How to Set Up WooCommerce

Yes, WooCommerce is a free open-source plugin. However, for a complete store you may need paid add-ons: card payment processor (1.5-3% per transaction), premium theme (30-80 EUR), courier plugins (20-50 EUR/year) and possibly premium WooCommerce extensions. Total cost of launching a WooCommerce store is much lower than platforms like Shopify or Magento.

To accept card payments in Serbia, you need an internet payment contract with a bank (virtual POS terminal). Most popular options: Banca Intesa (NestPay), Komercijalna banka (NestPay), Raiffeisen bank (ChipCard) and PayCek (AllSecure). Commission is typically 1.5-3% per transaction. After signing with the bank, install the appropriate WooCommerce plugin and enter API credentials. The full process takes 5-15 business days.

WooCommerce needs more resources than a regular WordPress site. Minimum recommendation: 2 GB RAM, PHP 8.1+, MySQL 5.7+, SSD storage and SSL. For stores up to 500 products, BeoHosting Starter or Premium is enough. For larger high-traffic stores we recommend Business hosting or VPS. Critical: hosting with LiteSpeed and an object-caching option (Redis or Memcached).

WooCommerce has a built-in shipping system with zones and methods. For Serbia, create a "Serbia" zone and add methods: flat rate, free shipping and local pickup. For courier integration with D Express, AKS, City Express or Post Express, install the appropriate plugins. These plugins automatically calculate shipping based on weight/dimensions and generate shipping labels directly from the WooCommerce admin.

Yes, plugins exist to integrate WooCommerce with Serbian fiscal cash registers. The most popular solutions integrate with eSir, Galeb and HCP fiscal systems. These plugins automatically create a fiscal receipt for each order and send it to the Tax Administration. Solutions also exist for electronic fiscalization (eFiscalization) that does not require a physical register. Check with your accountant which system best fits your business.