Six questions to ask before you build
- Who processes the card payments, and can that company close my checkout? You want to bring your own gateway.
- Can I take bank transfer, Zelle and crypto, and does the platform match those payments to orders, or do I do it by hand?
- Where do lab reports live, and are they tied to batches the buyer can check?
- Does anything check my product wording before it goes live?
- Is my store on my own domain, and can I export every order, customer and product if I leave?
- What does it cost at 300 orders a month, and at 1,500?
Where the hidden costs are
| Cost | Why it adds up |
|---|---|
| Apps and plugins | Lab reports, subscriptions, affiliates, reviews and texting are often separate monthly apps |
| Transaction fees | Some platforms charge a percentage on top of your processor when you use an outside gateway |
| Time | Matching bank transfers to orders by hand can take an hour a day at modest volume |
| Lost payments | Orders placed but never paid, because nobody reminded the buyer |
| A closed account | Weeks of lost sales and a rebuild if the platform or its processor drops you |
A quick way to compare total cost
Add up the monthly fee, every app you would need, any platform transaction fee on your expected volume, and a fair price for the hours you would spend matching payments and chasing unpaid orders. Compare that total, not the headline price.
The free cost per milligram calculator helps on the product side; the same discipline applies to the platform.
What Purity costs
Purity has three plans: Launch at $199 a month for up to 300 orders, Growth at $499 for up to 1,500 orders on your own web address, and Operator at $1,190 for two brands and unlimited orders. Every plan includes every feature: the store, lab reports by batch, payment matching, wholesale, texting, automations and the wording check. There is no share of your sales, and paying for a year gets two months free. See pricing.
Common questions
- What is the cheapest way to start a research store?
- A self-hosted store with a free platform can be cheapest in fees, but you carry the maintenance and plugin costs. Count your own time when you compare.
- Should a store builder take a percentage of sales?
- For this category a flat monthly price is easier to plan around. Purity never takes a share of sales.