Setting up an online store starts with decisions made before design: clarify the sales model, choose a platform, complete tax and ETBİS registration, plan the domain and site structure, arrange payments and shipping, prepare legal notices, populate product pages, set up measurement, and place a real test order before launch. At each stage, pay particular attention to decisions that are difficult to reverse later; changing the platform, URL structure, payment provider, or returns process after launch means doing the same work twice.
The following steps are designed for business owners building a website in-house or commissioning an agency. They follow the order of dependencies: ETBİS registration requires a KEP address, legal documents depend on payment and shipping decisions, and ad measurement depends on the platform choice. Each section explains the decision required from you, any associated legal obligation, and what should be tested before launch.
Clarify your sales model first
Infrastructure, payment agreements and category structure depend on the answers to the same few questions. If you choose before deciding what you sell, how many products and variants (size, color, dimensions) you will start with, who holds the stock and who packs orders, you may need to revisit those decisions later. That is why documenting your sales model comes first on the e-commerce website setup checklist.
Collect the answers to these questions on a single page. Evaluating platform or agency proposals against it helps you identify missing items before signing a contract.
- Will you sell the same stock on marketplaces or in physical stores? Your answer determines the integrations you need from the platform.
- Are you planning to sell internationally? Language, currency and payment options directly affect platform choice. At the quotation stage, ask which plan includes multilingual and multi-currency support.
- Do you sell customized, perishable or hygiene-sealed products? Withdrawal rights differ for these and must be addressed separately in legal documents.
- Who will enter products, track orders and answer customers? Before choosing a platform, let the person doing the daily work try its dashboard in a demo account.
- Have you separately calculated fixed monthly costs (platform subscription, theme, additional apps) and variable costs per order (payment fees, shipping, return shipping)?
Hosted platform, open source, or custom software?
There are three infrastructure options. With ready-made SaaS platforms, the provider handles servers, security updates and software maintenance. You pay monthly or annually, with flexibility limited to what the platform permits. Ticimax, IdeaSoft, domestic platforms such as T-Soft and ikas, and Shopify belong to this group. Open-source solutions such as WooCommerce offer greater flexibility, but hosting, updates and security remain your responsibility. Custom software makes sense when you have a business process that standard platforms cannot support, and usually entails the highest development and maintenance costs.
When choosing, look beyond storefront design to the integrations behind it:
- Ask whether ready-made integrations exist for the marketplaces, ERP and accounting software you use or plan to use; without them, inventory and invoicing tasks remain manual.
- Check whether your chosen bank or payment provider and shipping carrier integrate with the platform.
- Upload a few real products with their variants to a demo account; this reveals product and variant limitations before you reach the signing stage.
- Find out from the outset whether you can export product, customer and order data if you decide to leave.
To see which business size each platform suits, see the individual comparisons on our e-commerce website setup service page. For Shopify setup steps, also see our article on what Shopify is and how to set it up.
Tax registration, ETBİS, and a KEP address
Before selling, confirm your business entity and tax status, and whether invoices will use e-Arşiv or e-Fatura, with your accountant. This also determines the accounting and e-invoicing integrations your platform needs.
Selling through your own website requires registration in the Ministry of Trade's Electronic Commerce Information System (ETBİS). According to the Ministry's e-commerce FAQ page, registration is completed before operations begin, requires no documents or fees to be submitted to the Ministry, and is accessible through e-Devlet. Sellers operating only on domestic marketplaces or social media have no registration or notification obligation.
According to the explanation on the same page, you can complete your ETBİS application after obtaining a KEP (registered electronic mail) address suitable for legal notifications from a KEP service provider. Scheduling the KEP application in the first week of setup gives you more room in the timeline.
The Ministry’s list also specifies what the site’s contact section must contain: a KEP address, email address, phone number and any business or registered brand name. Merchants must additionally provide their trade name, MERSİS number and registered office address; tradespeople must provide their full name, tax identification number and business address. Law No. 6563 on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce also requires this identifying information to be accessible and up to date. Where applicable, state your professional chamber, professional codes of conduct and how to access them.
Domain name, account ownership, and URL structure
Your domain should be short, easy to type and match your brand name. Avoid names that are easily misspelled when spoken or require Turkish characters. Register the domain, platform administrator account and Google and Meta accounts in your company’s name using your own email. Owning accounts from the start is the easiest way to retain access when the setup person or agency changes.
Build your category structure before uploading the first product, based on how customers search. Main divisions such as product type, use or gender become categories; attributes such as colour, size and price range remain filters. Product and category URLs should be readable and remain unchanged after launch. On platforms that generate URLs from category names, changing a category name later can also change every product URL in that category.
When migrating an existing website or platform, list every old URL and map it to its new equivalent. Google's website migration guide recommends permanent server-side redirects (301 or 308) from old URLs to new ones, avoiding redirect chains, and keeping redirects for as long as possible, generally at least one year. Without URL mapping, old product links may lead to error pages on the new site. If you are looking for a team to plan the migration with you, our SEO management service also covers website migration and URL change management.
Payments: a bank's virtual POS or a payment provider
There are two main ways to accept card payments online: a direct virtual POS agreement with a bank, or working with a payment or electronic money institution. PayTR and providers such as iyzico belong to the second group, and appear in the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (TCMB)'s list of electronic money institutions. Before contracting a payment or electronic money institution, check its name in the CBRT’s payment institutions or electronic money institutions list as active; institutions whose licenses have been revoked are listed separately on the same pages.
When comparing proposals, look beyond commission rates. Settlement time, the card programs that support instalments, whether refunds and cancellations can be managed in the dashboard, and ready-made integrations with your platform all affect total cost and cash flow. Using a payment provider's hosted page or form, so card details never reach your server, keeps the risk of storing card data away from your business.
If offering cash on delivery or bank transfer, define in advance when orders will be confirmed. The Distance Contracts Regulation requires separate, explicit consumer consent before the contract is concluded for any additional charge beyond the main price. You must also clearly state accepted payment methods and any shipping restrictions no later than before the customer places the order. Show payment options and any cash-on-delivery fee in the cart and on product pages as well.
Shipping, delivery times, and returns
The volumetric weight rate is only one part of the total cost in a shipping agreement. Package dimensions, the regions generating the most orders, your return volume, and whether shipping labels and tracking numbers are automatically synced to the site also matter. Use this agreement to set realistic delivery times on product pages and in pre-contractual information. Under the Distance Contracts Regulation, this period cannot exceed thirty days under any circumstances, except for custom-made products.
The same regulation does not consider an out-of-stock item an event that makes delivery impossible. If you share inventory with a marketplace or physical store, inventory synchronization is therefore part of setup. For businesses using an ERP such as Nebim, how the integration is planned is also explained on our ERP and CRM setup page.
Document your returns process before launch. Consumers may exercise their right of withdrawal within fourteen days of receiving a product without giving a reason. Since 1 January 2026, your fourteen-day refund period begins when the returned product is handed to the carrier specified in your pre-contractual information, rather than when you receive the withdrawal notice. You must refund all payments collected, including delivery charges where applicable, within this period. Customers cannot be held responsible for return costs when they use the carrier you specified for returns; you also cannot charge them for returns if you did not specify a carrier in the pre-contractual information. Arranging a returns agreement with a carrier during setup helps you factor this cost into your pricing from the outset.
The right of withdrawal does not apply to some products. Products made to the consumer’s specifications or personal needs, perishable products or those liable to expire, and products unsuitable for return on health or hygiene grounds once unsealed are among the exceptions listed in the regulation. You must disclose any applicable exception in the pre-contractual information; stating it on the product page as well prevents surprises after the order.
Which legal notices and consent boxes should a site include?
Because the pre-contract information form covers all your payment, delivery and return decisions, legal documents come immediately after payment and shipping agreements on the e-commerce setup checklist. Ready-made contract templates provided by platforms are useful starting points, but should be adapted to these decisions and reviewed by a legal professional before use. The main documents and consents required on the site are:
- The pre-contract information form shown before the contract is concluded includes the goods’ main characteristics, the total price including all taxes, delivery time, withdrawal conditions and the return carrier. The regulation requires this information to be clear and readable in a font size of at least twelve points.
- The distance-selling contract must match the pre-contract information. Under the regulation, that information forms an integral part of the contract and cannot change unless both parties expressly agree.
- The KVKK privacy notice explains which personal data you process and why. It must be accessible from registration, order and contact forms.
- For cookies, the KVKK's July 2025 cookie guide identifies presenting “accept,” “reject” and “preferences” buttons with equal color treatment, size and font size in a panel displayed on site entry as good practice.
- If you send marketing emails or SMS, request consent through a separate, unchecked box rather than bundling it with the membership agreement; Law No. 6563 requires recipients' prior consent for these messages. Consent collected on the site must also be recorded in the Message Management System (İYS) within three business days. The Regulation on Commercial Communication and Commercial Electronic Messages does not recognize consent that is not recorded in İYS.
Three further details at checkout have legal consequences. If consumers are not asked to confirm that they have received the pre-contractual information, the contract is deemed not to have been concluded; this is why the checkbox must appear before the payment button. Immediately before customers confirm an order, you must clearly state that placing it creates an obligation to pay, and write the button label and the explanation directly above it accordingly. If paid extras such as gift wrapping or an extended warranty are preselected, you must immediately refund any payments consumers make for those options.
Prompt electronic confirmation that you received an order is also required by Law No. 6563; do not treat the order confirmation email or SMS as optional. The Distance Contracts Regulation requires records and documents for withdrawal, information, and delivery procedures to be retained for three years, so ask your platform provider how long order and consent records remain in the dashboard.
Product pages, price display, and mobile experience
Before uploading product data to the platform, compile it in a spreadsheet: product name, description, variants, SKU, barcode, volumetric and actual weight, VAT-inclusive price, and images. Volumetric and actual weight are needed to calculate shipping correctly, while the VAT-inclusive price supplies the total shown in pre-contract information. Write descriptions around customers' questions rather than copying the manufacturer's text: dimensions, materials, use, care, and dispatch time. These details also distinguish you from other sellers using the same manufacturer copy.
If using crossed-out prices, do not enter arbitrary previous prices. The Price Label Regulation states that, for goods, the reference price before a discount is the lowest price applied during the preceding ten days, and the seller must prove it. According to the Ministry of Trade's announcement, since 1 August 2026, discount advertising also uses the lowest price in the ten days before the discount begins as its reference. During setup, check whether the platform maintains a price history for each product.
Start design and testing on mobile. According to Google's mobile-first indexing guide, the mobile version of the site, crawled by the smartphone version of Googlebot, is used for indexing and ranking. The guide also recommends that the mobile site contain the same content as the desktop version; do not remove descriptions or reviews from mobile that appear on desktop. For speed and visual stability, Google’s Core Web Vitals thresholds provide a guide: the largest page content should appear within 2.5 seconds (LCP), interactions should respond within 200 milliseconds (INP), and layout shift should remain at 0.1 or below (CLS). Uploading compressed images and limiting homepage slides makes these thresholds easier to meet.
Set up measurement and advertising before launch
Setting up measurement after sales begin loses the first weeks' data. In Google Analytics 4, e-commerce events measure product views (view_item), add-to-cart (add_to_cart), checkout starts (begin_checkout) and purchases (purchase) separately. You can identify visitor drop-off only when these events are set up correctly. Adding the site to Google Search Console and submitting its sitemap are also launch-day tasks.
Measurement in Meta ads uses the Meta pixel, which runs in the visitor's browser, and the Conversions API, which sends the same events from your server or platform to Meta. Details of both tools are included in the digital marketing glossary. During setup, ask whether your platform provides these connections and verify which events are sent using a test order.
Link advertising tags to cookie consent. Since KVKK’s cookie guide requires explicit consent for behavioral advertising cookies, these tags must not run when a visitor selects “reject.” When interpreting dashboard conversions, remember that visitors who do not consent are excluded from this measurement. In the first weeks after launch, compare Analytics purchases with orders in your store dashboard. If there is a large difference, first check for missing or duplicate tags. For the reasoning behind managing advertising budgets using this data, see our article on performance marketing.
Place a test order before launch
The final setup stage is to use the site from beginning to end as a customer would. A test order placed with a real card and then refunded checks most online-store setup considerations in a single transaction: payment, notifications, invoicing, shipping, and returns. Place the order on both a phone and a computer, then check each of the following:
- Adding to cart, applying coupons, and checkout work smoothly on mobile, with discounts and shipping costs calculated correctly.
- The distance sales contract and pre-contract information appear before payment, and orders cannot be placed without checking the consent box.
- The order confirmation email or SMS arrives immediately, and the invoice carries the correct company name and tax details.
- Inventory decreases after an order and stays aligned with marketplace or store stock.
- A shipment is created and the tracking number reaches the customer.
- Returns can be requested, card refunds can be issued from the dashboard, and customers receive correct return-carrier details.
- The purchase event appears once in Analytics, and ad tags do not run when “reject” is selected in the cookie panel.
- Old URLs permanently redirect to the correct pages, and the noindex setting used to block search engines during testing has been removed.
When every item on the checklist works, your website is ready to sell. Repeating these checks a few times with the first real orders helps catch settings that tests may have missed. As you decide which parts to manage in-house and where to seek support, send your questions to Pam Ajans through our contact page.