A monthly platform subscription
Paid regardless of sales volume, on top of whatever else the store is running.
WHY NOT · SHOPIFY
We do not build on Shopify
Shopify is a hosted ecommerce platform: a monthly subscription for the platform itself, a transaction fee on every sale unless the store uses its own payment processor exclusively, and paid apps for whatever the base platform does not do natively. Each fee is small on its own. Together, indefinitely, they are the real cost of the store.
THE MECHANISM
Three fees, all recurring
Not a criticism of reliability. A description of what running a store on it costs, forever.
A transaction fee on every sale
Unless the store uses the platform's own payment processor exclusively, this applies indefinitely.
An app stack that tends to grow
Each feature the base platform lacks becomes another monthly fee, rarely audited or removed once installed.
MEASURED, NOT ARGUED
The closest proof we have published
Not Shopify-specific, but the same underlying mechanism: an app-heavy build, rebuilt custom.
"Patisserie ecommerce" in our published proof numbers scored 28 with 11 plugins before a custom rebuild, 98 with a purpose-built checkout on Stripe afterward. We do not have a Shopify-specific before-and-after published on this site yet, and we are saying so rather than implying one exists.
THE ONE EXCEPTION
When Shopify is genuinely the right answer
Publishing what we will not do includes saying when the alternative is fine.
A small catalogue with standard products and no unusual variant or fulfilment logic can run on Shopify for years without the fee stack ever becoming a real problem. The mismatch shows up with a catalogue that does not fit the platform's assumptions: variant-heavy products, made-to-order items with delivery windows, or multi-vendor settlement.
STRAIGHT ANSWERS
Questions about this position
The ones that come up when people notice we say this plainly instead of hedging it.
No, it runs reliably for a huge number of stores. The issue is not reliability, it is what running a store on it costs indefinitely: a subscription, a transaction fee on every sale, and an app stack that tends to grow rather than shrink over time.
For a small catalogue with standard products and no unusual variant or fulfilment logic, it can be fast to launch and perfectly workable for years. We will say so rather than sell a custom build nobody needs.
Three fees, all recurring: the platform subscription, a transaction cut on every sale unless the store uses Shopify's own payment processor exclusively, and paid apps for whatever the base platform does not do natively, which tend to accumulate rather than get pruned.
"Patisserie ecommerce" in our published proof numbers moved from 28 to 98 after a custom rebuild, 11 plugins down to a purpose-built checkout on Stripe. We do not have a Shopify-specific before-and-after on this site yet; when one exists, it will be published here.
Send us your website address. We will tell you what is wrong with it.
Two days, no charge, no obligation, and you keep the report whether or not you hire us.