Door cost page · fees checked October 2026
Every platform on this site except this one brings its own shoppers. A store of your own — Shopify is the usual choice — brings none. That single fact rearranges the whole cost table: the plan is $39 a month, the domain is $15 a year, and the real cost of the door is whatever it takes to get your first hundred visitors through it.
This door is not a scam and it is not a shortcut. It is the right door for a narrow set of beginners: those with a specific product and a traffic source. Everyone else should start where the shoppers already are, build an audience on rented ground, and buy this door later with proof. The two reality checkers below exist to tell you which beginner you are.
The fees, dated
| Fee | Amount | What it actually is |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify Basic plan | $39 / month | Billed monthly. Intro offers (like $1 months) appear and expire — never build your math on a promo. |
| Domain | About $15 / year | Bought through Shopify or any registrar. |
| Theme | $0 to $400, one time | Free themes are genuinely fine at the start. Premium themes are a later luxury. |
| Apps | $0–$50+ / month | Reviews, email, upsells. Each one is small; the stack is not. Audit monthly. |
| Shopify Payments | 2.9% + $0.30 per order | Standard card processing when you use Shopify's own payments. |
| Traffic | The real line — see the checker | Paid clicks run roughly $0.50–$2.00 each on social ads in typical beginner categories, $1–$3 on search ads (planning ranges, checked October 2026). 100 visitors is a cost, not a hope. |
Worked example, checked October 2026: the typical lean stack — plan $39 + domain about $1.25/month + a typical $20 of apps + free theme — is about $61 a month before a single visitor arrives. First month plus a domain and a $100 traffic test puts cash out before the first sale at roughly $154.
| First month of Shopify Basic | $39 |
| Domain (year) | About $15 |
| Theme | $0 (free theme) |
| First traffic test | $100 minimum to learn anything true |
| Total cash before your first sale | $69–$400+ — $69 only if your traffic is free (an audience); $154 is the honest typical basket; it climbs fast with apps and ad tests |
Worked basket at October 2026 prices. Your basket moves with your listings and materials — the calculator below uses your numbers.
The empty street. Platform funnels sell the store because the store is what they sell. The sentence their pricing pages never print: Shopify is a storefront, not a marketplace — it has no shoppers to send you. Your first 100 visitors will be earned (content, an audience, months of search work) or bought (ads, creators). Price that in before the plan, not after.
Don't start with this door if you have no audience and no ad budget — you would be renting an empty shop on an empty street.
There is no built-in traffic clock: days if you already have an audience, months if you are building one from zero. Anyone quoting you a faster average is selling the store.
See every door's fees in one dated dataset · Compare doors with the finder
The verdict is step one. The First Door Kit carries the launch checklist for this door, the first-10-listings worksheet, and the budget sheet that keeps the basket above honest when your real numbers replace ours.
Included in the $39 First Door Kit
For most beginners, Etsy — because the shoppers are already there. Shopify wins when you already have traffic or a product with its own demand. We have a full verdict page on exactly this pair.
Dropshipping is this door with a supplier shipping for you. Its math (duty, returns, shipping times) gets its own reality check below — run your product through it before you build anything.
You can, and the promo is a fine way to learn the dashboard. Just do not mistake a $1 month for the cost of the door: the plan renews at full price, and the traffic was never in the promo at all.