An online store in Australia costs significantly more than a standard website. A basic Shopify or WooCommerce store runs $1,200–$3,000 to set up plus $40–$150 per month in platform and hosting fees. You'll also pay payment processing fees of 1.75%–2.9% per transaction. Realistic first-year total cost for a small online store is $2,500–$6,000+, depending on the platform, number of products, and who builds it.

To start an online store in Australia: confirm a store (not a booking system) is what you need, sort your ABN and business basics, choose your platform and sales channels, budget for more than the subscription, set up the required legal pages, organise shipping and payments, then launch before it's perfect. Done properly, it's a few weeks — not two hours.

Beyond the platform subscription, the costs that catch new Australian store owners are: apps for 'standard' features, payment processing on every sale, gateway penalties, currency conversion, marketplace extras, shipping and packaging, GST on your tools, the subscription running while you build — and your own time. Most are manageable. All belong in the budget up front.

For most Australian small businesses: both, in the right order. Your own store is home base — your branding, your customer relationships, your SEO. Marketplaces work as a secondary channel for discovery and trust, especially early on. eBay's new free tier makes testing cheaper, but it doesn't change who owns the customer.

Shopify is a hosted platform — you pay from A$56/month and they handle hosting, security and updates. WooCommerce is free software you run yourself — cheaper on paper, but hosting, maintenance and extensions are your job. For most non-technical Australian small businesses, Shopify's simplicity wins; WooCommerce suits those with technical comfort or developer support who want full control.

Shopify Australia starts at A$56 a month (A$42 on annual billing) for the Basic plan, plus payment processing from 1.75% + 30¢ per domestic sale. Once apps and processing are counted, a typical small store trading steadily budgets somewhere around A$150–$300+ a month all-in — the worked example below shows where it goes.

It depends on your margins and your customers. BNPL typically costs merchants around 4–6% per sale — roughly three times card fees — but if your buyers expect it, the real question is: would you rather have 96% of the sale or no sale? New stores also gain a trust signal. Run the maths on your margin first.

From 1 October 2026, businesses can no longer add a surcharge to eftpos, Mastercard or Visa payments — debit or credit. If you currently add a card fee at the counter or checkout, it needs to be removed before then, with the cost built into your prices instead.

Store SEO differs from regular website SEO in three ways: every product and category page is its own ranking opportunity, copied manufacturer descriptions quietly sink you, and structured data puts your price and stars directly into results. Write original descriptions buyers would actually search for, give category pages real content, and let product schema do the technical talking.

Google Shopping has a free lane and a paid one. Free product listings cost nothing and every store should claim them: set up Google Merchant Center, verify your store, connect your product feed (your platform mostly automates this), and keep prices accurate. Paid Shopping ads run through Performance Max and make sense once you have budget and proven products.

Around 70% of online carts are abandoned, and unexpected costs at checkout are the biggest cause — so fix the causes first: show shipping early and keep totals honest. Then one well-timed, personal reminder email recovers more than a week of nagging. Collect email consent properly at checkout, include an unsubscribe, and let automation send it while the words stay yours.

Australian online stores must honour consumer guarantees (they can't be signed away), display honest returns information, price GST-inclusive, and follow the Spam Act for marketing emails. Every store should carry terms and conditions, a privacy policy, and shipping and returns policies that tell the truth. 'No refunds' signs are illegal — and the ACCC is actively looking.

Usually, yes — if your website is performing, keep it and add commerce to it rather than rebuilding. For one to three products, a payment link or embedded buy button is often enough. For a real catalogue, upgrade your platform's commerce features or connect a store on a subdomain. Rebuild only if the site itself isn't working.

It comes down to what your customer walks away with. If it's a thing — shipped or downloaded — you need a store. If it's a time — an appointment, a session, a class — you need online bookings, which are easier and cheaper to set up than a store. Plenty of businesses eventually need a bit of both; start with the one that makes your money today.