Questions, answered

Shopify stores start at €1,800 + VAT with the Essential Store, designed for small catalogues. Complete stores, redesigns and migrations depend on the catalogue, the design and the integrations. Monthly maintenance starts at €400/month + VAT, with no lock-in, and apps and 3D configurators are quoted case by case. The price is fixed in writing in the proposal, with staged payments, and doesn’t creep up halfway through the project. The Shopify subscription and paid apps are extra.

A new Shopify store takes between 4 and 8 weeks, depending on the catalogue and integrations: about 1 week for the audit, 2 to 6 weeks for the build, with weekly progress, and about 1 week for the launch. The date is set in writing in the proposal.

For most stores, Shopify. Hosting, security, updates and checkout are included, and the store copes with traffic peaks like Black Friday. WooCommerce gives you more technical freedom, but needs someone to look after the server and plugins. How migration to Shopify works.

A Shopify developer builds, adapts and maintains stores on the Shopify platform: custom themes, custom apps, integrations and migrations from other platforms. I’ve worked only with Shopify for 10 years, with more than 50 stores launched, and because I’m also a web designer, I see every project through from the Figma design to the code and the launch.

Yes. It includes a 30-minute review of your store and a written list of what I found, which is yours to keep whether you go ahead with me or not. I reply to audit requests within 24 business hours.

You always talk to me, the person who writes the code, with no account managers or middlemen. From first contact to launch you have a single technical point of contact, and you see progress every week.

I've worked only with Shopify since 2015. I started in 2015 at Bydas, a Shopify agency in Porto, Portugal, where I stayed until 2018. I then worked at Steve Madden (Dolce Vita and Betsey Johnson), was CTO at W-A-D Lab, part of the Sonae group, and worked at StudioForty9 in Ireland with brands such as Keanes, Rocks.ie and Elverys. Today I build Shopify stores, migrations and apps at Galante Labs for clients worldwide.

The Complete Store and every migration include 2 months of aftercare. After that, you can run the store yourself, because your team will have been trained, or move to monthly maintenance: up to 6 hours a month of a senior developer for fixes, speed, changes and updates, with no lock-in.

Yes. Shopify connects to invoicing software certified by the AT (the Portuguese Tax Authority), such as Moloni, InvoiceXpress or Vendus, and every order generates its own invoice automatically.

Rarely at the start. Shopify Plus pays off with very high volumes, separate stores for several markets, advanced B2B or a heavily customised checkout. In the audit I’ll tell you whether it’s worth it in your case.

Yes, with Shopify Markets: each country sees the store in its own language, currency and domain. VAT on distance sales within the EU can be declared through the One-Stop Shop (OSS).

It’s a tool on the product page where the customer chooses colours, textures, sizes or engraving, sees the piece in 3D and watches the price update. My app, Ochi 3D, does exactly this and has been on the Shopify App Store since September 2026, with a free plan to get started. Discover Ochi 3D.

Yes. Around 70% of my career has been with international clients, mainly from the US, Ireland and Canada. I work in Portuguese, English or Spanish, with the same process and the same direct contact.

Yes. I build company websites, without a store, to present your business and bring in enquiries, with the same care in design and code that I put into a Shopify store. See business websites.

Yes. I start with a free audit of your current store, design the new version in Figma and only move to code once it’s approved. The store keeps selling during the redesign, and the switchover is done in a controlled way.

A Shopify store starts at €1,800 + VAT with the Essential Store. The Complete Store or a redesign depends on the catalogue, the design and the integrations, and the price is fixed in writing in the proposal, with staged payments. Shopify’s monthly plan and any paid apps come on top.

The Essential Store uses a theme adapted to your brand, with up to 50 products, payments, shipping, Portuguese invoicing and training. The Complete Store has a custom Figma design, integrations, content migration, SEO basics, training and 2 months of aftercare, and is built for large catalogues and traffic peaks.

Yes. Shopify includes hosting and handles traffic peaks without you needing your own servers. The Complete Store is designed precisely for large catalogues and moments like Black Friday.

Yes. I connect the store to software certified by the AT (the Portuguese Tax Authority), such as Moloni, InvoiceXpress or Vendus, and every order generates its own invoice automatically.

Yes. Training is included and I explain everything without jargon, so your team can manage products, orders and content. If you’d rather have ongoing help, you can move to monthly maintenance, with no lock-in.

The risk is kept under control with properly done 301 redirects. I map every old URL to its new one with a 301 redirect and move titles, descriptions, copy and images to Shopify. After launch, I monitor Google Search Console and fix any page that breaks.

No. The new Shopify store is built and tested in parallel while your current store keeps selling. The switchover happens at the end, in a controlled way, with a written rollback plan.

Yes. Orders and customer records move with the store, so your team can still look up the history. Passwords don’t move across, because no platform exports them, for security reasons: customers activate their account on the new store via an email.

Not directly. In the audit I map what each plugin does today and find the equivalent: a native Shopify feature, an app from the Shopify App Store or, when nothing else fits, a custom app I build myself.

It starts with an audit of about 1 week, followed by migration and testing (2 to 6 weeks, with weekly progress) and the switchover (about 1 week). The timeline depends on the number of products, the data and the integrations, and the date is written into the proposal.

A migration to Shopify starts at €3,000 + VAT. The cost depends on the volume of data, the number of URLs to redirect and the integrations to replace. The price is fixed in writing in the proposal, with staged payments.

Products, orders and customers, 301 redirects for every old URL, titles, descriptions, copy and images moved across, a written rollback plan and 2 months of aftercare after launch, with Google Search Console monitoring.

For 2 months I monitor Google Search Console and fix any page that breaks. After that, you can carry on by yourself or move to maintenance, with no lock-in.

Yes. You can migrate with a design close to your current one, or use the move to redesign, designed in Figma and approved before any code. In the proposal I tell you which option I recommend for your case.

Ochi 3D is a ready-made app: you install it from the Shopify App Store, with a free plan and paid plans with a 14-day trial. A custom configurator makes sense when your product has rules or options Ochi 3D doesn’t cover. In the free audit I’ll tell you which option suits your store.

It depends on what the app needs to do. In the free audit I get to the bottom of the problem and tell you whether an app from the Shopify App Store will do the job or whether a custom one is worth it. The price is fixed in writing in the proposal, with staged payments, and it doesn’t creep up halfway through. Ochi 3D has a free plan (1 configurator) and the Starter plan at $29/month, Growth at $79/month and Advanced at $199/month, with a 14-day trial on the paid plans.

It depends. If you pay for several apps to do jobs a single one could handle, it often pays off. If it’s just one cheap app, probably not. A custom app can have hosting and maintenance costs, and in the free audit I show you the numbers before you decide.

For now, the app is in English only. If you prefer, I can install and set it up in your store myself, on a custom quote.

Yes. Ochi 3D is published on the Shopify App Store, and Dimensly, a made-to-measure price calculator, is coming soon. Both are my own apps, from Galante Labs.

Yes. I connect the store to other systems through existing apps or a custom integration, such as Portuguese certified invoicing with Moloni, InvoiceXpress or Vendus. In the audit I map out what needs to talk to what.

No. I build and test the app without touching your live store. I only install it in your store once it’s been tested, and I show your team how it works.

I do. You always talk to me, with no middlemen. Fixes and improvements can carry on under monthly maintenance, with no lock-in.

Monthly maintenance starts at €400/month + VAT, with up to 6 hours of work included and no lock-in. The Shopify subscription and paid apps are extra.

Bug fixes, a review of the store’s speed, changes such as new sections, campaigns, pages and tweaks to the theme or checkout, new Shopify features that are useful for your store, a review of installed apps to cut the ones that cost money without adding anything, and a monthly look at the store’s numbers, with improvements where customers drop off.

With maintenance you have hours reserved for your store every month, instead of waiting for someone to be free. Priorities are agreed with you, starting with whatever affects sales, and you get a monthly summary. If you need more in a given month, the extra hours are quoted beforehand.

The €400 includes up to 6 hours a month. If your store needs more hours every month, I put together a custom plan, with the price fixed in writing.

Yes, within the month’s hours. I analyse the store’s numbers, find where customers drop off and suggest improvements, starting with the ones that affect sales. More extensive A/B testing is quoted separately.

No. Maintenance is monthly and you can stop whenever you like, with no lock-in.

I reply to every request within 24 hours. Priorities are agreed with you, and whatever affects sales comes first.

They roll over to the next month. Reserved hours are never lost.

Extra hours are quoted beforehand and I only go ahead once you approve. You’ll never get an invoice you weren’t expecting.

Yes. I start with an initial review of the theme, apps and integrations, so I know exactly what I’m working with. That review is done within the first month’s hours.

By email. Each request goes on a shared list with its status: pending, in progress or done.

It’s not required. The 2 months of aftercare are included with the Complete Store and with migrations. After that, you can carry on by yourself or move to monthly maintenance, with no lock-in.

A company website presents your business and services and brings in enquiries, without selling online. If you want to sell later on, a website built on Shopify can add a store.

We choose together between Shopify, Astro and WordPress, thinking about what your business needs now and later on. In the free call I’ll tell you which one I recommend for your case, and why.

If you plan to sell online later, the store joins the website when the time comes. And Shopify is easy to manage day to day.

It depends on the number of pages, the design and the platform. After a free 30-minute call, I send you a quote with the price fixed in writing and staged payments.

On Shopify and WordPress, yes: you edit text and images in the admin, and training is included. If the website is built on Astro, we agree beforehand how you want to manage the content.

It depends on the number of pages and the platform. The dates are fixed in writing in the quote, and you see progress every week.

Yes. Every website includes SEO basics.

I show you how to edit text and images, with training included. If the website is on Shopify, you can move to monthly Shopify maintenance. On Astro or WordPress, we agree the support in the quote.

The design is created in Figma for your brand and approved by you before it moves to code.