Hi there used to be several guys on here who would create a webstore using free platforms, and edit these to my requirements for a few hundred pound. Is there anyone left who still does this?
Honestly, using something like opencart and editing yourself is going to end up costing you a lot more in time than its worth. Paul above says "just a few hours", but that's highly optimistic, unless you want a default looking store. My best advice if you have a really low budget is to start with something like Shopify and use a good, premium theme. Remember, a good web developer will charge you around £250 - £350 per day, so a few hundred quid won't get you very far.
The company where I bought my Opencart template have done some custom work for me at $ 20 an hour. I do realise however it's not the normal rate. I asked another guy for somthing and was quoted $ 250 an hour...
I'd say around $50 per hour is good value for a true expert - some will charge a lot more and occasionally you will find someone good for less .
All depends where they are situated. The company I talked about is situated in the Filipines. So $ 20 an hour is probably a small fortune over there. In 2015 I'm planning to hire them again for a custom build template for my website.
Yes you can start your webstore using free platforms like Magento. You have just knowledge and technical skill to start your store. Magento is king of eCommerce platform it gives you everything as per your requirement.
Why don't you try looking at freelancer sites to do the job for you? Something like oDesk. I believe they have their portfolios there too that could be of reference on whether they do a good job or not. There could be a lot more "mediocre" workers there but there could be times that there are a few good numbers who actually do well for a good price, all you have to do is look.
It is good to hire a freelancer from a reputed marketplace and it will save you time. Before you hire just to ensure his skill and experience. Otherwise, if you want to do these things then you have to give a lot of time. So, avoid this for now and save your time.
