How to start an online store in Canada: steps, costs and platforms

Here's how to start an online store in Canada, in nine steps: decide what you'll sell, register your business, sort out GST/HST (and QST in Québec), pick a platform, build your product listings, set up payments and shipping, meet privacy and language rules, test, then launch. Budget-wise, expect $33 to $160 a month for the platform if you do it all yourself, or from $1,650 for a store set up and handed over ready to sell.

Most guides stop at the platform and the design. This one goes further into the parts specific to Canada, including the extra rules if you sell to customers in Québec, and into how much work each step really takes, so you can decide what to do yourself and what to hand off.

Before you start: what an online store really involves

Most people expect a few evenings of work: pick a theme, add some products, hit publish. In reality, a store that's ready to sell involves a string of decisions that are as much paperwork as design: business registration, tax numbers, the platform, photos, descriptions, variants, shipping rates, a return policy, order emails, checkout language, a cookie banner and a privacy policy.

None of it is out of reach. From the bottom the mountain looks steep, but you climb it one step at a time. The order below is the one that saves you from redoing work.

Step 1: Decide what you'll sell, and to whom

Before the platform comes the product. Ask yourself three simple questions. Who already buys this, and where do they look for it today? Can you ship it without it breaking, or costing more to send than it brings in? And what's left for you once you've paid for the product, payment fees, packaging and shipping?

If you already run a physical store, the answer is often right in front of you: your best sellers and the products people call to ask about. You don't need everything online on day one. A well-presented selection teaches you what sells online faster than a full catalog that's half finished. I go into more detail in the article on taking your brick-and-mortar store online.

Step 2: Register your business

Business registration is provincial, so the rules depend on where you're based. In both Ontario and Québec, a sole proprietor who operates under their own legal name doesn't have to register, but anyone using a different name, like "Maple Street Pottery" or even "Jane Smith Ceramics," must register that name. Corporations are always registered. Ontario's rules are on Ontario.ca; Québec's are on Québec.ca (in French).

Do this early: your business name, your domain name and the bank account that receives your payments all depend on it.

Step 3: GST/HST, and QST if you're in Québec

This is the step generic guides skim over, and the one that raises the most questions. As long as your taxable sales stay at or under $30,000 in a single calendar quarter and over the last four consecutive quarters, you're a small supplier and registering for GST/HST is optional. Above that, it's mandatory. In Québec, Revenu Québec handles both the GST and the QST, with the same threshold.

An online store adds a twist: it makes selling outside your province easy. In Canada, you charge the tax of the province where the product is delivered: HST for a customer in Ontario or the Maritimes, GST and QST for a customer in Québec, GST only for Alberta. British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba also have their own provincial sales tax, with their own registration rules for out-of-province sellers.

The good news: most platforms calculate the right tax from the shipping address, as long as your registrations are entered correctly from the start. I'm not an accountant: if your situation is out of the ordinary (selling into the US, zero-rated products, large out-of-province volumes), an hour with one is money well spent.

Step 4: Pick your platform

Five platforms come up most often for a small Canadian store. Here's what they cost and who they suit, based on their official pricing pages.

In the interest of transparency: I work with Shopify. My reason is simple: my job is my clients' product listings, search visibility and logistics, not getting up at 3 a.m. to restart servers. Shopify is hosted, updated for you, calculates Canadian sales tax and connects your in-store register to your site. That doesn't make it the best choice for everyone, and the other four platforms do their job well for the profiles listed.

Beyond the subscription, budget for a domain name (a few tens of dollars a year), paid apps if you need them, and payment fees, which often outweigh the subscription once sales get going.

Step 5: Your domain name and branding

A .ca or .com domain that's short, easy to spell over the phone, and ideally the same as your business name. Add a logo that reads well at small sizes, two or three colors and one or two fonts. You don't need a full brand identity to launch: a clean, consistent theme sells better than a flashy one where shoppers have to hunt for the buy button.

Step 6: Your product listings, the biggest step

This is the step people underestimate most. Every product needs a title people actually search for, a description that says what it does for the buyer, clear photos on a simple background, variants (sizes, colors) linked to the right images, a price, a shipping weight, inventory and search fields. Multiply that by 25, 100 or 300 products, and you get a sense of how many evenings it takes.

The most common mistakes, like copying the supplier's description or keeping titles written for the warehouse, are covered in the article on Shopify product page mistakes. If you're starting from scratch, begin with your 20 or 25 best products rather than the whole catalog.

Step 7: Payments, shipping and returns

Turn on your platform's payment provider (Shopify Payments, Square, Stripe or PayPal, depending on the platform) and connect it to your business bank account. For shipping, three options cover most needs at the start: in-store pickup if you have a location, local delivery within a set radius, and Canada Post or a courier for everything else. Write a clear return policy before launch: it's one of the first pages a new customer checks.

Step 8: Privacy rules, and the extra rules for Québec

Privacy everywhere in Canada. An online store collects names, addresses and emails, so privacy law applies. Outside Québec, the federal law is PIPEDA: publish a plain-language privacy policy, collect only what you need, and get consent for how you use it.

Québec's Law 25. If you're based in Québec, the rules go further: you must name a person in charge of protecting personal information (by default, whoever runs the business) and publish their contact details, publish a privacy policy, and turn off by default any cookies that identify, locate or profile visitors until they consent. Québec's privacy regulator summarizes the main changes under Law 25 (in French).

Québec's Bill 96 (Charter of the French Language). A business that sells to customers in Québec must offer its commercial website in French: pages, product listings, checkout, confirmation emails and terms of sale. An English version can sit alongside it, but the French has to be at least as complete. The Office québécois de la langue française enforces it. Also check that your theme and apps are translated: that's where a forgotten "Add to cart" button usually hides.

Step 9: Test, then launch

Before you open, place a real test order from start to finish, on a phone: find a product, pick a variant, pay, get the confirmation email, then refund it. Check that an Ontario address shows HST and a Québec address shows GST and QST. If you sell into Québec, read through the checkout and emails in French.

Launch isn't the finish line. An online store without visibility is a car without wheels: it exists, but it doesn't take you anywhere. Plan from day one how people will find you: your Google Business Profile, Google Merchant Center to show up in the Shopping tab, your social channels and, if you have a physical store, your current customers, who often just need to hear that you now sell online.

How much does it cost to start an online store in Canada?

It depends on how much you do yourself. Here are both scenarios, with prices checked on November 5, 2026.

You build it yourself. The cash cost is low: the subscription, the domain name, a few apps and payment fees on every sale. The real cost is your time, especially for product listings, taxes and compliance. For a first store, that adds up to weeks of evenings.

You hand it off. At Impact Online, the smallest launch costs $1,650 (you import your products yourself), a store ready to sell with your first 25 product listings costs $2,775, and a full launch, visible on Google and social media from day one, costs $5,005. The Shopify subscription and other third-party fees are paid directly, at cost. Prices in Canadian dollars, plus tax, checked on November 5, 2026. The full breakdown is on the online store creation page.

Frequently asked questions

Which online store platform works best?

The one that fits how you sell. To sell online and in store from one inventory and grow without switching tools, Shopify is the most complete option. If you already use Square at the register, Square Online is the shortest path. If you want a Québec-built platform with French-language support, look at Panierdachat. WooCommerce suits people who already have a WordPress site and like keeping technical control, and Wix suits a brochure site that sells a few products.

Is an online store profitable?

It can be, on two conditions tutorials rarely mention. First, there has to be enough left on each sale once you've paid for the product, payment fees, packaging and shipping. Second, people have to find the store: without solid product listings and visibility on Google and social media, it stays invisible. A business that already has in-store customers starts with a head start, because part of its audience is already there.

How much does an online store cost?

From $0 a month (Square Online's free plan, with per-transaction fees) to nearly $160 a month for the most complete plans of the platforms in this guide, plus the domain name, apps and payment fees. If you have it built, our packages start at $1,650, on top of the platform subscription.

How long does it take to build an online store?

On your own, a first store usually takes several weeks of evenings, mostly because of product listings and tax settings. With a team, it takes 10 to 15 business days with us, starting from when we've received your materials: account access, logo, product information and return policy.

Do I need to register my business to sell online in Canada?

Not if you're a sole proprietor selling under your own legal name in a province like Ontario or Québec. As soon as you use a different name, or operate as a corporation, registration is required. Check your own province's rules, since registration is handled provincially.

One step at a time

Starting an online store in Canada takes a bit more than the tutorials suggest, between sales tax by province, privacy rules and, in Québec, the French-language requirements. None of it is a wall: each step gets settled once, and then the store runs. Start small, with your best products, and add the rest once you see what sells.

And if, reading this guide, you counted the evenings and decided you'd rather spend them elsewhere, that's what done-for-you online store creation is for. Happy to talk whenever you're ready, no jargon and no hard sell.