The Playbook · CHECKLIST
Nine questions to ask before you buy an e-commerce site
Nine questions, read straight off your phone, that expose a weak e-commerce quote in ten minutes. Each one comes with the answer that should come back and the answer that means hang up. They are grouped by what they protect: what you own, what you pay, and what happens the day after launch, which is the part every glossy proposal skips.
What should you ask about ownership?
Whose name is on the platform, the domain and the processor?
Yours, from day one. Hang up if the builder holds any of the three and offers to transfer them later.
What happens to the store if I cancel?
It keeps running and you keep the logins. Hang up if the answer is a pause, a fee or a rebuild.
Who owns the product photos and the customer list?
You do, exportable any day. A store that cannot export its customers is a store you are renting.
What should you ask about money?
What are all four cost lines?
The build, the platform fee, the processor's cut, and the care after launch. A quote that names one is a quarter of a quote; the store cost play walks through all four with my public floors, Signature from $2,500 and Flagship from $5,000.
What is one order worth after the product and the processor?
The builder should ask you this before you ask them. A store built without that number is designed around looks.
What does a month of care cost, and what does it include?
A number and a list. Mine is on the plans page: $149, $349 or $749 a month, month-to-month, cancel with 30 days' notice, with the list next to each.
What should you ask about the day after launch?
What happens automatically after a sale?
Receipt, inventory count, shipping label. If the answer is that you handle it, you are buying a brochure with a cart. The step-by-step play shows what the wiring looks like.
Can I buy something from a store you built, right now?
Yes, with a link. Then do it on your phone, on cellular, and count the taps. Hang up if the shipping cost only appears at the last step.
Who do I call when the checkout breaks on a Saturday?
A name and a number. Not a ticket queue. On the e-commerce service page the name is mine and the number is at the bottom of every page.
What should you do with the answers?
Write them down while the call is happening. A builder who answers all nine plainly has built stores before and knows where they break. A builder who answers three and pivots to the design has built pretty ones. Ask me the same nine; the answers are on this site, and the person answering the phone is the person who wires the checkout.
What else do owners ask?
What answer means hang up?
Any version of we handle that for you when the question was about ownership. A store you cannot take with you is not yours, whatever the invoice says.
Should I ask for a test order?
Always. Buy something from a store they built, on your phone, with a real card, and note every hesitation. It is the fastest honest test that exists.
Who pays the processing fees?
You do, on every order, on every platform. The question to ask is whether the builder put that cut in your margin math before quoting the build.
Your move. Call or text (847) 387-0244, or price your build in six taps and I call you with the exact number.
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Your move