[Shone]

This is not a community alert targeted at a particular individual, rather it is a community alert for the entire community to just know better.

Looked thru HF, found a few of these services.
Some of them, charging $150 per store.

I'm a web developer.
It's my job to understand how websites work, how to code.


I want to say - I have nothing against these services being offered. Don't get me wrong.

I get why people offer this service. What I see wrong in it is just that some people are not satisfied with $30 for an easy task like this and just want to rip off people for $150 or more.
I can understand people being lazy and just having someone else create a store for them, add a few products and set everything up. That's perfectly okay and understandable.
Spend some money, nothing too insane, get an annoying part solved by someone else. I get that.

What I can't understand on the other side - Why is there a Shopify Store Creation service that asks for $150 or more, per store, for something that is 30 minutes of work?
There is no coding involved. Service itself seems to be low quality. I won't link it, because I don't want to advertise it any further.

The entire process of this service is just going thru Shopify setup, selecting options, creating a store and importing a few products from some provider like Oberlo - perhaps looking up some stock photos from UnSplash or some other stock photo provider.

The difficulty of this entire service might go to the extremes - they might have to add some TEXT to a STOCK image. Can you imagine how hard that is? Not like there is thousands of services online that can let you add good looking text to an image for free, online.

Obviously, I'm being sarcastic. These services are usually done by complete amateurs just looking to hoodwink people for quick money. They have no real skills in terms of coding, design so they have to resort to quick schemes like this. But you guys should know better than giving in to these low quality people. Save yourself some money, you can post a request in Buyers Bay or some other board and someone might have a spare hour to set you a Store probably much better, for like $30 or less.


I had to write this because it is infuriating to me. Seeing all these people charging so much for something that is really, really easy and takes no particular knowledge. 30 minute task for $150 ? Their hourly rate is more than mine as a professional web developer, writing in a programming language that took me years to learn / perfect my knowledge.


That being said,
Cheers guys, have a good one and stay home & stay safe 😛

[Bear]

I skimmed what you said and I agree with your title.

Such services that don’t provide any custom content are ripping people off with stock content.

[billybonkers]

Don't really get the point of the thread tbh
If somebody charges $150 and provides proper copywriting and custom art then it's absolutely worth it.
If they just copy the aliexpress page then obviously it's not.

[The Don]

I absolutely agree with this, $150 for a Shopify store should not be legal...

Do your own due diligence before paying someone to make a Shopify store for you. It's quite easy...

Quality post Shone!

[Shone]

Don't really get the point of the thread tbh
If somebody charges $150 and provides proper copywriting and custom art then it's absolutely worth it.
If they just copy the aliexpress page then obviously it's not.

Point of the thread is that they are not.
Quality copywriting requires a lot of knowledge and skill - none of which they claim to have, have any proof or backing behind.
By the point you realize someone just took a few stock photos, just added text to them and called it a day, you're already out of $150.

Some people assume that these people really know what they are doing and that is why the price is so high but the truth is, it's just a mere rip-off.

[King]

I agree.

I personally offer software development services, and if something requires some easy work like a Shopify Store or w.e., I might do it for free.

I guess some people just want to profit from other people... that is how it has been since the beginning of humanity.

[Cyam]

I couldn't agree with you more.

I saw example from the individual selling this services and it's awful. It's not even pleasant to the eye and he's charging $150 for it. Learning Shopify is not a long process. I remember when I was doing my first store I was just following a simple 30 minute Youtube video and after that I already got the idea about how it all works.

Save your $150 and go learn it yourself, you will probably end up making it better looking than that BS service.

[Lil Wolf]

People play that much to set up a shopify page.... You need to let them keep getting stung bro they either are extremely lazy or just really not tech-savvy $150 is insane but its only a standard cause people keep supporting it.

[Skyline]

Cuz people want to make money.

[SIM-4609353]

I couldn't agree with you more.

I saw example from the individual selling this services and it's awful. It's not even pleasant to the eye and he's charging $150 for it. Learning Shopify is not a long process. I remember when I was doing my first store I was just following a simple 30 minute Youtube video and after that I already got the idea about how it all works.

Save your $150 and go learn it yourself, you will probably end up making it better looking than that BS service.

I'm not 100% sure you're really able to talk either, with your 6 open disputes totaling about $700 .

Anyway, this service is definitely overcharged. While it is convenient for someone new to have this service done, in the long run, someone running a successful shopify store will need to know how to edit and customize it. If you have one built, you probably won't know a damn thing and will have to fork over even more money for simple edits. A store creation guide/mentorship will be vastly more useful than a store being built for you. Full disclosure though, I have looked into buying pre-built stores as some of them are pretty nice looking and I'm already familiar with shopify. But targeting those wanting to enter dropshipping is a path set to fail.

[James Burnham]

95% of the services and products offered here will give you negative ROI.

[Deal]

I haven’t looked into these services specifically.
If it indeed does take 30 minutes then $150 is a lot.

But I study graphic design and front-end development myself and am close to having a degree. I already do have a degree in marketing management so these two fields compliment each other.

The reason I’m not having a shop here is because people expect services at such a low price. Most customers don’t want to pay more than $40 for a logo here. A logo design in my country has a starting price of $300.

For a fully set up and functional webshop whether it be Shopify, woocommerce or whatever. $150 doesn’t sound like much at all.

Hackforums is a low baller paradise, and I get why. Most of the people doing business here are unemployed and uneducated within their field. They are self taught and does not have a degree, therefore it’s logical that they can’t charge as much as someone with paper to back them up.

[The Broker]

Well thats not a rip off if people agree to pay and are happy with the results.
I'll tell you what buddy, if this is 30 mins of works and the price seems ridiculous to you, why don't you open up a competing service for half the price, 75$ for 30 mins of work is great IMO.

[Eagle 95]

Well thats not a rip off if people agree to pay and are happy with the results.
I'll tell you what buddy, if this is 30 mins of works and the price seems ridiculous to you, why don't you open up a competing service for half the price, 75$ for 30 mins of work is great IMO.

Agreed.

So if what if they charge something like that? Here's an example. An experienced mechanic can do some job within 5 minutes to replace some bulb and charge you for a whole hour? Is that wrong? No, it's not. You're paying for his experience as some other mechanic would take hours to change the same part.

While I do not say everyone that does this is necessarily experienced, people have the right to change what they want. I know people that make 3 page wordpress websites and charge around 800-1000 euros for that. Is it easy to setup a wordpress site for you? It probably is. Is it easy for those that charge that? Yeah. However, is it easy for some random 40 year old Joe to fuck around with hosting, domains, research, uploading files, trying to figure out how wordpress works? Well it depends but mostly it's not.

The point is, something being easy is highly relative. I know people that don't know how to install a program on windows with just clicking next next next finish. Now to address the shopify store issue, same applies. It being easy is highly relative. Also, you gotta account people being lazy to do it. So with a mix of relative easiness and lazyness, why not charge amount they charge?

If you want to make a different, then go and offer same service for cheaper like Broker said.

[The Broker]

Agreed.

So if what if they charge something like that? Here's an example. An experienced mechanic can do some job within 5 minutes to replace some bulb and charge you for a whole hour? Is that wrong? No, it's not. You're paying for his experience as some other mechanic would take hours to change the same part.

While I do not say everyone that does this is necessarily experienced, people have the right to change what they want. I know people that make 3 page wordpress websites and charge around 800-1000 euros for that. Is it easy to setup a wordpress site for you? It probably is. Is it easy for those that charge that? Yeah. However, is it easy for some random 40 year old Joe to fugg around with hosting, domains, research, uploading files, trying to figure out how wordpress works? Well it depends but mostly it's not.

The point is, something being easy is highly relative. I know people that don't know how to install a program on windows with just clicking next next next finish. Now to address the shopify store issue, same applies. It being easy is highly relative. Also, you gotta account people being lazy to do it. So with a mix of relative easiness and lazyness, why not charge amount they charge?

If you want to make a different, then go and offer same service for cheaper like Broker said.

I'll add an analogy that happened to me irl
I used to be a fitness trainer, and I am also a bodybuilder, yeah I worked hard 24/7, I was (still am) pretty jacked and I couldn't understand how in the world a skinny guy with trainer certificate could get more clients than me? Like wtf? He doesn't even look like he has a gym membership (he was literally scamming people).
So I started shitting about one of these trainers, I was spending so much time telling people why they shouldn't choose him, instead of working working on my biz.

And then one day a wise man came to me and said, "Do you think that if you get this guy out of business your biz will skyrocket? Not really. Fools never disappear, they are rotating, so if you prove to a client how bad that trainer is, this client might leave that trainer, but another client will replace him.

With that being said OP, develop your own business and focus on it. Checking what your neighbors having in their yard and complaining about it isn't what going to improve you.
Again, if you find a bargain, go all in.