E-commerce agency
Most agencies charge to build your shop and again every month to grow it, whether you sell anything or not. We work the other way: we're funded by your sales, so we only do well when your shop does.
Branding
£499 no build fee
→The short answer
We're an e-commerce agency that builds and grows UK online shops as a partner. You pay £499 for your branding and there's no build fee. Instead, a 5% contribution is built into your product prices. We build and run the shop, its search and its marketing; you look after your products, stock and delivery.
(01)The partnership
What you pay, and what you get.
The e-commerce growth partnership, in full
Your branding£499, once
Your logo, colours, type and the look of the shop, designed and approved before the build begins. You see it before you pay, like everything we do.
The shopNo build fee
We build the shop, set up your product catalogue, and host and maintain it. There's no charge for the build itself.
How we're funded5% built into your prices
A 5% contribution is added to the price you agree for each product, so the price your customer pays includes it. Your customers pay you, and you pay us the 5% from what you receive. That funds the shop and the growth work, month after month.
Advertising20% of ad spend
If we run ads, the money for the ads themselves goes from your account straight to Google or Meta. Our fee for running them is 20% of what they spend in each period, the same as for every client.
What we do, every month
- Build the shop and set up your product catalogue
- Hosting and technical maintenance
- Search optimisation for your categories and products
- Marketing strategy, and doing it
- Promotional graphics and content
- Bringing in visitors, and turning more of them into orders
- Watching performance, and a plan for growth
(02)In pounds
A made-up month for a made-up shop, so the maths is clear.
How the 5% works, over a month of orders
| Per order | Over 200 orders | |
|---|---|---|
| The price you agree for the product | £30.00 | £6,000 |
| Our 5% contribution, added on top | £1.50 | £300 |
| The price your customer pays, into your account | £31.50 | £6,300 |
| What you keep, after paying us the 5% | £30.00 | £6,000 |
Before payment-processing fees, delivery, and VAT if you're registered. The exact calculation, including how those are handled, is written into the agreement before we start.
In a month with no orders, you pay us nothing. That's the point: the model only works for us if your shop sells, so the work goes where the orders come from.
(03)Who it suits
Honestly, it isn't for every shop.
Who the partnership suits, and who it doesn't
It usually suits
- Brands with their own products: clothing, food and drink, beauty, homeware, crafts, gifts.
- Shops whose customers choose on the product and the brand, so a price a little higher doesn't lose the sale.
- Businesses with healthy margins and the stock and time to fulfil more orders.
- Owners who'd rather pay as they sell than fund a build up front.
It usually doesn't
- Resellers of identical branded goods, where customers compare prices to the penny and 5% can lose the sale.
- Products with thin margins, where you'd have to absorb the contribution rather than add it.
- Very low-priced items, where payment fees and delivery already take a large share of each order.
- Shops that can't take on more orders: more traffic won't help if you can't send them out.
If the partnership isn't right for you, our e-commerce website design page sets out the other ways to get a shop built, including doing it yourself.
(04)Who does what
Who looks after what
| Nod & Co | You | |
|---|---|---|
| Shop build, hosting and maintenance | ✓ | |
| Product catalogue set-up | ✓ | |
| Search, marketing, graphics and content | ✓ | |
| Ad spend | ✓ paid to the platforms | |
| Products: sourcing, stock and quality | ✓ | |
| Packing, shipping and delivery | ✓ | |
| Customer questions about products | ✓ | |
| Returns and product warranties | ✓ |
Your brand, your domain and your customer data stay yours.
(05)Getting paid
Your shop's money never passes through us.
Your customers pay you, into your own payment account
Every order is paid into a payment account in your business's name, and from there to your bank. We don't collect your sales, hold your money or take payments on your behalf. You pay us the 5% contribution from what you've received, on the dates set in the written agreement.
How it's set up
- You choose the provider: one you already use, or one from the table below.
- You open the account in your business's name. Providers check the identity and bank details of the account holder, so this step is yours.
- We connect it to your shop and test it with a real order before launch, so you know the money arrives before your first customer pays.
- Payouts go to your bank on the provider's own schedule. The account and its payout settings stay in your control.
| Provider | Good for |
|---|---|
| Shopify Payments | Shops built on Shopify. It's Shopify's own, and using any other provider on Shopify adds an extra Shopify fee to every order1. |
| Stripe | Card, Apple Pay and Google Pay payments on most other shop platforms. |
| PayPal | Customers who'd rather pay from their PayPal account, usually offered beside card payments. |
| Square | Sellers who also take payments in person on a Square reader, so both sets of sales sit in one account. |
| SumUp | The same idea for sellers already using a SumUp reader at markets, fairs or a shop counter. |
| Worldpay | Businesses that already have a merchant account with Worldpay. |
| Klarna and Clearpay | Paying later or in instalments, added beside card payments, mostly for higher-priced products. |
We connect the one you prefer, as long as your shop platform supports it; if it doesn't, we tell you before we build. Apple Pay and Google Pay usually come through your card provider rather than a separate account. Each provider's fees usually come out of your payments before they reach your bank.
(06)Refunds and the agreement
Settled in writing before we build anything.
Refunds, chargebacks and the written agreement
A partnership needs clear rules for the awkward moments, so they're agreed before the work starts, not argued about after. You read the agreement, ask anything you like, and nothing is built until you've signed it.
What the agreement settles
- Exactly how the 5% contribution is calculated, and on which prices.
- When you pay us the contribution from what your customers have paid you.
- What happens to it when an order is refunded.
- Chargebacks: who bears them, and how.
- Discounts and promotions, and how they affect the contribution.
- Which orders count, and how they're attributed.
- Who pays the payment-processing fees, and any platform subscription or app costs.
- Customer data: who holds it and what each side may do with it.
- Rights in the shop, your brand and your domain.
- How either side can end the partnership, and what happens to the shop if it does.
(07)Your options
Partnership, retainer or do it yourself?
| Our partnership | An agency retainer | Doing it yourself | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up front | £499 branding | A build fee, often the largest cost | Your time, and a theme or apps |
| Each month | Nothing fixed: a 5% contribution built into prices | A fixed fee, whether you sell or not | Platform and app subscriptions |
| Who does the work | We do, and you run the products and orders | The agency, to the scope you pay for | You |
| Best when | Your products have the margin and you want a partner | You want a fixed scope and have the budget | You have the time and the skills |
(08)More for online shops
Online shop services and guides
Questions
(09)Questions
The contribution is built into the price customers pay. You decide, product by product, whether that price goes up or whether you keep it where it is and absorb part of it. Before launch we show you what each choice means for every product.
No. Your customers pay into a payment account in your business's name, such as Shopify Payments, Stripe or PayPal, and the money goes to your bank. We never collect or hold it. You pay us the 5% contribution from what you've received, as the written agreement sets out.
Your brand, domain and customer data are yours. How the shop itself is handed over or moved is set out in the written agreement before we start, so you know the answer from day one.
Often, yes. We look at what you have, what it sells and what it costs to run, then tell you in writing whether the partnership would work for it, or whether something else would suit you better.
No. We choose the platform that suits your products, your margins and how you want to run the shop. If you're set on Shopify, see Shopify website design.
Sources
(10)Sources
Every figure on this page comes from one of these. Checked on the date shown.
- 1Shopify pricing (UK), Shopify. Checked 26 October 2026.
(11)Start a project
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