Question 1

How much does a NaiForge website cost?

Accepted Answer

Three productized tiers with fixed one-time prices: Starter Shop KES 25,000 (5-7 days), Standard Shop KES 45,000 (2 weeks), Premium Shop KES 80,000+ (3-4 weeks). Terms: 50% deposit to start, balance on delivery. Extra revisions KES 3,000 each. No recurring platform fees paid to NaiForge.

Question 2

Are there any hidden or recurring costs?

Accepted Answer

Two small ones outside our control: your domain name (~KES 1,500/year, you buy it directly from a registrar) and payment gateway transaction fees (M-Pesa: ~2.5-3%, card: ~3.5% — paid by you to the gateway per sale). Everything in our package price is one-time, no recurring fees to NaiForge.

Question 3

What's the difference between Starter, Standard, and Premium?

Accepted Answer

Starter is your first online shop — flat catalog, 1 revision, 5-7 days. Standard adds editorial merchandising (category landing pages, featured sections, banners) and 2 revisions, 2 weeks. Premium adds full order management dashboard, customer accounts, stock tracking, card payments, advanced analytics, priority support, 3-4 weeks.

Question 4

Why does Premium start at KES 80,000 instead of a fixed price?

Accepted Answer

Because scope varies. Card payment gateway setup, stock integration with physical POS, custom reporting, and team training all sit inside Premium — we scope the exact fit in a 30-minute call, then quote a fixed number. KES 80,000 is the floor.

Question 5

What if I need more revisions than included?

Accepted Answer

Extra revisions are KES 3,000 each. Most clients don't need more — we workshop the brief upfront so the first version is close. Premium includes unlimited revisions during the build.

Question 6

How does NaiForge integrate M-Pesa?

Accepted Answer

Via established Kenyan payment gateways (default: Paystack; alternatives like IntaSend, Pesapal, Flutterwave on request). The customer experiences a standard M-Pesa pop-up at checkout — Lipa Na M-Pesa Online — with server-side webhook verification. Gateway transaction fees are roughly equivalent across providers; the bigger lever for cost is your platform's recurring fee.

Question 7

How do total fees on a NaiForge site compare to Shopify?

Accepted Answer

On a Shopify site you pay USD subscription (from ~USD 29/month) + Shopify's 2% alternative-payment surcharge + the gateway fee on each sale. On a NaiForge site you pay one-time KES + just the gateway fee — no platform subscription, no 2% surcharge stack. The gateway fee itself is comparable; the platform layer is where the savings actually live.

Question 8

Do you accept card payments?

Accepted Answer

Yes — via gateway partners (Flutterwave, IntaSend, or Pesapal — your choice). Card gateway fees ~3.5% per transaction. Card support is included in Premium tier; available as add-on on Standard/Starter.

Question 9

Do I need a Till or Paybill before my site is built?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Apply with Safaricom for a Till Number or Paybill (1-3 working days, KES 1,000-3,000). We integrate against the credentials you provide. We can advise on Till vs Paybill choice during scoping.

Question 10

What happens if M-Pesa goes down during a customer's checkout?

Accepted Answer

Our integration fails gracefully — customer sees a clear error, can retry, and your Till number is displayed as fallback for manual confirmation. Order rows are written before payment so nothing is lost. We never trust client-side success without server callback verification.

Question 11

How long does my project take?

Accepted Answer

Starter: 5-7 days. Standard: 2 weeks. Premium: 3-4 weeks. Timelines start when the 50% deposit clears AND you've provided product photos, descriptions, M-Pesa details, and your logo. Delays from waiting on materials extend the timeline.

Question 12

What's the payment schedule?

Accepted Answer

50% deposit to start (secures your build slot), balance on delivery. Both payable via M-Pesa (Till or Paybill — details on invoice) or bank transfer. Receipt issued immediately.

Question 13

What do I need to provide?

Accepted Answer

Product photos (phone camera fine — we optimize), product names, prices in KES, brief descriptions, your logo (or text-set we'll create), your Safaricom Till/Paybill details, and your domain (purchased separately ~KES 1,500/year).

Question 14

How does the build process work?

Accepted Answer

Four steps: (1) brief — 30-min scoping call/WhatsApp, (2) 50% deposit secures slot, (3) build sprint with daily WhatsApp updates and one mid-build review checkpoint, (4) launch — balance due, site goes live, first M-Pesa transaction verified.

Question 15

Do you offer ongoing maintenance?

Accepted Answer

Optional. Standard maintenance: KES 5,000/month covers bug fixes, content updates, M-Pesa gateway issues, and security patches. Or pay per ad-hoc task at KES 3,000. Premium tier includes 1 month free post-launch.

Question 16

What services does NaiForge offer?

Accepted Answer

Three services, each with productized tiers from KES 25,000: Ecommerce (M-Pesa-ready online shops), Web Design (custom non-template design), Web Development (modern stack on edge-distributed hosting).

Question 17

Who is NaiForge a good fit for?

Accepted Answer

Kenyan and East African ecommerce or SMB web projects in the KES 25,000-200,000 range. Best fit: businesses graduating from Instagram/WhatsApp selling, established brands tired of Shopify monthly fees, or growing operations needing proper order management without enterprise overhead.

Question 18

Who is NaiForge NOT a good fit for?

Accepted Answer

Under 10 orders/day with a warm DM audience (WhatsApp Business still works). Enterprise needing multi-week strategy workshops and dedicated account managers. Native iOS/Android apps (we're web-only). Projects requiring multi-warehouse global inventory.

Question 19

Do you do branding, logos, or content writing?

Accepted Answer

Brand design yes — included in our Web Design service. Logos as part of broader brand work. Content writing: we workshop your existing content and tighten it; for new long-form copy we'll point to good Kenyan copywriters we've worked with.

Question 20

Do I own the code after handover?

Accepted Answer

Yes, fully. You receive the Git repository on handover with no licensing strings. You can take it to any developer or self-host. We don't lock clients in — it's one of our non-negotiables.

Question 21

What if I want to leave NaiForge later?

Accepted Answer

Your code is yours. We hand over the repo, server access credentials, all third-party account ownership (payment gateway, email service, etc.), and any documentation. You can move to another developer or host the site yourself with no penalty.

Question 22

Do you have written contracts?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Every engagement includes our Terms of Service plus a project-specific scope document. See the Terms page for the framework; project specifics get added on top.

Question 23

What's your warranty / what if something breaks?

Accepted Answer

Bug fixes for issues present at launch are free of charge for 30 days post-handover. Beyond that, maintenance is optional at KES 5,000/month or KES 3,000 per ad-hoc task.

Question 24

How do you compare to Shopify?

Accepted Answer

One-time KES 25,000-80,000 vs Shopify's USD 29-299/month forever. Both use a payment gateway for M-Pesa, but Shopify adds a 2% alternative-payment surcharge on top — NaiForge does not. KES billing vs USD billing (FX risk). Code ownership vs SaaS lock-in. Break-even vs Shopify Basic: month 5-9 of typical use.

Question 25

How do you compare to Jumia Seller Center?

Accepted Answer

Brand ownership and margin. NaiForge: KES 25,000-80,000 one-time, 0% commission, you own the customer. Jumia: free signup, 6-29% commission per sale + 7-21 day payout delay + Jumia owns the customer relationship. Break-even: usually month 1-3 at moderate volume.

Question 26

Should I use WhatsApp Business or graduate to a website?

Accepted Answer

Stay on WhatsApp under 10 orders/day with warm audience. Graduate when manual reply time exceeds 1 hour/day, you're losing buried orders, or you want to be findable on Google. Many merchants run both — WhatsApp for relationships, website for catalog and checkout.

Question 27

What about Sky.Garden?

Accepted Answer

Sky.Garden has parity with us on M-Pesa (both native), but charges 8% commission and you don't own the brand URL. Post-2024 vendor concerns also a factor for risk diversification. Most Sky.Garden sellers we've worked with run their NaiForge site as primary, Sky.Garden as discovery channel.

Question 28

And Wix?

Accepted Answer

Similar trade-offs to Shopify but cheaper monthly. Template-based vs our custom design, USD-billed forever vs one-time KES, slower mobile performance from US-based infra vs our edge-distributed hosting. Break-even vs Wix Core: month 11.

Question 29

Where is NaiForge based?

Accepted Answer

Karen, Nairobi, Kenya. Service-Area Business — we operate fully remote/hybrid. We meet Nairobi clients in person across Westlands, Kilimani, CBD, Karen, Lavington when useful.

Question 30

Do you only serve Nairobi clients?

Accepted Answer

No. We serve all of Kenya (Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret + everywhere else) plus Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda. Most non-Nairobi work runs fully remote via WhatsApp + video calls with no quality loss.

Question 31

Do you charge a premium for clients outside Nairobi?

Accepted Answer

No. Pricing is identical regardless of city. We don't charge upcountry businesses a remote-delivery surcharge.

Question 32

What hours are you available?

Accepted Answer

08:00–20:00 East Africa Time (UTC+3), 7 days a week. WhatsApp +254 790 117 953 — we typically respond within hours during operating hours.

Question 33

What technology do you use?

Accepted Answer

React 19 + TypeScript + TanStack Start, deployed to a global edge platform (fast on Kenyan mobile), managed database with Drizzle ORM, Tailwind CSS v4, GSAP for motion. M-Pesa via Paystack (or alternative gateway on request). Resend for email. Fully open-source stack — no proprietary lock-in.

Question 34

Where is my site hosted?

Accepted Answer

On a global, edge-distributed network optimised for Kenyan mobile networks — sub-second loads vs 500ms+ from US-only hosts, built-in DDoS protection, 99.99% uptime. Hosting is included for the lifetime of your project at no extra fee. Better SEO too — Core Web Vitals matter most on Kenyan mobile.

Question 35

Do you set up SEO?

Accepted Answer

Yes — every site ships with: schema.org JSON-LD (Organization, LocalBusiness, Product, Service, Offer, FAQPage, BreadcrumbList, HowTo, Article), sitemap.xml, robots.txt, llms.txt for AI crawlers, hreflang for East Africa, Open Graph + Twitter card metadata, and Core Web Vitals optimization. Manual SEO work (content strategy, link building) is separate.

Question 36

What about hosting after launch?

Accepted Answer

Hosting is included for the lifetime of your project at no extra fee — covers most small-business traffic comfortably. If volume grows past the included tier, scaling is cheap and linear; we help you upgrade if/when it matters.

Question 37

Can I move my existing site to NaiForge?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We migrate from Shopify, Wix, WordPress, custom WordPress, and bespoke setups regularly. Migration is typically 3-10 days depending on catalog size and structural complexity. We'd quote it after seeing your current site.

Every question,answered.

Pricing & Packages