I launched in April this year and have just begun seeing my ROI. SEO has been amazing, but typically takes a few months to get rolling. 80% of my sales are through Google, while the other 20% is spread between Shop and Facebook/Instagram.
Wage money? Eh, that’s going to take some time. Don’t believe any of these kids on here talking about “I make 15k a month... 99.9% of them are BS - even if so, how much is their markup? You can undercut everyone, but profits will never be worth it. What do you consider wage money? I’m still not there yet, but I definitely cover my monthly costs, plus some. I’m giving it a year, then will reassess from there. The first 3 months prior to launch were rough, as I wanted to build the site the right way. I could go on and on about things I’d change for my next store, my lessons learned…
I’m in it around $5,000ish so far. Monthly cost without ads: $150. Monthly ads: $800-$1,000.
Not a “success”, but definitely paying for itself, with a steady increase month-over-month (around 33%, and SEO 100%+).