All guides
These are ordered the way a launch actually blocks, not by topic. Photography and copy come before design, because everything downstream reuses them. Quality assurance comes last, because it has to run against a store that has stopped changing.
Not looking to brief anyone? The three engineering jobs on this site — store data automation, a custom MCP server, or price and stock monitoring — can be built for you at a fixed price, from $220, each delivered with a test suite and evidence the suite catches breakage.
Start here
The 7-task launch outsourcing checklist The only tasks worth paying for before your first sale, each with a decision rule for doing it yourself instead, and the order to buy them in. Reading a listing and vetting a seller The method behind every other guide here: how to judge a seller in a field you do not work in, and the terms to agree before you order anything. Fixed price or hourly One test decides which contract shape a job wants, and forcing an open scope into a fixed price is where disputes come from.Brief a specific job
Product photo brief template A copy-paste brief for retouching and lifestyle composites, plus the file list to demand on delivery. Briefing product page copy What to gather before you hire a writer, why "write in our brand voice" fails, and the claims you must never let someone else invent. Commissioning a logo and brand kit What you are actually buying is a file set, not a picture. The source files, variants, and licensing to settle before you order. Landing page brief template A template you can copy, plus how to scope by naming sections in order and hand over store access without handing over your store. Vetting a video editor for paid ads How to tell an ad editor from a wedding editor, what a first ad cut should contain, and the revision terms to agree up front. Briefing welcome and abandoned-cart flows The two sequences worth building first, the step table to demand, and the boundary that turns this order into a dispute. Commissioning pre-launch store QA The item that gets dropped when the launch date gets close. What to specify so you get a defect list you can work through, not a narrated screen recording.
If you only read one. Read the launch checklist first. It decides what you should buy at all, which is a cheaper decision than buying the wrong thing well.