Shopify, Auckland

Shopify stores, built and taken over by one person.

A new store is from NZ$4,990, no GST added: up to 25 products with their variants, payments, shipping rates and GST configured, order and stock emails set up, and a real order put through the checkout before it goes live. If your store already exists and is trading, it does not have to stop while it is rebuilt.

Or call Nick on 021 217 1760, or send a text.

Three kinds of job

Nearly every Shopify job is one of these.

Worth knowing which one you are, because the price, the timeline and the risk are different for each.

  • One

    A store that does not exist yet

    You sell physical things and you are taking payment online for the first time. The work that matters here is not the theme, it is the setup underneath it: shipping rates that are not guesses, GST configured correctly, order and stock emails that actually send, and a real order put through the checkout before anybody else can. From NZ$4,990, with the quote fixed in writing before it starts.

  • Two

    A store that is already trading

    It works, it takes money, and it is held together by a stack of apps nobody remembers installing. A takeover starts with a written review of the theme, the apps and the monthly bill, then the rebuild happens behind the scenes and switches over on a day you choose. Nothing stops selling.

  • Three

    The part a theme cannot do

    Your catalogue is really a set of choices, not a list of products. A gate configurator, a fit checker, finish cards that open the right collection, a quote request that carries a full specification. This is the work that is worth paying a person for, and it is usually built onto a standard theme rather than instead of one.

A point of view

Most small stores are sold the wrong half of the job.

Ask for a Shopify developer and what usually gets quoted is a theme: a custom design, a home page, some animation. That is the visible half, and it is the half that matters least to whether the store makes money.

The half that decides it is the boring half. Whether a customer can work out which size they need without emailing you. Whether shipping to Invercargill quotes something sensible. Whether the order confirmation arrives. Whether your stock numbers are true on a Monday morning. A beautiful store that quotes the wrong freight loses money faster than a plain one that does not.

A standard theme, set up properly, is not a compromise. Shopify maintains its own themes, so they keep working when Shopify changes something. A bespoke theme is maintained by whoever built it, and if that person moves on you are paying somebody new to learn it first. Entrance Handles runs on Dawn, Shopify's own theme, with the scroll-driven hero, product rails and finish cards built on top of it. Nobody would guess, and the business is not tied to me to keep it working.

Where a person earns their money is the bit that is only true of you. Made to measure gates. Handles in finishes you have to see. A range where the real question is whether it fits the door. That is where a custom build pays for itself, and it is where the most interesting work I have done has been.

And the fees are yours, not mine. Shopify's monthly plan, its transaction cut, your payment provider's fee and any paid app all sit on your own account, in your name, with no margin added here. You get the real figures in writing before you commit, app subscriptions included, because that monthly total surprises people more than the build price does.

Prices

One number for the store, one for keeping an eye on it.

A store is the only build here where something silently breaking costs you money the same week. That is why the care plan that fits it tests the checkout every month.

Online store

Online store

from NZ$4,990

For a business that sells physical products and wants payment, shipping and tax set up properly from day one.

The full list of what is included
Typically live in 6 weeks once we have your products.Start a store
Plus

Plus

NZ$249/monthor NZ$2,490 a year

For an online store or a busy site where the website is part of how you make money every week.

The full list of what is covered
Cancel any time, by email. No exit fee.Ask about Plus

Care plans work for sites we built and sites we did not. Sites built elsewhere get a written review first. All prices are in New Zealand dollars, with no GST added. Tea Break Studio is not registered for GST, so no GST is charged on any price, quote or invoice.

Real stores

Three Shopify builds. Two you can open, one you cannot yet.

All three are client builds. The third is live, and it is captures only until its owner has said yes.

  • Entrance Handles home page in a desktop browser
    Live

    Entrance Handles

    Online store, Shopify

    52 products of architectural door hardware, with finishes, sizes and fitting detail structured so a specifier can choose without a phone call. Built on Dawn, with Shop Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal at checkout.

  • Killer Groom home page in a desktop browser
    Live

    Killer Groom

    Store rebuild and care, Shopify

    A grooming brand taken over as a live, trading store and rebuilt around its range: loyalty, a wishlist, Subscribe and Save and a stockist locator. The original build was by another agency.

  • Hi Class Gates home page in a desktop browser
    Client build, awaiting approval

    Hi Class Gates

    Shopify site with configurator, Shopify

    Made to measure gates, which are a set of choices rather than a catalogue. A configurator covers type, style, twelve Dulux colours, height, width and automation with a day and night preview, then sends the spec as a quote request.

Work awaiting permission is shown as captures only, and the owner's site is not linked until they have said yes.

Straight answers

What store owners ask.

Mostly about money that is not mine: Shopify's own fees, app subscriptions, and who ends up owning what.

Anything not here, ask. 021 217 1760

Yes, and it does not have to stop selling while you do it. Killer Groom, a live store built by another agency, came to me and was rebuilt around its range while orders kept coming in. It starts with a look at the theme, the apps and the accounts, because what a store is paying for in monthly app fees is usually the first surprise.
Shopify charges its own monthly fee and takes a cut of each transaction, and your payment provider charges you as well. All of it is paid by you, directly, on an account in your name, and none of it comes through me or has a margin added to it. Those are Shopify's prices and they change, so you get the current figures in writing before you commit rather than a number off a web page.
Usually not, and that is deliberate rather than lazy. A bespoke theme costs more to build, more to maintain, and breaks in ways nobody can help you with when you need it fixed on a Sunday. A well set up standard theme, plus the two or three pieces that are genuinely yours, gives a small store a better result for the money. If your catalogue really does need something a theme cannot do, that is the third kind of job below.
The store package, from NZ$4,990, includes up to 25 products loaded with their variants. Beyond that, loading is NZ$290 per 20 products, and it is a line on the quote rather than a surprise. Extra pages beyond the store itself are NZ$390 per page. If you are migrating hundreds of products from an old system, say so early, because that is a project of its own and it gets scoped before anything is promised.
Yes, and it is often the real reason to hire a person. A gate that is made to measure is not a product with three variants, it is a set of choices, so Hi Class Gates got a configurator with a day and night preview and twelve Dulux colours rendered on the gate, which sends the finished spec through as a quote request. Entrance Handles needed the opposite: 52 products structured so a specifier can choose a finish and a size without ringing anyone.
You do. The Shopify account is in your name, the domain is in your name, the payment provider is in your name, and every app is installed on your account rather than mine. I get staff access, and you can remove it in one click whenever you like. Nothing is built in a way that makes leaving hard.
One next step

Tell me what you sell and where it is now.

Roughly how many products, how you ship, and whether the store already exists. That is enough for me to come back in writing with what I would do and what it would cost.