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How to start a webshop in the Netherlands
Karina Paviotti
Founder, Design by Karina
18 min read
To start a webshop in the Netherlands, or any online store, you decide what you sell and to whom, register your business with the KVK, choose a platform like Shopify, and get your products, photos, payments, shipping and legal pages ready. Then you design the store, test a real order yourself and launch. Most of the work isn't technical: it's deciding what your store needs to say. Starting in Belgium? The steps are the same, and we show what changes further down.
In short
Start with what you sell, to whom and why this one. Every later step, from the name to the design, depends on that answer.
In the Netherlands, register with the KVK, put iDEAL at checkout, and show your company details, delivery costs and the 14-day right to cancel on your store. In Belgium, it's the KBO and Bancontact.
Launch is the starting line. The first months tell you what to improve, so plan time for that too.
I once went looking for one specific rose. Only one shop in the Netherlands sold it, and its website looked like a scam. I left and bought worse flowers somewhere else. The product had already won me over, and the store lost the sale anyway.
I think about that rose a lot when founders ask me how to start a webshop. The technical part has never been easier: you can have a store online this week. What takes thought is the rest. Who is this for, what do they need to see before they trust you, and what has to be true for them to say yes. So this plan covers both: the practical steps, in order, and the decisions that make the store actually sell.
The 12 steps at a glance
# | Step | What you'll have after it |
|---|---|---|
1 | Decide what you sell, to whom, and why this one | One sentence your whole store is built on |
2 | Register your business | A KVK number and a BTW number (in Belgium, an ondernemingsnummer) |
3 | Choose a name and a domain | A name you can use everywhere, and your .nl or .com |
4 | Choose your platform | The system your webshop runs on |
5 | Prepare photos, texts and prices | Products ready to put online |
6 | Set up payments | iDEAL, cards and other ways to pay |
7 | Set up shipping and returns | Clear delivery costs, times and a returns policy |
8 | Write the legal pages | Company details, terms, privacy and cookies |
9 | Design the store | A homepage, collections and product pages that sell |
10 | Test everything with a real order | Proof that it all works, on a phone |
11 | Launch and bring your first visitors | A live store, and people who know about it |
12 | Keep improving after launch | A store that gets better every month |
Decide what you sell, to whom, and why this one
Before you open any platform, write down three things. What exactly you sell. Who it's for, as one real person rather than "women 25 to 45". And why they'd choose yours over the other tabs they have open. That last one matters most, because it's the question every visitor asks, even if they never say it.
It sounds like homework, but it saves you from the most expensive mistake: designing a store before you know what it has to say. Your name, your photos, your homepage and your product texts all come from this answer. If it's vague, the store will be too.
A quick test
Can you finish this sentence in one breath? "My store is for ___, who want ___, and they'll choose us because ___." If you can't yet, that's the first thing to work on, before the logo and before the theme.
Register your business with the KVK
If you sell regularly and want to make a profit, you usually count as a business in the Netherlands, and you register with the Kamer van Koophandel (KVK). Most founders start as an eenmanszaak (sole proprietorship), and some start as a BV. Registering costs a one-time fee of about €85 in 2026. You get a KVK number, and the Belastingdienst sends you a BTW number.
Then there's BTW, the Dutch VAT. Prices for consumers always include it. If your turnover stays under €20,000 a year, you can choose the kleineondernemersregeling (KOR) and not charge BTW at all, but then you can't reclaim the BTW on your own costs either, like your stock or your store. Whether that's worth it depends on your numbers, so it's a good first conversation with an accountant. Registering in Belgium works differently, and you'll find it in Netherlands or Belgium: what changes.
Choose a name and a domain
A good webshop name is easy to say, easy to spell and still makes sense when your range grows. Before you fall in love with one, check three things: that no one else uses it in the KVK Handelsregister, that the domain is free, and that the Instagram handle is available too. It's much easier to have one name everywhere from day one.
A .nl domain costs about €16.50 a year after the first year (TransIP, excluding BTW), and a .com about €28. If you plan to sell abroad later, a .com or both can be worth it.
Choose your platform
The platform is the system your webshop runs on: your products, your checkout, your orders. In the Netherlands, the ones founders most often choose between are Shopify, WooCommerce (on WordPress), Lightspeed and Wix. They can all sell. The difference is in how much you have to look after yourself, and how far it can grow with you.
Shopify | WooCommerce | Wix | |
|---|---|---|---|
What it is | An all-in-one platform for selling online | A free plugin that turns WordPress into a webshop | A website builder with a store built in |
Hosting, security, updates | Included | You arrange and look after them | Included |
Monthly cost | From €21 a month (Basic, billed yearly) | Hosting, plus paid plugins as you grow | A paid plan to sell |
Good for | Brands that want to grow without managing technology | Founders with a developer, or who love to tinker | A few products, next to a website |
We build on Shopify, so I'm not neutral, but here's the honest reason. A Shopify store gives you the parts that are already solved: the checkout, payments, security and speed. That leaves your time and budget for the part no platform can do for you, which is how your store explains your brand. If you want the full picture first, read What is Shopify and how does it work? Shopify has a free trial of three days, then €1 a month for the first three months.
Prepare your photos, texts and prices
This is the step that takes longer than founders expect. For every product you need photos that show it for real (on its own, in use, a close-up, something for scale), a short text that says why this one, the details people need to decide, and a price.
For the price, work out your full cost per product first: the product itself, packaging, shipping, payment fees and the platform. Then check the price includes BTW, because that's what Dutch consumers expect to see. And write your texts for a phone screen, because that's where most people will read them.
There's a whole article on this step: What makes a product page that sells?
Set up payments, iDEAL first
In the Netherlands, about seven in ten online payments are made with iDEAL. So iDEAL isn't a nice extra at your checkout, it's the default, and a Dutch shopper who doesn't see it may not trust the store. Add cards for buyers from abroad, and add Bancontact if you sell to Belgium, where it plays the role iDEAL plays here, plus Apple Pay and Google Pay for people on their phone.
Payment trust is a real reason people leave. In Baymard Institute's research, 19% of shoppers who abandoned a checkout said they didn't trust the site with their card details, and 9% said there weren't enough payment methods. In Shopify, Shopify Payments handles iDEAL and cards in one place, at €0.29 per iDEAL payment.
Where trust comes from
Before I started the studio, I worked in product design at Uber, on the screens where new drivers decide whether to trust a company with their bank details. Your checkout is the same decision. Familiar payment logos, your company details and no surprises in the total do more than any badge.
Set up shipping and returns
Decide what you charge for delivery, how fast it arrives and who you ship with. Then say it early, on the product page, not only at checkout. In Baymard's research, extra costs like shipping were the top reason people left a checkout (40%), slow delivery came next (20%), and 13% weren't happy with the returns policy.
Screenshot: zourani.comRight under the button: ordered today, delivered tomorrow, a one-year guarantee, 30 days to change your mind and safe payment. Every doubt about delivery and returns is answered before the checkout.
In the EU, customers can cancel an online purchase within 14 days without giving a reason, and you refund them within 14 days of hearing about it. Products made to their own measurements can be an exception. Put that in a returns page written in plain words, and link to it from every product page.
Write the legal pages
Every Dutch webshop has to show who's behind it. That means your business name, a physical address (not a PO box), your email address, your KVK number and your BTW number, somewhere logical like the footer or a contact page. The ACM, the Dutch consumer authority, also lists a phone number.
Then you need terms and conditions, a privacy policy that explains what you do with customer data (the AVG, the Dutch name for GDPR), and a cookie banner that asks permission before any tracking or marketing cookies are set. Shopify has templates for the policies, but read them, and adjust them to how you really work.
Good to know in the Netherlands
Show prices including BTW. Put iDEAL at checkout. Show your KVK and BTW numbers. Explain the 14-day right to cancel. And keep your cookie banner honest: Dutch shoppers know what a real webshop looks like, and that's part of why they trust it.
Design the store
Now the design, and notice it's step nine, not step one. A store needs a homepage that says who you are and who it's for, collections that help people find their way, product pages that answer the questions in the order they come up, and a cart and checkout that stay out of the way.
You can start from a theme, and that's a good start. A theme decides the parts every store shares. What it can't decide is your order: what your customer needs to hear first, second and third before they say yes. That's where the answer from step one comes back in.
Screenshot: vyola.beVYOLA makes body jewelry to measure, so the store had to sell a fit, not just a size. The measurements field and the fit guarantee sit right where the doubt happens.
Test everything with a real order
Before launch, buy something from your own store with a real payment, then refund it. Do it on your phone. Check the confirmation email, the shipping cost, the BTW on the invoice, the returns link and every page in the footer. Then ask someone who doesn't know your brand to buy something while you watch, without helping.
It's worth the hour. In Baymard's research, 17% of shoppers who left a checkout did it because the site had errors or crashed.
Launch and bring your first visitors
Your first customers usually already know you: the people who follow you, who've bought from you at a market, who asked when the store would open. Tell them first. Then make the store findable: connect it to Google Search Console, give every product a clear title and description, and if you sell on Instagram, link your products there.
One thing I'd hold back on at the start is paying for a lot of traffic. Sending more people to a store that isn't selling yet only makes that problem more expensive. Let the first visitors show you what works, and grow from there.
Keep improving after launch
Whether you start an online store yourself or with help, it's never finished on launch day. In the first months, look at where people come in, where they leave and which products they look at but don't buy. A typical Shopify store converts about 1.4% of its visitors, but the most useful comparison is your own store, month by month. Pick the one thing that matters most, change it, and look again.
Netherlands or Belgium: what changes
Many founders in Flanders search for the same thing: how to start a webshop. The twelve steps don't change. What changes is where you register, which tax rules apply and what your customers expect to see at checkout.
Netherlands | Belgium | |
|---|---|---|
Register | KVK, about €85, once | KBO, through an ondernemingsloket, €111.50 in 2026 |
Before you start | No separate step | Join a sociaal verzekeringsfonds as a zelfstandige |
VAT number | The Belastingdienst sends your BTW number | Your ondernemingsnummer becomes your btw-nummer once it's activated, for a separate fee |
VAT exemption under a turnover limit | KOR, up to €20,000 turnover a year | Vrijstellingsregeling, up to €25,000 turnover a year |
Payment to put first | iDEAL | Bancontact |
Domain | .nl | .be |
Language | Dutch, often English too | Dutch in Flanders, French in Wallonia, both in Brussels |
On your store | KVK number and BTW number | Ondernemingsnummer and btw-nummer |
Right to cancel | 14 days | 14 days, the same EU rule |
Two things matter most in practice. Put Bancontact at your checkout before anything else, the way you'd put iDEAL first for Dutch shoppers. And if you want to sell to the whole of Belgium, plan your store in Dutch and French from the start, because adding a second language later means going back through every product, page and email. Shopify Markets lets you run both countries, and both languages, from one store.
Selling from the Netherlands to Belgium?
You don't need to register in Belgium for that. Add Bancontact, show delivery costs to Belgium clearly, and check the EU rules for VAT once your sales to other EU countries pass €10,000 a year.
NOT A TOOL: COST OF STARTING WITH THE DESIGN
The cost of starting with the design
Your customers will never tell you why they didn't buy. They close your store on the sofa at night and buy from someone else.
What does it cost to start a webshop?
Here's what you pay just to open, before stock, photos and design:
What | Cost | Source, checked Oct 2026 |
|---|---|---|
KVK registration | about €85, once | KVK, 2026 fee |
.nl domain | about €16.50 a year | TransIP, after the first year, excl. BTW |
Shopify Basic | €21 a month | shopify.com/nl, billed yearly |
iDEAL payments | €0.29 per payment | Shopify Payments |
The bigger part is the store itself: doing it yourself, a template with some help, or a store designed for your brand. That's a whole article on its own, so read How much does a Shopify store cost in 2026? for the full picture, with a calculator.
Where are you now?
Go through the twelve steps and be honest about each one. You'll see what's done, and the next three things to do, in the right order.
TOOL: START PLAN
Three ways to build your webshop
Whichever way you choose, the twelve steps stay the same. What changes is who does them, and how much thinking goes into steps one and nine.
Do it yourself | A theme with a freelancer | Strategy-led, with an agency | |
|---|---|---|---|
What you get | A store you build on a theme, in your own time | A theme set up and styled with your logo, colors and products | A store designed around your customers, from the structure to the product pages |
Who decides what it says | You | Mostly you | Together, before the design starts |
Good for | Testing an idea with a few products | A clear brand that needs a hand with the setup | A brand ready to grow, where every visit counts |
None of these is wrong. Starting yourself is a perfectly good way to test an idea. Just be honest about which one you're doing, and give step one the time it needs either way.
Who we are, and what we do as a Shopify agency
We're Design by Karina, a boutique Shopify agency in Rotterdam, working closely with founder-led fashion, beauty and lifestyle brands to turn what makes them special into thoughtful online shopping experiences.
A beautiful website is a good start. But your Shopify store also needs to communicate your value, guide customers through their choices and make buying feel effortless. That's where strategy, design and development come together.
Ecommerce strategy
Who is buying, what do they need to know, and what helps them choose your brand? We define the positioning, customer journey and store structure before design begins.
Shopify design
A store should feel unmistakably yours and make shopping intuitive. We design brand-led Shopify experiences, from the homepage to product pages, with mobile users in mind.
Shopify development & migration
We build stores that are intuitive to shop, easy to manage and ready to grow. Moving from WooCommerce or another platform? We help you make the transition with a clear plan for your store, content and customer experience.
Conversion & retention
We look at what customers need to see, understand and feel before choosing a product, from product messaging to trust-building elements and retention emails.
Growth after launch
We review available data, identify friction in the customer journey and make prioritized improvements over time.
Brand Sites
For coaches, studios and service brands that don't sell online but still need people to choose them.
Why founders choose us as their Shopify agency
Strategy before pixels. Before opening a design file, we want to understand who you're building for, what your customers need to know and what might be stopping them from buying.
A background in product design. Before starting Design by Karina, I worked in product design at Uber's Money Design team in Amsterdam, helping shape payment experiences for drivers.
Fewer projects, more care. We deliberately limit the number of projects we take on at a time, so I'm closely involved in every project and decisions don't get lost between teams.
We say it straight. We'll tell you honestly when something isn't worth the investment, even when the easier answer would be yes.
Launch is the starting line. After launch, we keep using real customer behavior to make the store better.
You can see how this looks in practice in our work for Zourani, VYOLA and Thereza Pedrosa Gallery, for brands worldwide.
What does it cost to start your webshop with us?
If you're starting your first proper store, The Launch is where most founders begin. Every project starts with the strategy work from step one, included.
How we work | From | Best for |
|---|---|---|
The Launch | €4,500 | Your first proper store, or a move from Etsy, Instagram or Wix |
The Atelier | €6,900 | An established brand that wants a store designed for it, not a template with a logo on it |
Bespoke | €9,500 | Larger stores with several languages or markets, subscriptions, B2B pricing or a big catalog |
Growth Plan | €590 / month | A store that's already live. We look at how real customers use it, pick the change that matters most, make it and report back every month, for at least three months. |
The exact number depends on your products, languages and content, and you'll see every item in your proposal before we start.
The short version
Start with the sentence from step one. Get the practical steps done in order: KVK, name, platform, products, iDEAL, shipping, legal pages. Then design the store around that sentence, test it on your phone with a real order, and launch. After that, keep looking at what your first customers do, because they'll show you what to improve next.
From the studio
What we see with clients
When founders come to us, they usually bring a question about the design: the theme, the colors, the homepage. And we ask a lot of questions back, because the real problem isn't always the one you'd expect. More often than not, the store looks fine. It just hasn't decided yet what it needs to say, and to whom.
Questions
How do I start a webshop in the Netherlands?
Decide what you sell and to whom, register with the KVK, choose a name, a domain and a platform like Shopify, and prepare your photos, texts and prices. Then set up iDEAL and other payments, shipping and returns, and your legal pages, design the store, test a real order and launch.
Do I need to register with the KVK to start a webshop?
Usually yes. If you sell regularly and want to make a profit, you count as a business and register with the KVK. If you only sell something now and then, you might not need to. The KVK has a checklist on its website to help you decide.
Do I need to charge BTW in my webshop?
As a business you normally charge BTW, and prices for consumers have to include it. If your turnover stays under €20,000 a year, you can choose the kleineondernemersregeling (KOR) and not charge BTW, but then you can't reclaim BTW on your costs. Check what fits your numbers with an accountant.
What does it cost to start a webshop?
Just to open: about €85 for the KVK registration, around €16.50 a year for a .nl domain and a platform plan, for example Shopify Basic at €21 a month billed yearly. The store itself goes from your own time to a few thousand euros. Our article "How much does a Shopify store cost in 2026?" has the full picture.
Which platform is best for a webshop?
It depends on how much you want to look after yourself. Shopify includes hosting, security and the checkout, which is why we build on it. WooCommerce gives you more freedom but more to maintain. Wix works for a few products next to a website.
How do I start a Shopify webshop?
Start a free trial on shopify.com, add your products, choose a theme, set up Shopify Payments with iDEAL, add your shipping rates, policies and domain, then place a test order. Once your domain is connected, your Shopify website is live. The trial is three days free, then €1 a month for the first three months.
What has to be on my webshop by law?
Your business name, a physical address, an email address, your KVK number and your BTW number, plus your prices including BTW, your delivery costs, the 14-day right to cancel, your terms and conditions and a privacy policy. If you use tracking or marketing cookies, you need a cookie banner too.
Do I need iDEAL in my webshop?
If you sell to Dutch shoppers, yes. About seven in ten online payments in the Netherlands are made with iDEAL, so it's what most of your customers will look for at checkout.
How do I start a webshop in Belgium?
The steps are the same as in the Netherlands, but you register your business in the KBO through an ondernemingsloket (€111.50 in 2026), join a sociaal verzekeringsfonds as a zelfstandige and activate your btw-nummer. Put Bancontact first at checkout, and plan Dutch and French if you sell to the whole country.
What's the difference between starting a webshop in the Netherlands and in Belgium?
Where you register (KVK or KBO), the VAT exemption for low turnover (the KOR up to €20,000, or the Belgian vrijstellingsregeling up to €25,000), the payment people expect (iDEAL or Bancontact) and the languages your store needs. The 14-day right to cancel is the same, because it's an EU rule.
How do I get my first customers?
Start with the people who already know you: your followers, past buyers, friends of the brand. Tell them first, and give them a reason to share it. Then make the store findable on Google, and link your products on Instagram. Grow the traffic once you can see the store converts.
Can I start a webshop next to my job?
Yes, many founders do. You register with the KVK in the same way, and you can still use the KOR if your turnover stays under €20,000. Just be realistic about the time that products, photos and customer messages take.
How much does a Shopify agency cost in the Netherlands?
It depends on what's included: just the setup, or the strategy, design, texts and build. With us, The Launch starts at €4,500, The Atelier at €6,900 and Bespoke projects at €9,500, with every item listed in the proposal.
What's the best Shopify agency in Rotterdam?
It depends on what your brand needs, so it's worth talking to more than one. If you're a founder-led fashion, beauty or lifestyle brand starting a strategy-led Shopify store, we'd love to be on your list. Design by Karina is a boutique Shopify agency in Rotterdam, and every project starts with understanding your customers before anything is designed. You can see our work for Zourani, VYOLA and Thereza Pedrosa Gallery, or book a free intro call to see if we're the right fit.
Your store, your numbers
Want a straight answer for your own store? Book a free call and we’ll walk through it together.
Sources
KVK, registration fee 2026 (to confirm on kvk.nl before publishing)
Belastingdienst, kleineondernemersregeling (KOR), €20,000 turnover limit (to confirm on belastingdienst.nl)
ACM and Ondernemersplein, company details a webshop must show (checked October 2026)
Currence via Searchlab, iDEAL share of online payments in the Netherlands, 2025 (to confirm in the original)
Baymard Institute, cart abandonment rate and reasons (updated September 2025)
Shopify, prices and Shopify Payments fees, shopify.com/nl/prijzen (October 2026)
TransIP, domain prices (October 2026)
EU consumer rights: the 14-day right of withdrawal for online purchases
Littledata, Shopify conversion rate benchmark (to confirm before publishing)
VLAIO and Securex, KBO registration fee 2026 (€111.50)
FOD Financiën via Securex and Accountable, Belgian vrijstellingsregeling, €25,000 limit (to confirm on financien.belgium.be)
Wikifin, obligations when starting as a zelfstandige in Belgium (sociaal verzekeringsfonds)
EU VAT e-commerce rules, €10,000 threshold for sales to other EU countries (to confirm)
Screenshots: zourani.com and vyola.be (October 2026)
Karina Paviotti
Founder, Design by Karina
Karina Paviotti is the founder of Design by Karina, a boutique Shopify agency in Rotterdam. Before starting the studio, she worked in product design at Uber, shaping payment experiences for drivers. Today she leads every project, from strategy to launch, for founder-led fashion, beauty and lifestyle brands.
