested before launch.
- A Google PageSpeed report at handover.
What raises the price: more than 50 products, extra features and integrations, and 3D design elements.
A real example: Yaso pet store
Yaso is an Egyptian store for cats and dogs, built from a blank domain on WooCommerce with the WoodMart theme. It carries 400 products from 33 brands in 25 categories, with 9 filters including life stage and litter scent, far larger than the base package.
- 92
- PageSpeed performance, desktop
- 78
- PageSpeed performance, mobile
- 100
- SEO on both, 4 November 2026
4 mistakes that cost more than the store
- Launching without tested tracking. On Slic's Zid store, GA4 recorded zero checkouts against 44 real orders. Judged by GA4, campaigns that were selling would have been switched off. Details here.
- Hiding cash on delivery in checkout. A customer who does not see cash on delivery and delivery time before tapping buy loses trust before reaching the price.
- Staying on Shopify Basic after online sales grow. Grow costs $50 more a month (billed yearly) but charges 1% instead of 2%. Once online-paid sales pass $5,000 a month, Grow is cheaper.
- Launching an English theme and translating it last. Late translation leaves English buttons and pages, and Egyptian customers stop there.
Work out your budget before you start
- Count your products: 50, fewer, or more?
- Pick the platform by your expected order volume, not the subscription price alone.
- Run payment fees on your average order. Example: a 500 EGP order through Paymob costs 13.75 + 3 = 16.75 EGP.
- Get shipping and collection quotes from at least two couriers for your governorates.
- Keep an ad budget from month one. A store without visitors does not sell.
