Question 1

What is the difference between hosted and self-hosted ecommerce platforms?

Accepted Answer

Hosted platforms manage the infrastructure, security patches, and uptime for you in exchange for a monthly fee and, often, a transaction percentage. Self-hosted platforms give you full code control and typically lower ongoing costs but require a developer for setup, updates, and maintenance.

Question 2

Do ecommerce platforms handle VAT and sales tax automatically?

Accepted Answer

Many platforms have basic tax calculation built in, but accuracy at scale — particularly for EU VAT, US nexus rules, and multi-country selling — usually requires a dedicated tax compliance tool layered on top. Check what is truly native versus what requires an add-on.

Question 3

How do I decide between a general ecommerce platform and a specialist one for digital products or subscriptions?

Accepted Answer

General platforms are optimised for physical goods with inventory and shipping. If your core model is digital downloads, memberships, or recurring billing, a specialist platform often handles licensing, delivery, dunning, and revenue recognition more cleanly than a physical-goods platform with plugins bolted on.

Question 4

Is headless commerce worth the complexity for a small team?

Accepted Answer

Rarely. Headless setups offer front-end flexibility but add infrastructure overhead, developer dependency, and slower iteration. Most teams benefit from a traditional hosted stack until they have clear, specific requirements that a hosted platform genuinely cannot meet.

Question 5

What is the real cost of switching ecommerce platforms?

Accepted Answer

Beyond development time, migration involves product data, customer records, order history, SEO URL structures, and any custom integrations. A realistic migration budget for an established store is several months of developer time and a period of reduced operational velocity during the transition.

Question 6

How do I assess whether an app marketplace will cover my needs?

Accepted Answer

List every capability your store needs beyond the core platform — reviews, loyalty, subscriptions, bundles, advanced search. Find the leading app for each on the marketplace, check its pricing and reviews, and sum the total cost. This exercise often reveals significant platform differences that headline pricing hides.

Ecommerce marketplace

Flippa

ThriveCart

Seel

Wix

WordPress

Dropship.io

BigCommerce

Trustpilot

Alidrop

Shopify

Trendsi

Spocket