Ecommerce maintenance and support
Updates tested before they reach customers, backups you can actually restore, security watched rather than assumed, and a person who answers when the checkout breaks on a Saturday.
Most agencies sell one plan to everyone. Whether you need this at all depends on your platform, and we would rather say so than bill you for watching a site that maintains itself.
We take over stores built by other developers, including ones where the handover never happened.
- An untested updateA plugin updates itself and the checkout stops accepting COD
- An expired card or certificateHosting lapses or HTTPS expires, and the store simply stops
- A known vulnerability left openAlmost always an outdated plugin or a password reused elsewhere
- An integration that quietly stoppedA courier API key rotates and nobody notices for a week
- Every one of these is preventableWhich is the entire argument for a plan, and the whole of it
Do you actually need a maintenance plan?
It depends almost entirely on your platform and who you have in-house. Pick your situation and get a straight answer, including the answer that costs us the sale.
You likely do not need a plan
Shopify handles hosting, security and platform updates. A stable store with a short app list can run for a long time without anyone on retainer, and we would rather tell you that than take the money.
- Your theme is heavily customised
- Several apps interact with each other
- You want a developer on call for change work
- Nobody internally can fix a broken banner
A light plan makes sense
Custom theme code and interacting apps are where Shopify stores actually break. The platform is still safe, but your customisations are not covered by anyone else.
- Theme changes tested before going live
- App updates and conflicts watched
- A monthly allowance for change work
- A named person when something breaks
Somebody has to own this
WordPress, WooCommerce and every plugin release updates on their own schedule, and the most attacked platform on the web needs actively watching. If it is not us, it needs to be someone specific rather than nobody in particular.
- An auto-update breaks the checkout unnoticed
- A known vulnerability sits open for months
- Backups exist but have never been restored
- Speed drifts as plugins accumulate
Custom software decays without it
Bespoke code has no vendor pushing security patches for you. Dependencies age, certificates expire, and the knowledge of how it works leaves with whoever wrote it unless someone keeps using it.
- Dependency and security patching
- The deployment path stays working
- Documentation kept current as things change
- Someone who still understands the codebase
Six things a plan actually covers
Written as work rather than as reassurance. If a maintenance quote does not name the tasks, it is not a maintenance quote.
Updates, tested first
The single most common cause of a broken store, and the easiest to prevent with a process.
- Platform, theme and plugin updates
- Applied on staging and checked before going live
- Checkout tested after every update round
- Rollback ready if something behaves oddly
Backups and restores
Everyone has backups. Far fewer have ever tried restoring one, which is the part that matters.
- Automated offsite backups of files and database
- A restore tested on joining, then periodically
- Retention long enough to catch a slow problem
- You hold a copy, not just us
Security and access
Most compromises are not sophisticated. They are an old plugin or a password someone reused.
- Vulnerability alerts acted on, not just forwarded
- Admin accounts reviewed as staff change
- Login hardening and two-factor where supported
- Certificate and domain renewals watched
Monitoring that tells us first
You should not learn your store is down from a customer on WhatsApp.
- Uptime checks with alerts to a real person
- Checkout and payment path monitored, not just the homepage
- Error and speed watch on key templates
- Integration failures surfaced early
Fixes and change work
An agreed amount of hands-on time each month, so small requests do not need a quote every time.
- Bug fixes on anything that stops working
- Banner, offer and content changes
- New products, categories and shipping rules
- Larger work quoted separately before it starts
A monthly note you will read
Short, in plain language, written by whoever did the work rather than generated by a tool.
- What was updated and what was fixed
- Anything we found that you should know about
- Hours used against the agreed amount
- What needs a decision from you
Masala season traffic is no joke and the site handled it without a hiccup. Same-day replies, no hidden charges, that is all I wanted.
What a plan does not cover, said plainly
Maintenance arguments almost always start with a client expecting something the plan never included. Here is that list up front instead.
A new module or a rebuilt template is a project. We quote it separately so you can decide on it properly.
Technical health is covered. Content, keyword work and authority building are a separate service with a separate scope.
Hosting, platform subscription, plugin licences and gateway fees are yours and billed to you directly, never marked up through us.
Adding a few products is routine. Importing two thousand with new photography is a piece of work with its own quote.
If your ERP changes its API or a courier has an outage, we will help you chase it, but we cannot fix their software.
Keeping the store working is the plan. Making the store do something new is a project. Anything ambiguous, we tell you before doing it, not after.
Inheriting a store somebody else built
Most of our support clients arrive this way, often with incomplete access and no documentation. It is normal, and it has a routine.
Check that the hosting, domain and platform accounts are registered to your business rather than to your last developer. If they are not, sorting that out is the real first job.
Establish what you own
Domain, hosting, platform, gateway, analytics. We work out what is in your name and recover what is not, which is often possible directly through the registrar or host.
Take a backup before touching anything
A full copy of files and database, stored somewhere you can reach without us. This happens on day one, before any investigation.
Audit and write it down
Platform versions, plugin list, customisations, integrations, known problems and the update backlog. You get that document whether or not you continue with us.
Stabilise before improving
Security holes, failed backups and the update backlog first. Nothing cosmetic until the store is genuinely safe to change.
Set up staging and a routine
Somewhere to test, a monthly rhythm, and an agreed way to reach us when something is urgent. From there it is ordinary maintenance.
Questions before signing a plan
Ask anything else on WhatsApp. If your store is down right now, call instead.
How fast do you respond when something breaks?
We agree response times in writing rather than implying a number here that we might not meet on a Sunday. What we will say is that a store down or a checkout failing is treated differently from a banner needing changing, and the difference is written into the plan so you are never guessing which one you have.
We are on Shopify. Do we need this at all?
Often not, and we will say so. Shopify handles hosting, security and platform updates, so a stable store with a simple app list can run for a long time without a plan. Where it becomes worthwhile is when you have heavy theme customisation, several apps that interact, or you simply want a developer on call for change work rather than raising a new quote every fortnight.
Can you maintain a site you did not build?
Yes, and it is most of what we do here. It starts with the audit described above, which is a fixed piece of work. Occasionally that audit concludes the honest answer is that the site should be rebuilt rather than maintained, and we will tell you that even though it is the less convenient answer for both of us.
Are we locked into a contract?
No. Plans run month to month with a month of notice on either side. All credentials stay in your name throughout, so leaving means removing our access rather than extracting your site from us. If you do leave, we hand over the audit document and the current backups.
What if we use our monthly hours and need more?
We tell you before the hours run out, not after. Extra work is either quoted as a small piece or deferred to next month, whichever suits you. What we will not do is silently absorb it and then present a surprise invoice, or quietly stop working and let you assume it is in hand.
Does this include SEO?
No, and it is worth being clear about the boundary. Maintenance keeps the site technically healthy, which protects your existing rankings. Growing organic traffic needs keyword research, content, product page work and reporting over months. That is a separate service with its own scope, and hiding it inside a maintenance fee would make both harder to judge.
Tell us what you are running and who looks after it
We will come back with a scope and a price, or with an honest note that you do not need a plan yet. Both happen regularly.
hello@ecommercepune.in
We will look at what you are running and come back with a scope, or with a note that you probably do not need a plan yet. If the store is down, call rather than wait.