ZenithMigrate your online store and escape the commissions
If you already sell on Shopify or WooCommerce and that per-order percentage is eating your margin, migrating to a custom store on your own domain removes the per-sale platform commission without making you start from scratch. The key is to do it with a plan: 301 redirects for every URL, transfer of your catalogue and customers, and the new site published and tested before switching off the old one, so your SEO and your sales stay protected through the change.
When migrating pays off (and when it isn't worth it)
Switching platforms makes sense when the per-sale percentage starts to weigh more than the convenience of having everything done for you. It isn't a leap of faith: it's a calculation. If you add the plan fee plus the per-transaction commission and multiply it by your number of orders per year, you get the real cost you're paying to stay where you are.
There's a point at which that annual cost can exceed what a custom store with a fixed monthly fee costs. Beyond that, every month you keep paying a percentage per order is margin walking out the door. Below that point, if you sell low volume, moving may not be worth it yet: the honest thing is to tell you so.
Migrating also pays off when the platform boxes you in: you can't touch the speed, you depend on paid apps for basic things, or your brand lives tied to someone else's model. If none of that bothers you and you sell little, stay where you are. We'll tell you with the numbers in front of you, not by scaring you.
- You sell regularly and the percentage per order is already a visible figure every month.
- You want the store to be 100% yours, on your own domain, not dependent on someone else's storefront.
- You need speed or features that your current platform charges extra for or doesn't allow.
- You'd rather have a fixed fee that doesn't grow when you sell more.
What Shopify's commission is costing you today
Before migrating it's worth putting the exact number on the table. Not to scare anyone: the commission model is legitimate and a good fit for plenty of people. But that "small" percentage rides along on every single order, month after month, and it's worth seeing it in euros rather than loose percentages.
With the fixed per-transaction fee (those cents per order), your average order value matters: the smaller your average order, the more proportional weight that fixed cost carries. That's why the same store can have a very different commission cost depending on what it sells.
Watch out for one important thing: the bank or payment-gateway fee (taking card, Bizum or PayPal payments) exists in any system, including a custom store. What you remove by migrating is the platform's per-sale commission, not the payment processor's. Mixing the two is the most common mistake when running the numbers.
How the migration works step by step, protecting SEO and sales
Migrating well isn't "copy and paste". It's an orderly process in which the new store is built and fully tested before touching the one that's already making you sales. Your current store keeps selling in the meantime; the switch only happens once the new one is ready and verified.
The most delicate part is SEO. Every product and every category that already ranks on Google has a URL with the authority it has earned. If those URLs change without telling Google, you can lose that traffic. The solution is a one-to-one 301 redirect map: every old address points to its new equivalent, so Google (and your customers with the page saved) land on the right place. With a solid 301 map you greatly reduce the risk of loss, although no migration can guarantee keeping every position 100%.
We handle it from start to finish, without you having to touch a thing. You give us read access to your current store; we take care of the technical transfer. If you're coming from a bad previous experience, on our page they built my website and disappeared we explain how we work so it doesn't happen again.
- Full inventory: we export products, variants, photos, prices and stock from your current store.
- Transfer of customers and order history, in line with the GDPR and making sure the data arrives complete.
- 301 redirect map: every old URL that ranks points to its new equivalent address.
- New store published in parallel and fully tested (payments, shipping, forms) before switching off the old one.
- DNS and domain change coordinated so the cutover is as short as possible.
- New sitemap submitted to Google Search Console and close monitoring in the first weeks after the switch.
Shopify, WooCommerce or PrestaShop: what changes when you migrate
Each platform has its own way of exporting data and its own quirks, but the goal is always the same: that you arrive at a custom store on your own domain without losing your catalogue, customers or ranking. The difference lies in the technical detail of each source, which is exactly what we resolve for you.
What doesn't change is the destination model: your store stops paying a per-sale platform commission and moves to a fixed monthly fee that includes the domain, SSL and maintenance. Your margin per order stays with you.
| Coming from | What gets transferred | What you gain by migrating |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify | Catalogue, customers, orders and URLs via export + 301 redirects | No more per-sale platform percentage or plan fee; a store that's yours on your own domain |
| WooCommerce / WordPress | Products, categories and blog posts that already rank | A site built for speed, with no dependence on paid plugins for the basics |
| PrestaShop / Magento | Product base and category structure with their SEO | Maintenance included in the fee, with no updates that break the store |
| Storefront-style marketplace | Your catalogue and your brand, which today live inside their platform | The store becomes yours, not a rented stall in someone else's house |
What we will NOT promise you when migrating
Escaping commissions improves your margin on every order, and that's something concrete and measurable. But being honest also means drawing the line on what we can guarantee, so you decide with clear numbers and no inflated expectations.
- We don't promise you'll sell more by migrating. Removing the platform commission raises your margin per sale; selling more depends on your product, your price and your market.
- We don't sell "pay per result" or "you only pay if you sell": the result doesn't depend on us alone, so it would be dishonest.
- We don't pretend all commissions vanish: the bank or gateway fee will still exist, as in any system.
- We don't promise "zero risk": with a solid 301 map you greatly reduce SEO loss, but we always explain what we keep an eye on in the first weeks.
Free build and ongoing support: how the Zenith model works
We turn the usual model on its head. Instead of charging you a big budget up front or a percentage of every sale, building the new store is 0 €. Then we agree on a tailored budget based on your catalogue and a monthly support fee that includes the domain (around 10 €/year sits inside that fee), SSL, maintenance and the ranking work.
"Free" doesn't mean we give the store away: it means you don't pay for the build up front, but there is a tailored budget and a monthly fee. The fixed fee doesn't grow because you sell more — the exact opposite of a per-sale commission. Sometimes a few months are paid in advance, and we tell you that plainly from the start.
If you want to understand the cost in numbers, you'll find it in how much an online store costs. And if you're torn between staying put or moving, in Shopify vs a custom store we compare the two without putting anyone down.
Frequently asked questions
Will I lose my Google ranking when I migrate the store?
How long does it take to migrate from Shopify to a custom store?
Does my current store stop selling during the migration?
Exactly how much commission does Shopify charge?
Do my existing customers and old orders come across?
Will migrating make me sell more?
Shall we talk about your project?
Building your website is free; the monthly support — domain and technical work included — is what you pay for. No promises about position: we show you the work we do and how you progress.