In 2026, an online store in Romania costs between 4,000 and 10,000 EUR for a properly built project, with a catalog, cart, checkout, secure payments, compliant invoicing and courier integration. Below 4,000 EUR you are in template-store territory, with real limitations; above 10,000 EUR you are looking at platforms with custom business logic. On top of that come 1,200–3,500 EUR per year in recurring costs that most quotes never mention.
We are writing this guide because "how much does an online store cost" is the question that attracts the most evasive answers. We build online stores from Bucharest, with code we write ourselves, and we publish our ranges openly in our pricing packages. If you are not yet sure you need an actual store, read presentation website or online store first — for many businesses, the honest answer is that a presentation website with WhatsApp orders is enough for the first year. And for the full picture of website costs, whatever the type, see how much a website costs in 2026.
Price table: what an online store costs, by project type
In short: a realistic budget for a working online store starts at 4,000 EUR. The difference between ranges is not "how pretty it looks" — it is the number of integrations, the complexity of the catalog and how much of your business logic has to be built from scratch.
| Project type | Price range | Timeline | Who it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Template store (ready-made theme) | 1,500–4,000 EUR | 3–5 weeks | Small catalog, simple products, tight budget, you accept the theme's limits |
| Standard online store | 4,000–10,000 EUR | 6–12 weeks | Most companies: real catalog, payments, invoicing, couriers, custom design |
| Complex / B2B store | 10,000–25,000 EUR | 3–6 months | Per-customer pricing, ERP, multi-warehouse stock, subscriptions, configurator |
| Marketplace (multiple sellers) | 25,000 EUR+ | 6 months+ | Commissions, split payments, seller accounts, moderation |
A useful reference: at roughly 5 RON/EUR, the standard range means 20,000–50,000 RON. If you receive a 1,200 EUR quote for a "complete online store", it does not necessarily mean someone is cheating you — it almost certainly means the quote covers installing a theme and none of the integrations below.
What you actually pay for: breaking down a 6,000 EUR store
In short: in an online store, the visible part — the design — is under a quarter of the budget. The rest is work the customer never sees, but without which the store cannot legally take money.
| Component | Share of budget | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Design & UX | 15–20% | Visual identity, product page, checkout flow, mobile version |
| Catalog & admin | 20–25% | Category structure, attributes, variants, filters, admin panel |
| Cart & checkout | 15–20% | Cart, shipping, coupons, customer accounts, guest orders |
| Payments & invoicing | 15–20% | Payment processor, automated invoicing, e-Factura, VAT |
| Couriers & stock | 10–15% | Automatic waybills, tracking, stock sync |
| Testing & launch | 10–15% | Order-flow testing, performance, technical SEO, migration |
This breakdown explains why "just add a store to the website" is not a small request. A presentation website displays information; an online store takes money, issues fiscal documents and triggers deliveries. Each of those three has legal consequences when it goes wrong.
Recurring costs: the part quotes leave out
In short: beyond the build price, an online store costs 1,200–3,500 EUR per year to keep running. This is not optional maintenance — these are costs without which the store stops working or becomes unsafe.
- Domain: 10–15 EUR/year. The only genuinely small cost.
- Hosting: 150–600 EUR/year for a store. More than a presentation website, because you need constant resources and daily backups.
- Payment fees: roughly 1–2.5% plus a fixed fee per transaction, depending on processor and volume. At 10,000 EUR in monthly sales, that is 100–250 EUR/month — usually the store's largest recurring cost.
- Invoicing: 100–300 EUR/year for an invoicing service with an API.
- Maintenance and updates: 10–20% of project value, annually. On a 6,000 EUR store: 600–1,200 EUR/year.
- SSL certificate: usually 0 EUR (Let's Encrypt), included with serious hosting.
Add them up before you sign, not after. A store built for 4,000 EUR and abandoned because you did not budget the 1,500 EUR of annual upkeep is 4,000 EUR lost, not 4,000 EUR saved.
What the store price does not include (and costs separately)
In short: the development price covers the platform. It does not cover content, marketing and operations — three categories that, on a real store, can exceed the build cost in the first year.
- Product content. Photos, descriptions, specifications, prices. At 100 products that means weeks of work. Either you do it, or you pay 5–20 EUR per product for professional photography and copy.
- Product import. If you already have a catalog in a file or another system, migration is a separate cost, depending on how clean the data is.
- Marketing. A store with no traffic does not sell. Google Ads, Meta Ads or SEO are separate monthly budgets, usually starting at 300–500 EUR/month.
- Daily operations. Processing orders, returns, support. Someone has to do this every working day.
Legal obligations of a Romanian online store
In short: an online store has obligations a presentation website does not, and meeting them is not optional. They cost little when planned from the start and a lot when bolted on after launch.
- 14-day right of withdrawal for consumers (OUG 34/2014), with a clear return and refund procedure.
- Full company details displayed visibly: name, tax code, Trade Register number, registered seat, contact.
- Links to ANPC and to the SOL dispute-resolution platform.
- Terms and conditions covering returns, delivery and warranty.
- GDPR: privacy policy, cookie consent, a legal basis for processing customer data.
- Compliant invoicing and e-Factura reporting to SPV. If you want to drop the manual part, we wrote about it in e-Factura automation.
How to cut cost without breaking the project
In short: real savings come from reducing scope at launch, not from reducing execution quality. Launch less, but launch it properly.
- Launch with fewer products. 20 well-presented products sell more than 300 entered in a rush without photos.
- Postpone non-critical integrations. The loyalty programme, subscriptions and the configurator can wait until month six.
- Prepare the content yourself. Delivering finished copy and photography genuinely lowers the budget.
- Do not save on checkout and payments. It is the one place in the store where a bug costs sales directly. This is where quality is worth paying for.
The platform choice matters too, but less than people think: we compared the options in detail in WooCommerce vs Shopify in Romania. And if you want orders, invoices and stock to handle themselves after launch, read order automation.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a small online store with 20–30 products cost?
Between 4,000 and 6,000 EUR for a properly built store with custom design, payments, invoicing and couriers. The number of products matters less than it seems: the effort sits in the integrations and the checkout flow, which are the same at 20 products or 200.
Can I start with a cheap store and rebuild it later?
You can, but you usually pay twice. If the budget is under 4,000 EUR, the better alternative is a presentation website with a catalog and orders via form or WhatsApp: you validate demand for 1,500–2,500 EUR and build the store on real data rather than assumptions.
How long does building an online store take?
6–12 weeks for a standard store, from brief to launch. The most common cause of delay is not the technical work but the product content, which depends on you. Details on the stages in how long it takes to build a website.
What is an online store's biggest recurring cost?
Payment fees, almost always. At roughly 1–2.5% plus a fixed fee per transaction, they scale directly with sales, unlike hosting or maintenance, which are fixed. They are worth negotiating with the processor once you have steady volume.
Do I get the store's source code?
With us, yes — in full, at the end of the project. It is a question worth asking any supplier before signing: if the answer is "no" or "only while you remain our client", the store is not really yours, and any future move means a rebuild.
Want a concrete budget for your case? Tell us what you sell, how many products you have and which integrations you need through our request a quote page, and you will get a range-based estimate within 24 hours, with what is and is not included. If you would rather see how we work first, the details are on our online store development page.