Store costs
What a direct book store costs on Wix
Wix is a website builder. You need at least its Core plan to take payments. Wix takes no fee on your sales, so the cost is the plan, card processing and any tools you add.
Three stores, three bills
The bill changes with how many books you have, which formats you sell and how much you sell. For each store we picked the cheapest Wix plan for those sales.
| Store | Wix plan | Wix, a year | Lanternbee, a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting out | Wix Core | $990 | $654 |
| A growing backlist | Wix Core | $1,908 | $1,812 |
| A busy store | Wix Core | $5,916 | $5,820 |
Lanternbee shows the cheaper of Free and Author for each store. Both include card processing.
Starting out
3 titles, selling ebooks. About $500 in sales a month from 50 orders.
| What you pay for | Price | Each month |
|---|---|---|
| Wix CoreThe store itself | $36 a month | $36 |
| An email toolNewsletter and automated emails | about $17 | $17 |
| Card processingWix Payments, on 50 orders | 2.9% + 30¢ | $29.50 |
| Total each month | $82.50 | |
| Total for a year | $990 |
| The same store on Lanternbee | Each month | A year |
|---|---|---|
| Lanternbee Free5% fee on $500 + Stripe 2.9% + 30¢ | $54.50 | $654 |
| Lanternbee Author$45 a month + Stripe 2.9% + 30¢ | $74.50 | $894 |
A growing backlist
8 titles, selling ebooks and audiobooks. About $2,000 in sales a month from 160 orders.
| What you pay for | Price | Each month |
|---|---|---|
| Wix CoreThe store itself | $36 a month | $36 |
| An email toolNewsletter and automated emails | about $17 | $17 |
| Card processingWix Payments, on 160 orders | 2.9% + 30¢ | $106 |
| Total each month | $159 | |
| Total for a year | $1,908 |
| The same store on Lanternbee | Each month | A year |
|---|---|---|
| Lanternbee FreeFree covers up to 5 titles | Not available | Not available |
| Lanternbee Author$45 a month + Stripe 2.9% + 30¢ | $151 | $1,812 |
A busy store
20 titles, selling ebooks, audiobooks and print books. About $10,000 in sales a month from 500 orders.
| What you pay for | Price | Each month |
|---|---|---|
| Wix CoreThe store itself | $36 a month | $36 |
| An email toolNewsletter and automated emails | about $17 | $17 |
| Card processingWix Payments, on 500 orders | 2.9% + 30¢ | $440 |
| Total each month | $493 | |
| Total for a year | $5,916 |
| The same store on Lanternbee | Each month | A year |
|---|---|---|
| Lanternbee FreeFree covers up to 5 titles | Not available | Not available |
| Lanternbee Author$45 a month + Stripe 2.9% + 30¢ | $485 | $5,820 |
Try your own numbers
- Wix
- Lanternbee Free
- Lanternbee Author
Same prices and apps as the tables above. Card processing at Wix's rate, and Stripe's rate for Lanternbee.
What we counted
- US prices on monthly billing.
- An email tool for your newsletter, at about $17 a month, for every store, the same as on our pricing page. If the store's own email tools are enough for you, take that off.
- Card processing on every sale. Lanternbee uses your own Stripe account, at Stripe's standard US rate.
- Core is $29 a month if you pay a year ahead. The next plan up, Business, is $46 a month or $39 paid yearly.
- Wix Payments adds 1.5% for cards from other countries.
What we left out
- Printing and shipping costs, which you pay the printer whichever store you use.
- Your domain name, a paid theme and any design work.
- Sales tax and VAT themselves. Tax tools may cost extra, including Stripe Tax on your own Stripe account where you are registered to collect tax.
- Extra card fees for cards from other countries and currency conversion.
Waiting list
Be one of the first authors to open a Lanternbee store
Lanternbee isn’t open yet. Join the waiting list and we’ll email you when your store is ready to set up.
Free to join. No card needed.