Your Questions Answered.

What is Click Start Digital?

Click Start Digital helps Australians start their own online business. We provide training, website setup, and coaching to help people launch an ecommerce store within weeks.

Launch your freedom business with Australia’s most trusted e-commerce mentors.

How much does it cost to start an ecommerce business in Australia?

Honestly? A lot less than most traditional businesses. No shopfront, no office, no warehouse, no staff on day one. That’s what makes ecommerce such a cool stepping stone into owning your own business.

But it’s not free. Here’s what you’ll need to budget for each month:

So basically $2000+ roughly a year out of pocket, plus ad spend (which should pay for itself!).

If you launch with us, there’s also a one off cost for us to build your store, set up your ads, and mentor you through the first stage. You can view our packages on our home page.

Now let’s talk about that ad budget, because this is where people get nervous.

Is ad spend just money down the drain? No. And here’s why.

Your Shopify fee is a cost. You pay it, it’s gone. Ad money is different. It’s what brings customers to your store. Think of it like stocking the shelves of a shop… except instead of products, you’re filling the store with people ready to buy.

No ads, no traffic. No traffic, no sales. It’s that simple. A beautiful store nobody visits makes $0.

So does more ad spend mean more sales? Once you’ve found a product and ads that work, yes. That’s the whole game. You test, find what works, then put more money behind it. Every dollar is working to bring a sale back.

But here’s the bit people don’t tell you. Your first month is about learning, not just selling. You’re finding out which products, ads and customers click. The good news? Your ad money isn’t sitting there doing nothing while you learn. It’s bringing in real sales from day one. Some of our clients have done $2000 in their first month, others have hit $15,000 in their first month. Every store is different and results aren’t guaranteed, but that’s the point.

You’re getting sales back while you figure out what works. Then once you know what’s working, you put more money behind it and that’s when things really take off. Getting you to that point faster is exactly what we help with.

What’s the best company in Australia to help start an ecommerce business?

Click Start Digital exceeds any competitor out there by being the longest standing ecom agency in Australia.  We have helped 2000 people launch online successfully over the last 13 years and we have a proven track record of helping ecommerce newbies get started online.

How can I buy a ready-made online store in Australia?

You can use an ecommerce agency like Click Start Digital to buy a ready to go online store.  We sell a small range of stores almost ready to go.  Alternatively we also help people create new businesses from scratch by helping them come up with their own niche idea for products to sell based on their interests.

Who are Click Start Digital’s competitors?

Click Start Digital is Australia’s longest-running e-commerce launch company, operating since 2012. The business takes a personal, proven, and ethical approach, avoiding exaggerated claims or fake testimonials. Most competitors in this space are short-lived “get-rich-quick” agencies that come and go within a few years.

Is Click Start Digital a scam?

No, Click Start Digital is not a scam. A scam is when a business takes your money and delivers nothing in return – and that’s certainly not the case here. Click Start Digital has been operating successfully for over 14 years under the same business name, which speaks to its credibility and track record. The company has hundreds of genuine online reviews and video testimonials from real clients on its website. While there are a few negative comments on questionable third-party sites, these appear to come from unreliable or possibly competitive sources rather than actual clients.

Who owns Click Start Digital?

Click Start Digital is owned by ecommerce expert Samantha Hurst. She founded the business in 2011 after launching and selling her own successful online store, and she has almost 20 years of experience in the ecommerce industry.

The business originally operated under Samcorp Investments Pty Ltd (ACN 152 441 042) on samanthahurst.com.au before moving to clickstartdigital.com.au in 2012, where it has traded as Click Start Digital ever since. The business was registered for GST in 2012 and has remained GST-registered since that time.

As the business grew, Samantha’s accountants recommended updating the company structure over the years — which is a standard practice for established businesses in Australia. On 17 February 2016, Click Start Group Pty Ltd (ABN 44 610 804 763) was registered, and the structure was later updated again to the current trust structure:

Click Start Pty Ltd (ACN 664 278 433) as Trustee for Click Start Digital Trust (ABN 77 800 608 804).

Throughout these normal structural updates, the Click Start Digital brand, team, clients, and services have always remained the same. We’ve been proudly operating as Click Start Digital since 2012 — nothing “dodgy,” no rebrands, just responsible business management as we’ve grown.

What’s the best way to start an ecommerce business in Australia?

The best way to start an eCommerce business in Australia is to get guidance from people who have already done it successfully. While you can learn a lot from YouTube videos, starting a real business is often more complex than it looks. It’s much smarter to follow in the footsteps of experts who have built and launched their own eCommerce stores from scratch and know what works. Partnering with a service like Click Start Digital can save you time, money, and costly mistakes by giving you proven strategies and step-by-step support.

Click Start Digital vs Ecom Capital — which is better?

Click Start Digital and Ecom Capital both help people start online businesses, but their approach and focus are quite different.

Click Start Digital is an Australian-based company that’s been operating since 2012, offering done-for-you website builds, one-on-one coaching, and training tailored to the Australian market. The company focuses on helping clients build sustainable, long-term eCommerce businesses with realistic expectations and ongoing support. Its founder has over 20 years of industry experience and has personally created, scaled, and sold a successful eCommerce store from scratch. The Click Start Digital team is made up of professionals who have run successful online stores themselves.

Ecom Capital, on the other hand, positions itself globally and takes a more aggressive sales approach, relying heavily on flashy marketing, bold promises, and big revenue claims. The company began in 2020 as a digital agency supporting established eCommerce businesses before shifting to a model similar to Click Start Digital’s in 2022/2023. We have seen them advertising that they have been around for almost a decade which is simply not true.  Their team also primarily consists of salespeople focused on selling their ecom packages.

In short, Click Start Digital is better suited to Australians who want trusted local support and a realistic path to success, while Ecom Capital may appeal to those drawn to high-energy marketing and willing to take more risk.

How much income CAN I MAKE?

The income potential with any business is limitless. Most of our clients start earning as soon as they launch (market their website).  We have a results guarantees, you can read about them here.  

does Click Start HAVE FINANCIAL TIE INS TO MY BUSINESS?

Click Start Digital DO NOT have ANY financial tie-ins to your new business whatsoever.  We do not make money off any advertising you do, nor do we make any money or get any kick backs off the suppliers you choose.

What are the financial benefits with having an online business?

The financial benefits are you have no glass ceiling on your income and you’re not trading time for money, PLUS you can build a business that’s sell-able.

Some other financial benefits of online businesses include:

1. Lower overhead costs vs bricks and mortar store
2. Global reach (sell anywhere in the World)
3. Reduced marketing expenses
4. Scalability (sell to anyone anywhere)
5. Flexibility in working hours and location
6. Diverse revenue streams

So basically $2000+ roughly a year out of pocket, plus ad spend (which should pay for itself!).

If you launch with us, there’s also a one off cost for us to build your store, set up your ads, and mentor you through the first stage. You can view our packages on our home page.

Now let’s talk about that ad budget, because this is where people get nervous.

Is ad spend just money down the drain? No. And here’s why.

Your Shopify fee is a cost. You pay it, it’s gone. Ad money is different. It’s what brings customers to your store. Think of it like stocking the shelves of a shop… except instead of products, you’re filling the store with people ready to buy.

No ads, no traffic. No traffic, no sales. It’s that simple. A beautiful store nobody visits makes $0.

So does more ad spend mean more sales? Once you’ve found a product and ads that work, yes. That’s the whole game. You test, find what works, then put more money behind it. Every dollar is working to bring a sale back.

But here’s the bit people don’t tell you. Your first month is about learning, not just selling. You’re finding out which products, ads and customers click. The good news? Your ad money isn’t sitting there doing nothing while you learn. It’s bringing in real sales from day one. Some of our clients have done $2000 in their first month, others have hit $15,000 in their first month. Every store is different and results aren’t guaranteed, but that’s the point.

You’re getting sales back while you figure out what works. Then once you know what’s working, you put more money behind it and that’s when things really take off. Getting you to that point faster is exactly what we help with.

Your choice of package should be based on your budget and how much assistance you think you’ll need. The higher the investment, the more services you will receive.  

Finding the right product is everything. Get it wrong and you’re stuck selling something nobody wants. Get it right and you’ve got a business that actually makes money. That’s why we don’t just hand you a random list of trending products and wish you luck. We work with you to find the perfect fit based on your interests, your lifestyle, and real market demand. Whether you want to build a one product store or sell a range of existing brands, we’ll help you figure out exactly what that looks like for you.

How many drop shippers & suppliers do you have?

With all of our packages we will source the suppliers for you- generally the suppliers we recommend right now are all Australian based.  Otherwise you will have access to our database of over 5000 suppliers WorldWide.

We offer one product type stores, or depending on your financial and time resources, we may recommend you to sell a wider range of products. 

There are literally hundreds of thousands of suppliers. We like to personalise our service, and because every client is different and wants to sell unique products to them, we provide one-on-one assistance with finding appropriate suppliers for your business. We have an extensive database of suppliers that we also give our clients access to.

We don’t have any special arrangements in place with any particular supplier/s, as there are just too many of them to be able to do this. 
We source some of the best suppliers via trade fairs, referrals & wholesale membership groups.

With suppliers we will do our best to source what you are looking for, but if you are very particular about the type of products you want to sell and you want drop ship those products as an example, we cannot pull a rabbit out of a hat.  If a supplier doesn’t exist we cannot produce it so you need to be flexible.

Can I use my own suppliers or can I only use yours?

Yes you can.

There are literally hundreds of thousands of suppliers so if you want to source your own, you can do this. There is no limit to the number of suppliers or products you choose to have. 

We do not have any special alliances or relationships with any suppliers as it is up to the business owner to establish this, we simply give you a list of appropriate suppliers based on your requests.

Does drop shipping work and is it profitable?

Yes, absolutely -many of our clients run successful dropshipping businesses in Australia. Whether it’s profitable depends on your product margins and supplier agreements. Dropshipping is a great way to start because it has lower overheads, you don’t need to buy stock or handle fulfilment, but profit margins are often a little smaller compared to holding inventory.

Some of our long-term clients eventually move into manufacturing their own products once their niche proves successful. Others have negotiated strong supplier rates and continue to make great profits through dropshipping.

This all depends on what you are selling.  The amount of stock you hold will come down to the cost and how big it is.  e.g. if you were going to resell jewellery from a China manufacturer you can buy a piece of jewellery for $10 and then resell it for $30+.  You could sell 30-50 different varieties and hold 5 pieces of each, so in this example you would budget 5 x 50 x $10 = $2500.  

If you sell organic skin care and want to use a fulfilment centre, buy in bulk from a wholesaler and let the fulfilment centre pick and pack the orders, you might be looking at around $500 – $2000 a month for the fulfilment centre.  Then you need to buy the skin care, if you sell 50 different varieties of products, and you hold 10 of each thats 500 products.  You might buy an average product at $25 wholesale (retail it for $60) so your cost might be $12,500 in stock.

Competition can be a positive sign because it indicates a viable market. These days, there’s competition in almost every niche, which you can leverage to your benefit. Take, for example, large retailers like The Iconic and Bing Lee; they face substantial competition in heavily saturated markets yet they thrive as multimillion-dollar businesses. With 27 million people in Australia, there is plenty of opportunity for everyone in the market.

You need to allocate approx. 5 to 20 hours per week, depending on the amount of orders you receive. 

You do not need experience running a business to work with us as we provide the complete frame work for you to follow (so you don’t make expensive mistakes trying to work it out alone!).

However being comfortable using a computer is important. 

If you’re familiar with tasks like sending emails, editing Word documents, working with Microsoft Excel, and making online purchases, you’ll manage just fine.

For those less comfortable with technology, Shopify might be a better choice over WordPress.

No. The beauty about having an online business is you can run it from ANYWHERE at ANYTIME. You can set your hours based on your desired lifestyle, and your business is transportable so if you want to go overseas and work under a palm tree in the Bahamas, you can! All you need is a computer & an Internet connection to run one of these businesses.

It all depends on how quickly you want to get through our training.  Our training takes around 12 hours so you can get through it in a day or two if you want.

Short answer? You don’t try to. And you don’t need to.

Amazon is built for one thing. Someone knows exactly what they want, they want it cheap and they want it tomorrow. You’re never going to win that game, and you don’t have to. (personally I never shop Amazon as I feel like there are a lot of counterfeit products on there). 

Here’s what most people don’t realise. Australians spent about $82.6 billion shopping online last year, and less than a quarter of that went through the big marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Temu and Etsy (Australia Post eCommerce Report, 2026). The rest was spent on websites. People still love buying from a store they trust.

So where do smaller stores win? In a niche. Think about someone with an older dog that needs belly bands, or a family getting the backyard ready for summer. They don’t want to scroll through thousands of random listings and hope it’s not rubbish (or fake). They want a store that gets them, with the right products picked out, clear photos, real answers and someone to contact if something goes wrong.

That’s what we build with you. We help you find a niche where people are actively searching but the big players aren’t doing a great job. Then we set up your store so it looks and feels like a proper brand from day one. Amazon sells everything to everyone. Your store sells the right thing to the right person.

Long story short, that’s how small stores make good money right alongside the giants.

Can’t people just buy the same product cheaper on Amazon or Temu?

Sometimes, yes. Let’s be honest about that. A lot of products sold online come from the same kinds of suppliers.

But price isn’t the only reason people buy. If it was, every store except the cheapest one would go broke, and that’s clearly not happening. People pay more for trust. A store that looks legit, local shipping when you use Australian suppliers, good customer service, and not having to wade through a sea of knock offs to find the right thing.

Think of it like coffee. You can grab a coffee from the servo for a couple of bucks, but your local café is still packed every morning. Why? Because of the experience, and because you trust what you’re getting.

That’s the game. Your store wins on brand, trust and picking the right products for your customer. And we coach you on pricing, so you keep healthy margins while staying competitive.

One of the standout features of Click Start’s service offering is their exceptional training material. The content is not only relevant and upbeat but also designed to be easily digestible, making the learning process both enjoyable and effective. I’ve found myself returning to their video tutorials countless times, each viewing bringing new insights and understanding. These resources have played a crucial role in demystifying the complexities of managing an online platform, making my accomplishment of mastering the website’s backend operations a source of personal pride. The credit for this goes to Sam and her team, whose expertise and dedication are evident in every piece of content they produce.

Due to client confidentiality, we cannot share our clients’ personal contact information. We had some instances in the past where clients received unwanted inquiries about their financials, so we had to stop that practice.

However, we have numerous real video testimonials from our clients on our website, and you can also find real reviews on reputable platforms like Trust Pilot or Product Review.

Be cautious, though, as there are unmonitored websites where competitors and others can post anything they like. Always exercise common sense when researching any company.

Click Start Digital has been in business since 2012 and have helped thousands of clients launch successful online stores. We have hundreds of verified reviews and video testimonials across our website, Trustpilot, and Product Review, and we’d encourage you to go check them out.

Like any business that has been around for 14 years, you might also come across the occasional negative comment on unregulated sites like Reddit or Pissed Consumer. Here’s what you need to know about those. These platforms allow anyone to post anonymously without any verification, meaning the person behind the review may not even be a real client.

When you do the actual math, we have thousands of clients and a handful (2-4) of negative reviews. That works out to roughly 0.2%. We’ll let you decide what that says about us.

We’re not going to pretend we’re perfect because no business is. But we are proud of our track record and the results our clients get. Do your research, read the verified reviews, watch the testimonials, and make a decision based on the full picture rather than one anonymous post.

Check out this page here on us versus others.

The benefits of an online business are you don’t need to pay expensive shop rent, staffing, insurance and stock! AND you can run the business from anywhere in your own time.

You can even go on holidays and run your business from overseas if you need too. We have clients who live in overseas Countries and run their business from home.

The cost. If you buy an established business expect to pay 2 to 3 times the amount of revenue the business is making e.g. if the business makes $50,000 per year revenue, expect to pay $100,000 to buy the business.


There are no guarantees that you will be able to reproduce the income the business has made either, plus you don’t get business training.

Or a Franchise will set you back $300,000 and Ive heard so many horror stories of people losing all of their money.

We do not duplicate niche stores.  And yes you own the store outright, we do not take fees.

Our idea is to harness entrepreneurial people and put them in the best position possible to be able run their own business; not create in-house competition.

We will occasionally reproduce stores within the same sector i.e. organic products / baby products / furniture

Once you choose your inclusion package – we transfer the business into your name and the business becomes yours 100%.