I am the owner of a start up business that sells on eBay, but I've been working a lot with the Magento back end setting up a store with a template. I got tired of the template after a time because I felt that it didn't have the specific functionality or look and feel that I wanted. So I created a PSD with my theme laid out and am looking for someone to perform PSD to Magento services.
It seems that everywhere I look, I get very different quotes or answers, and now I'm more confused than ever. Some companies tell me that Magento is definitely not the choice for me because of how small my business is, and that I will not be able to afford the maintenance Magento will require. Other companies want to say they can do everything I need and the price they quote is excellent, but then I become dubious of their quality of work due to their cheap prices and online reviews. I have also looked at solutions outside of Magento and they don't seem to offer the functionality I want or need.
I guess my question is, does Magento really require too vast a cost for a small business to consider? And if not, how would you recommend seeking a developer and looking into the quality/worth of their work? What would you say is a good range for the cost of a PSD to Magento theme before any custom functionality has been implemented? $2,000-$5,000? $5,000 to $10,000? More?
Thanks for your time!
Best Answer
There's a lot to unpack in that question, and no easy answer. Also, standard caveats — you're asking a community of people who make (at least part of) their livings developing Magento systems so the answers are going to reflect that.
The way you find a good Magento developer is you stop treating technology in your business as a cost center, and start networking and looking for partners who can help grow your business. You get to know the people who are handling the technology side of your business, you ask them for references from previous clients who are in a similar business to you, you ask your network of business owners similar to yourself who they'd recommend. Like everything in business, it's all about the relationships you build. Magento is a platform you invest in for the future of your business.
As far as a good range for the cost of a PSD to Magento theme — the reason you're having trouble finding a consistant quote for that sort of thing is there's no long term business, even for an independent freelancer, in providing that sort of service. A PSD converted into a standard Magento site with no customizations has no business value, and there's not enough demand for custom e-commerce development for a standard price to emerge from the market. The developers offering you lowball quotes are either inexperienced, using this as a loss leader to sell you additional services later on, a volume based shop that will say yes to anything and then shift the risk onto their contractors, or some combination of all that.
If you feel your business is too small to build the sort of partnership I described above, or build an internal technology department, or you don't have enough experience to manage anonymous freelance resources yourself via freelancer sites (which I'm assuming based on your question) then no, Magento or any self hosted solution is not the right thing for your business. Stick with cloud based providers that handle the technology for you.
Put another way — the days of going online, spending $10,000 and getting a $500,000/year - $1,000,000/year business out of it were a market fluke. Those days are long over.