The agency is talking about an API integration to connect systems — what is it and how much should it cost?

Make sure they check whether both systems support a modern REST architecture. If your local Italian accounting software is an old-school desktop application that doesn't expose a secure external endpoint directly, the agency will have to build an extra middleware server or database triggers. In that scenario, 2,400 EUR is actually very reasonable.

Does the agency's quote include the access fees charged by the accounting software itself? In Italy, many enterprise software vendors charge clients an annual license or module fee between 300 and 600 EUR just to enable external API access. Have you confirmed whether an extra invoice will come from your accounting software vendor on top of what you pay the agency?

We went through a similar process in Rome last year. We were getting an average of 25–30 orders a day, and an employee spent at least 1.5 hours every day manually transferring them over. That was about 40 hours of lost labor a month. We paid 1,900 EUR to get the systems connected; the error rate dropped to zero, and the investment paid for itself in five months through saved staff time.

Definitely make sure an error notification clause is included in the contract. If the internet drops or a SKU doesn't match, the integration shouldn't just silently stall in the background. The problematic order should immediately trigger an alert on the admin dashboard and an email to the responsible person; otherwise, orders can hang in limbo for days before anyone notices.

It's super common for agencies to say they're 'building a custom API' for every project when they really just install an off-the-shelf plugin and call it a day. If your website is on a mainstream platform, there might already be official, ready-made integration plugins on the market for your accounting software running around 100–200 EUR. Dig in and double-check if writing code from scratch is truly necessary.

once you're free from manually issuing invoices and telling customers 'sorry, we're out of stock' because of inventory mismatches you'll see it's worth every single euro. we were hesitant at first too but the breathing room it gives your day-to-day operations is an unbelievable luxury then my advice is to have a team that knows what they're doing handle it.

The price isn't crazy for that scope, but definitely ask your own software rep about any API licensing costs on the accounting side beforehand.

Correct.

Let's separate the concepts, they're getting mixed up. In legacy systems, the most expensive thing is unknown dependencies.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

You're right.

I've been dealing with this for a long time. Everything goes well for the first three months; problems arise in the fourth.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Let's separate the concepts they're getting mixed up. If you get three different answers on a topic the question was asked wrong.

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

We got stuck at the same point for a while. Any unwritten clause becomes a point of disagreement later, as both sides remember it differently.

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

Thanks for writing this, thats the right way... Ask who prepared the quote and who will actually do the work.

Every "we'll look at it later" in a meeting means unbilled work. If I were you I'd go this route.

correct in theory but it doesn't work that way in practice and tbh weekly written progress repoorts are much more useful than asking for dates.

prven by experience.

Saved.

I agree.

I went through the same thing.