The most common question we get before an e-shop project is not about design. It is "what do I need to open an e-shop, with the tax office and everything else?". The answer is simpler than it looks, if you do things in the right order.
Note: the following is a practical guide, not tax advice. Your accountant will settle the details for your own situation.
1. Tax office: registering a business or adding a KAD
To sell online you need an active business registration. If you already have a business (e.g. a physical shop), your accountant adds the KAD (the Greek business activity code) for online retail. If you are starting from scratch, you register a new business with that activity code, either as a sole trader or as a company.
You will also need a registered business address. For an e-shop without a physical shop, many people register their home as the business address, if the property's terms allow it.
2. GEMI
Most businesses register with GEMI, the Greek General Commercial Registry. The GEMI number, together with the tax ID (AFM) and the business details, must be shown on the e-shop, usually in the footer and in the terms of use.
3. Invoices, receipts and myDATA
Every sale needs a receipt or invoice that is transmitted to myDATA, the e-invoicing and bookkeeping platform of AADE, the Greek tax authority. In practice there are two ways:
- Connect the e-shop to invoicing software or an e-invoicing provider, so every order automatically generates a receipt or invoice. This is the solution we recommend for anyone with more than a few orders a week.
- Issue them from your accountant's software, for very low volumes.
In the e-shops we build, the myDATA connection is available as an option. Ask your accountant which software they use, so it can be connected properly from the start.
4. Legal pages
A Greek e-shop needs:
- Terms of use and sale, covering payment, shipping and return methods.
- A withdrawal policy: consumers have the right to return a product within 14 days without giving a reason, with the exceptions set by law.
- A privacy and cookie policy in line with the GDPR, with a consent banner.
- Business details: company name, tax ID (AFM), tax office (DOY), GEMI number, address, phone, email.
5. Card payments
You need a payment provider (e.g. Viva Wallet, Everypay, or a bank with an e-commerce account). Approval usually takes a few days and requires a finished site with terms of use, so start the application while the site is being built. Fees are usually a small percentage per transaction, with no fixed monthly charge.
Besides cards, Greek customers still ask for cash on delivery and bank transfer. It is worth offering all three.
6. Shipping
Sign a contract with a courier (ACS, ELTA Courier, Geniki, BoxNow and others). With a contract, prices are much better than at the counter, and the e-shop can generate shipping vouchers automatically. Decide in advance: how much you charge for shipping, above what amount it is free, and how much cash on delivery costs.
7. Products: photos, descriptions, prices
Prepare a product list in Excel with name, price, category, code and stock. If you sell a supplier's products, ask whether they provide an XML file, so prices and availability update automatically. Photos are the number one thing that sells: clean background, good light, same size.
8. Skroutz and Google Shopping
A proper e-shop generates a product feed for Skroutz (Greece's largest price-comparison site) and Google Merchant Center. That way your products appear where Greek shoppers are searching, not only on your own site.
The order we recommend
- Accountant: business registration or KAD, GEMI, invoicing software.
- A domain in your name.
- Building the e-shop and, at the same time, applying to a payment provider and a courier.
- Adding products and legal pages.
- Test orders and launch.
How much it costs and how long it takes
An e-shop from WebDragon starts from €700 + VAT, with 50 products added, card payments, courier and a Skroutz feed, and is delivered within 10 working days from the moment we have your material. See the full e-shop prices or estimate yours with the cost calculator.
