CentriWebEcommerce website cost in Australia is made of four parts: the platform, payment fees on every sale, shipping, and the build and upkeep that keep the store working. Platform and payment fees are published, so you can work them out from your own sales figures; the build and upkeep are set by how many products you sell, how they are delivered and which other systems the store has to talk to.
CentriWeb builds online stores on WordPress and sets up payments, so weigh our view with that in mind. Every fee below is taken from the vendor’s own page as at November 2026, in Australian dollars unless we say otherwise. Fees change, so check their pages for current prices before you decide.
The four parts of an ecommerce website cost in Australia
| Cost | How it is charged | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | Monthly subscription (hosted) or hosting plus extensions (self-hosted) | Plan level, number of staff accounts, apps or extensions |
| Payments | A percentage plus a fixed amount on each sale | Order volume, average order value, card type, overseas buyers |
| Shipping | Per parcel, from your carrier | Weight, size, destination, returns, packaging |
| Build and upkeep | One-off build, then ongoing care | Product count, design, integrations, how often things change |
The platform fee is the one most people compare, but on a busy store the payment fees can be larger, as the worked example below shows. Work out all four before choosing.
Platform fees: hosted or self-hosted
A hosted platform runs the store software for you for a monthly fee. Shopify is one. On Shopify’s Australian pricing page, as at November 2026, the plans are:
- Basic: $56 AUD a month billed monthly, or $42 AUD a month billed yearly.
- Grow: $149 AUD a month billed monthly, or $114 AUD a month billed yearly.
- Advanced: $575 AUD a month billed monthly, or $431 AUD a month billed yearly.
- Plus: starts at $3,700 AUD a month.
A self-hosted platform is software you run on your own hosting. WooCommerce is an ecommerce plugin for WordPress. Its pricing page describes it as free, open source and with no monthly subscription. You pay instead for hosting, any paid extensions, and someone to keep it updated. WooCommerce’s page gives its own ranges for hosting and extensions but does not state the currency, so check it there.
Hosted platforms suit owners who want the software looked after for them and are happy to work inside the platform’s rules. Self-hosted suits stores that need more control over the site, the content or the data, and that have someone to maintain it. Our comparison of Shopify and WooCommerce goes through the trade-offs.
Payment fees on every sale
Payment fees are charged on each transaction, so they grow with your sales. Published standard rates as at November 2026:
- Shopify Payments (online standard card rate): 1.7% + 30c AUD on Basic, 1.55% + 30c on Grow, 1.35% + 30c on Advanced and 1.15% + 30c on Plus. If you use a third-party payment provider instead, Shopify adds its own transaction fee of 2%, 1%, 0.6% or 0.2% on those plans.
- Stripe: its Australian pricing page lists 1.65% + A$0.30 for domestic cards and 3.5% + A$0.30 for international cards, plus 2% if currency conversion is needed. Stripe says these fees include GST. The page also flags a pricing change from 1 April 2027, so read it before you plan around it.
- WooPayments: the WooPayments fees page lists 1.75% + $0.30 for Australian cards, plus 1.5% for international payments and 2% for currency conversion. The page shows the currency only as “$”.
A worked example with your own numbers: say you take 200 orders a month at an average of $80, or $16,000 in sales. At 1.7% + 30c, each order costs $1.66 in fees, or $332 a month. At 1.65% + 30c it is $1.62 an order, or $324. On Shopify Basic with a third-party provider, the 2% Shopify fee adds $320 a month on top of that provider’s own fees.
If you plan to pass card fees on to customers, read our guide to the credit card surcharge rules in Australia first. For other gateways, see our guide to payment gateways in Australia.
Shipping
Shipping is often the cost that surprises new store owners, because it is set parcel by parcel. What moves it:
- Weight and size. Bulky but light items can cost more than small heavy ones, depending on how your carrier measures parcels.
- Destination. Regional and remote addresses usually cost more than metro ones. Test a few remote postcodes before launch.
- Carrier and account. Published counter rates and business account rates differ. Ask your carrier what your volume qualifies for.
- Free shipping offers. Every “free” parcel is paid from your margin. Set a threshold that your margin can carry.
- Returns and packaging. Both add up on every order.
Most platforms can calculate live shipping prices at checkout and print labels, sometimes through a paid app or extension. Count that subscription too.
Build cost: what moves the price
We do not quote price bands here, because the range between a simple store and a complex one is too wide to be useful. These are the things that set the build cost:
- Products and variants. Fifty products with no options is a different job from two thousand with sizes and colours.
- Product data. Clean spreadsheets import quickly. Missing photos, descriptions or weights have to be created.
- Design. An adjusted theme is quicker than a custom design.
- Integrations. Linking the store to your accounting software, stock system, point of sale, CRM or email marketing adds work for each connection.
- Selling rules. Trade pricing, subscriptions, bundles, gift cards and click-and-collect each add set-up and testing.
- Moving from an old store. Migrating products, customers and orders, and redirecting old page addresses so search rankings carry over.
Upkeep after launch
A store keeps costing money after it goes live. Budget for app or extension subscriptions, software updates, security, backups, product and price changes, and marketing to bring in visitors. On a hosted platform the core software is updated for you, but apps and theme changes still need checking. On WooCommerce, you or your developer handle WordPress, plugin and theme updates, ideally tested on a copy of the store first. Our guide to website maintenance cost explains what a care plan should cover.
Costs owners often miss
- Apps and extensions that add up. Reviews, subscriptions, wish lists, shipping labels and search each tend to come as a separate monthly subscription. Review the list every few months and cancel what you no longer use.
- Product photography and descriptions. Good photos and accurate descriptions do much of the selling, and someone has to produce them for every new product.
- Refunds and disputes. Check each payment provider’s terms for what happens to its fees when you refund an order or a customer disputes a charge.
- Staff time. Packing, answering customer questions and updating stock all take hours each week. Count them as a cost, even if you do them yourself.
- Your domain name and email. Small amounts, but they need to be in the business’s name and renewed on time.
- Accounting connections. Sending each sale, fee and refund to your accounting software saves bookkeeping time, but the connector may carry its own fee.
How to estimate your own store’s cost
- Estimate monthly orders and average order value for the first year.
- Pick the platform plan that fits, and note its monthly fee.
- Multiply your orders by the payment rate for that platform and gateway.
- Estimate average shipping per order, after any free shipping offer.
- List the apps or extensions you need and their subscriptions.
- Get a build quote that lists products, integrations and migration separately.
- Add ongoing care and marketing.
Then compare the monthly total with your gross margin on those orders. If the numbers only work at sales you have never reached, start smaller: fewer products, a standard theme and one payment provider, and add the rest once the store is paying for itself.