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E-commerce: Should I partner with the e-commerce developer or should i purchase the website and pay for the monthly maintenance?

Michael Muli, UX Designer and Design Thinker answered:

Hey there,
Hopefully you are well. First off, I think that it's great that you didn't let cost fool you into getting into a partnership with the developer. Your project sounds huge and the tasks your team will have to perform definitely are taxing, NO WONDER THE COST.
However at this time when you haven't been able to make any income from the website and don't know with certainty when and if the website will pick up enough to be self-sustainable I would not take up more risk unless you are well-funded.
I would advise you to build a developer team slowly that genuinely believes in your product and does not look at you as a money box. That is the gut feeling I get when I read through your message.
How about partnering with someone / org that will pour money into the Website at low ROI ? Or raising money on Kickstarter if necessary ?
I wish you all the best as you decide what to do.

Smiles... :-)

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Question

I am partnering with some intermediate-large outlet stores to make an online outlet store in Argentina which there are none with real stock as we will have. Plus, we will have the advantage of having all the items on consignation (from the brands) or/plus having a factory produce any best seller again (my factory).
I am considering different developers which i will want to handle the SEO, social media, online marketing, email marketing, virality, a/b testing, logistics, picture taking, data entry, system and stock matching (retail and online), etc, so basically I am outsourcing everything to them.
The options I am having range from 1000-6000 for the development of the e-commerce, and 500-2000 for the monthly maintenance. The most expensive ones are the most recommended ones but there is a great difference with the rest.
He also is interested in being a part of the project, but he is offering me to still charge me 6000 for the site and 2000 for the monthly fee or 7%, whichever is greater.
My question is, why should i partner with him if he is not absorbing any of the initial cost and he is not taking any risk on the monthly cost?
(He is an open cart developer)

Web development

Answer

Michael Muli answered

Hey there,
Hopefully you are well. First off, I think that it's great that you didn't let cost fool you into getting into a partnership with the developer. Your project sounds huge and the tasks your team will have to perform definitely are taxing, NO WONDER THE COST.
However at this time when you haven't been able to make any income from the website and don't know with certainty when and if the website will pick up enough to be self-sustainable I would not take up more risk unless you are well-funded.
I would advise you to build a developer team slowly that genuinely believes in your product and does not look at you as a money box. That is the gut feeling I get when I read through your message.
How about partnering with someone / org that will pour money into the Website at low ROI ? Or raising money on Kickstarter if necessary ?
I wish you all the best as you decide what to do.

Smiles... :-)