Designed an e-commerce site with AI — hand it over to an agency or start from scratch?

Agencies saying "let's scrap it" is the oldest reflex in the industry. Digging into code written by someone else—or by an AI—to debug it takes more time than starting from a blank page. Skip the traditional agencies and talk directly to freelance devs who specialize in technical APIs.

We finished the design of our ready-to-wear clothing site ourselves too and only outsourced the payment gateway and shipping API integration. An agency quoted us 18.000 AED, but we agreed with an independent developer for just 4.500 AED for the integrations, and the system was up and running smoothly in 8 days.

Where AI struggles the most is RTL layouts for Arabic. When you switch the page to Arabic, menus, buttons, and icons have to flip. AI tools usually generate standard LTR code and just sprinkle random CSS rules here and there. Getting expert help is an absolute must, especially for the RTL css fixes.

edit: fixed a few typos.

25.000 AED might seem high, but don't completely dismiss the agency's warning either. If the system crashes tomorrow while a customer is paying, or if there's a vulnerability regarding card data security, you can't hold AI accountable. A professional architecture is essential for the payment step, which is the lifeblood of the business.

Don't delete anything you've put effort into. Save screenshots of the pages and all the copy you generated in a separate folder. Even if you start completely from scratch down the road that mockup you built will be the best possible design brief for an agency, cutting revision rounds in half.

you did a fantastic job don't let them discourage you. getting the site all the way to the payment and shipping stage with zero technical background is a huge achievement. big agencies hate taking over half-finished projects like this; a local freelance dev who gets your vision can easily sort it out for you.

Im planning to launch a similar apparel store as well; when designing the e-commerce site with AI did you generate the Arabic product descriptions as direct translations or did you prompt it with specific localized phrasing for the local market?

Youre right. like taking notes for two weeks yields better results than a six-month estimate.

Solutions that work at a small scale collapse when you grow; I learned this late.

My question might sound amateurish, sorry about that. Just because everyone does it doesn't mean it's right.

If I were you, I'd go this route.

The answer above hits the nail on the head. If you don't write this down from the start, it leads to arguments later.

If you post the result here, it will help others too.

Thanks a lot, I'll try it today. When making decisions, write down the worst-case scenario too, not just the best.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

I've been dealing with this for a long time. Just because everyone does it doesn't mean it's right.

This is my opinion, I'm not claiming it's absolute truth.

Saved.

I'll argue the opposite, don't get mad. Everyone rushing into designing an e-commerce site with AI gets stuck at the same point.

Of course, it varies if your situation is different.

I agree.

Thanks for writing this, that's the right way. Everything goes well for the first three months; problems arise in the fourth.

Processes without records never improve, because you don't know what to fix. Proven by experience.

Let me summarize what's been said so far. When we decide without measuring, we always end up in the same place.

Hope this helps.

i'm a small business, let me explain from my side.. but anyway everything goes well for the first three months; problems arise in the fourth.

the answer varies greatly by industry; there is no one-size-fits-all rule. if you have questions write them; Ill answer as best I can.