How Much Does It Actually Cost to Sell Online in the UK? (2026)

If you're thinking about selling online in the UK, the first question is usually "how much will it cost me?" And the honest answer is: more than the platforms want you to think.

Every ecommerce platform advertises a monthly price. Shopify says "from £25/month." Squarespace says "from £24/month." But that number is just the starting point. By the time you add transaction fees, payment processing, apps, and add-ons, your actual cost can be two or three times the headline figure.

This guide breaks down the real, total cost of selling on five platforms — Shopify, Etsy, Squarespace, Wix, and Haul — so you can make an informed decision based on what you'll actually pay, not what the marketing page says.

The Four Types of Cost

Before we compare platforms, it helps to understand the four categories of cost that every seller faces. Some platforms are transparent about all four. Most aren't.

1. Subscription Fee

The monthly (or annual) fee you pay for access to the platform. This is the number you see on pricing pages. It's the easiest to compare, but often the smallest part of your total cost.

2. Transaction Fees

A percentage the platform takes from every sale, on top of payment processing. This is separate from what Stripe or the payment provider charges — it's the platform's own cut. Some platforms charge this, some don't. It's the fee most people overlook.

3. Payment Processing

The fee charged by the payment provider (Stripe, PayPal, Etsy Payments, Shopify Payments) for actually handling the card transaction. This is unavoidable — every platform has it. Typical UK rates are 1.4% + 20p for domestic cards, rising to 2.5–3.1% for international cards.

4. Apps, Themes, and Add-Ons

The hidden cost that catches most people out. Many platforms offer a basic feature set, then charge extra (through their own app stores or third-party services) for things you'd reasonably expect to be included — product reviews, email marketing, SEO tools, back-in-stock notifications, and more.

Platform-by-Platform Breakdown

Shopify Basic — £25/month

Shopify is the biggest name in ecommerce, and for good reason — it's powerful, well-supported, and has an enormous ecosystem. But "ecosystem" is doing a lot of heavy lifting, because many features that should be standard require paid apps.

Subscription: £25/month (or £19/month billed annually)
Transaction fee: 2% on every sale if you use a third-party payment provider. 0% if you use Shopify Payments exclusively.
Payment processing (Shopify Payments): 2% + 25p per UK transaction, 3.1% + 25p for international cards
Apps: Product reviews (£0–10/mo), SEO tools (£15–40/mo), email marketing beyond 10,000 emails (£8–30/mo), loyalty programmes (£20–50/mo), back-in-stock alerts (£5–20/mo). A typical small shop spends £30–80/month on apps.
Themes: Free themes are limited. Premium themes cost £150–350 as a one-off purchase.

For a deeper look at Shopify's pricing, see our full breakdown of Shopify's hidden costs or our Shopify comparison page.

Etsy

Etsy is different from the others on this list because it's a marketplace, not a standalone shop platform. You get access to Etsy's built-in traffic, which is genuinely valuable — but you pay for it through multiple layers of fees.

Subscription: Free for a standard shop. Etsy Plus is £8.50/month for some extra features.
Listing fee: £0.16 per item, per four months. Renewed automatically.
Transaction fee: 6.5% of the total sale price including shipping.
Payment processing: 4% + £0.20 per transaction.
Offsite ads: 15% fee on any sale that comes through Etsy's offsite advertising. If you make over £10,000/year, you can't opt out — the rate drops to 12%, but it's mandatory.

On a £25 sale, Etsy's base fees (before offsite ads) take roughly £2.83 — about 11.3%. Add offsite ads and it jumps to over 26%. See our full Etsy fees breakdown for worked examples.

Squarespace Commerce Core — £24/month

Squarespace is known for beautiful templates and is popular with creative businesses. Their Commerce Core plan (the cheapest option that actually lets you sell) is competitively priced, but there are some gotchas.

Subscription: £24/month (or £20/month billed annually). Note: the cheaper Business plan charges a 3% transaction fee, so most sellers need Commerce Core.
Transaction fee: 0% on Commerce Core and above.
Payment processing: Stripe rates apply — typically 1.4% + 20p domestic, 2.5% + 20p international (UK Stripe rates).
Add-ons: Limited app ecosystem compared to Shopify. Some features like abandoned cart recovery are only on the Commerce Advanced plan (£36/month). No native loyalty programme or back-in-stock alerts.

Squarespace is genuinely good value if your needs are straightforward. The challenge comes when you need features beyond the basics. See our Squarespace comparison for more detail.

Wix eCommerce Core — £24/month

Wix has evolved from a simple website builder into a capable ecommerce platform. Their Core plan is the entry point for selling online.

Subscription: £24/month (or £18.50/month billed annually).
Transaction fee: 0% on all ecommerce plans.
Payment processing: Wix Payments charges 1.4% + 20p for UK cards, 2.8% + 20p for international. You can also use Stripe or PayPal.
Add-ons: Wix has its own app market. Many free apps, but premium ones for reviews, loyalty, and advanced SEO typically run £5–20/month each.

Wix is a solid mid-range option. It's less powerful than Shopify for complex shops but more flexible than Squarespace. See our Wix comparison for a full rundown.

Haul Starter — £15/month

Haul is our own platform, so take this with appropriate context — but we built it specifically to address the cost problems outlined above.

Subscription: £15/month Starter (up to 75 products), £35/month Pro (unlimited). 3-day free trial, 20% discount on annual billing.
Transaction fee: 0% on all plans. No transaction fees, ever.
Payment processing: Standard Stripe rates — 1.4% + 20p domestic, 2.5% + 20p international. Stripe bills you directly; we don't mark it up.
Add-ons: Product reviews, SEO tools, email templates, back-in-stock notifications, stock control, VAT handling, and custom pages are all included. No app store, no extra charges.
Themes: Included. Visual page builder with drag-and-drop sections, custom branding, and theme presets.

Haul is designed for UK-based independent sellers who want a straightforward shop without the death-by-a-thousand-fees problem. It won't be right for everyone — if you need a massive app ecosystem or sell in 50 countries, Shopify is probably a better fit. But for most small to mid-size UK sellers, it covers what you actually need.

The Real Comparison: Total Cost at Different Revenue Levels

Here's where it gets interesting. The table below shows your estimated total monthly cost on each platform at four revenue levels. This includes subscription, transaction fees, and payment processing. For Shopify, we've added £40/month for typical app costs. For Etsy, we've excluded offsite ads (which would make it significantly more expensive).

All figures assume UK domestic card payments (1.4% + 20p on Stripe-based platforms, platform-specific rates for Etsy and Shopify Payments). Average order value assumed at £30.

Monthly Revenue	Shopify Basic	Etsy (no Plus)	Squarespace Core	Wix Core	Haul Starter
£1,000/mo	£91	£112	£41	£41	£29
£2,000/mo	£111	£218	£55	£55	£43
£5,000/mo	£170	£537	£97	£97	£85
£10,000/mo	£275	£1,068	£170	£170	£155

How to read this table: Shopify's cost includes £25 subscription + Shopify Payments processing (2% + 25p) + £40 estimated app costs. Etsy includes listing fees (£0.16 per item), 6.5% transaction fee, and 4% + £0.20 processing. Squarespace and Wix include subscription + Stripe processing (1.4% + 20p). Haul includes £15 subscription + Stripe processing (1.4% + 20p).

A few things stand out:

Etsy is by far the most expensive at every level — and this doesn't include offsite ads, which would add another 12–15% on affected sales. The trade-off is that Etsy brings its own traffic, so your marketing costs may be lower.
Shopify's app costs are the differentiator. Without apps, Shopify would be competitive with Squarespace and Wix. With them, it's consistently more expensive.
Squarespace and Wix are very similar in total cost. The difference comes down to features and design flexibility, not price.
The gap widens with revenue. At £1,000/month, the difference between cheapest and most expensive (excluding Etsy) is about £62. At £10,000/month, it's £120. Percentage-based fees compound.

What Most People Don't Account For

The table above covers the obvious costs, but there are several expenses that catch sellers off guard:

Currency Conversion Fees

If you sell internationally (and most UK online shops do), you'll pay higher processing rates on non-UK cards. On Shopify Payments, international cards cost 3.1% + 25p — more than double the domestic rate. Stripe charges 2.5% + 20p. Etsy charges 4% + £0.20 regardless. If 30% of your sales are international, this adds up significantly.

The App Creep Problem

On Shopify especially, you start with one or two apps, then gradually add more as you realise the base platform doesn't include things you need. Product reviews, SEO tools, email capture, loyalty programmes, back-in-stock alerts, size guides — each one is £5–50/month. Twelve months in, you're paying more for apps than for Shopify itself.

Theme Costs and Customisation

Shopify's free themes are functional but generic. Most sellers eventually buy a premium theme (£150–350) and then pay a developer for customisations (£200–1,000+). On Squarespace and Wix, templates are included, but deep customisation still often requires a developer.

Time as a Cost

This is the hardest to quantify but often the most significant. Managing multiple apps, dealing with compatibility issues between plugins, configuring complex shipping rules, and troubleshooting checkout problems all take time. If your platform is simple and everything works out of the box, you spend more time on your actual business.

Switching Costs

Once you've invested time in a platform — uploading products, configuring settings, building up reviews and SEO rankings — moving to another platform is expensive and disruptive. It's worth choosing carefully upfront rather than defaulting to the most well-known option.

So Which Platform Should You Choose?

There's no universal answer, but here's a rough guide:

Choose Etsy if you're just starting out, don't want to build your own website yet, and want access to Etsy's marketplace traffic. Accept that you'll pay higher fees for that visibility. Many successful sellers use Etsy as a starting point and add their own shop later.
Choose Shopify if you need a large app ecosystem, sell internationally at scale, or have complex requirements (multiple warehouses, B2B wholesale, POS). The higher cost is justified if you genuinely use the features.
Choose Squarespace if design quality is your top priority and your product catalogue is relatively simple. Great for businesses where brand aesthetics matter more than advanced ecommerce features.
Choose Wix if you want a good balance of design flexibility and ecommerce features at a mid-range price point. A solid all-rounder.
Choose Haul if you're a UK-based independent seller who wants everything included in one price — no transaction fees, no app costs, no theme purchases. Best for sellers doing up to a few thousand pounds a month who want simplicity.

The Bottom Line

The cheapest platform isn't always the best — and the most expensive isn't either. What matters is your total cost relative to the features you actually use.

If you're paying £65/month for Shopify plus apps but only using basic features, you're overpaying. If you're on Etsy and 15% of your sales are hit with offsite ad fees, your margins might be thinner than you realise.

Run the numbers for your specific situation. Add up every fee, not just the subscription. And remember that the platform you choose now doesn't have to be the platform you use forever — but switching has a cost too, so it's worth getting it right the first time.

For detailed comparisons, see our pages on Shopify, Etsy, Squarespace, and Wix — or check out Haul if you want to see what we've built.