Hey everyone! I'm considering building a niche e-commerce website, kind of like a cross between Etsy and Facebook Marketplace. The site would have features like individual seller profiles with customizable storefronts, geolocation for range filtering, a blog section for sellers to share posts, and the ability to crosspost content to social media.
I'm just getting started and would love to know what to expect in terms of costs and technical requirements. Would third-party web hosting be enough for this, or should I think about self-hosting? Should I hire someone to help with the development, or is this something I could tackle on my own? Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated!
2 Answers
This feels a bit like Shopify, a multi-tenant e-commerce platform. If you're going for a fully developed site with hosting and a dedicated team, you're looking at around £2-4 million! Sounds steep, but remember, Shopify has millions of users generating insane transactions each year.
It sounds like you're aiming for a business venture, right? Just making sure this isn’t just a learning project to get into programming!
Correct, it would be for business purposes.

Yeah, I guess it's similar but I'm focusing on actual makers. I appreciate those numbers—really gives perspective. When do you think self-hosting becomes a must?