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.

The fastest route is a payment gateway such as Stripe or PayPal: create an account, verify your business, install the official WooCommerce plugin and enter your API keys — you can be live the same day. For higher volumes, a dedicated merchant account with Adyen, Mollie or your bank can lower per-transaction fees (typically 1.5-2.9%). All support 3-D Secure for fraud protection.

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. Create a domestic zone and add methods: flat rate, free shipping and local pickup. For courier integration with Royal Mail, DPD, DHL or Evri, install the appropriate plugins. These plugins automatically calculate shipping based on weight/dimensions and generate shipping labels directly from the WooCommerce admin.

Yes. Plugins like WooCommerce PDF Invoices & Packing Slips automatically create a compliant VAT invoice for each order. For bookkeeping, official connectors sync orders to accounting tools such as Xero, QuickBooks and FreshBooks, or to an EU e-invoicing service where required. Check with your accountant which setup best fits your business and tax obligations.