E-commerce Accessibility Audit
The Accessibility Deadline Didn't Move. It Passed.
Since 28 June 2025, accessibility requirements have applied to e-commerce services in Ireland under the European Accessibility Act. Most online shops we look at still fail at the checkout. We audit yours against the standard, show you exactly what's wrong and what it takes to fix, and we'll tell you first whether the law even applies to your business.
Tested by hand, not just a scanner
Prioritised by legal risk and cost to fix
We say if you're exempt
Accessibility Audit: Sample Findings
12
Critical
28
Serious
41
Moderate
Checkout, step 2 of 3
Critical
Card number field has no programmatic label. A screen reader announces it only as "edit text".
WCAG 2.2: 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions
Site-wide
Critical
Keyboard focus is invisible. A keyboard-only customer cannot tell where they are on the page.
WCAG 2.2: 2.4.7 Focus Visible
Product listing
Serious
Sale price contrast measures 2.9:1 against the background. Minimum is 4.5:1.
WCAG 2.2: 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum)
Illustrative example
Every finding includes a fix
Working with Irish businesses since 2015 · 34 projects delivered · 12+ clients
Where the law stands
What Actually Applies in Ireland
The European Accessibility Act is in force here through the European Union (Accessibility Requirements of Products and Services) Regulations 2023. Here are the parts that matter to an online shop.
28 June 2025
The date from which accessibility requirements have applied to e-commerce services
S.I. 636/2023
The Irish regulations that bring the Act into national law
CCPC
The authority responsible for enforcing this for e-commerce in Ireland
Up to €60,000
Maximum fine on conviction on indictment. Up to €5,000 on summary conviction, and directors can be personally liable
This page is information, not legal advice. We're a digital company, not solicitors. Whether the Act applies to your business, and what compliance requires in your circumstances, is a legal question. Check your position with the CCPC or a qualified adviser. What we do is test your website against the technical standard and tell you plainly what we find. Legal details last reviewed October 2026.
Before you spend anything
Does This Even Apply to You?
A lot of businesses are being sold accessibility audits they may not be legally required to have. We'd rather you knew this before paying us, so here is the test as we understand it.
Likely in scope
You Probably Need to Comply
✓
You sell to consumers online: they can browse, add to basket and pay
✓
You have 10 or more employees
✓
Or your annual turnover and balance sheet total both exceed €2 million
✓
You started offering the service on or after 28 June 2025
✓
You also manufacture, import or distribute covered products
Possibly exempt
The Microenterprise Exemption
Microenterprises providing services are exempt from the service obligations. As we understand it, that means fewer than 10 employees and an annual turnover or balance sheet total of €2 million or less.
✕
It covers services only, not products you make, import or distribute
✕
Both limbs have to be genuinely met, so check the figures with your accountant
✕
Exempt is not the same as inaccessible. See below for why it may still be worth doing
Why we lead with this instead of burying it. If you're a five-person shop under the threshold, we will tell you on the first call that you're likely exempt, and you can decide from there whether an audit is worth it commercially. We'd rather lose that sale than take money from someone who was frightened into it. If anyone has quoted you using fines as the main argument without first checking your headcount and turnover, ask them why.
If you're exempt
Reasons to Do It Anyway
Compliance is the deadline. These are the reasons accessibility usually pays for itself regardless.
Customers You're Turning Away
A significant share of adults have a disability, and far more have a temporary or situational one: a broken wrist, bright sunlight, an older phone. An inaccessible checkout doesn't produce a complaint. It produces an abandoned basket you never hear about.
The Same Work Helps Search
Proper headings, real labels, alt text, clean markup and fast pages are what accessibility requires and what search engines reward. A lot of an accessibility fix list is an SEO fix list wearing a different hat.
You May Not Stay Exempt
Thresholds are about headcount and turnover, both of which change. Growing past ten employees doesn't come with a warning letter. Fixing things gradually while you're small is considerably cheaper than a rush job later.
What we check
Where Online Shops Usually Fail
We test against WCAG 2.2 at level AA, the technical standard referenced across European accessibility work. On an e-commerce site, these are the areas that matter most, and the checkout is almost always the worst of them.
Checkout and Forms
Labels that are actually attached to their fields, errors that are announced rather than just coloured red, enough time to complete a payment, and card entry that works without a mouse. This is where most shops fail, and it's where failure costs you an order.
Keyboard and Screen Reader
Every menu, filter, modal and basket reachable and operable without a mouse, with visible focus throughout. Tested by hand with a real screen reader, because this is exactly what automated tools miss.
Contrast, Text and Zoom
Colour contrast on prices, sale badges and buttons. Text that can be resized to 200% without the layout collapsing. Information never conveyed by colour alone, a common failure on "in stock" and "sale" indicators.
Structure, Media and Mobile
Heading order, landmarks, meaningful alt text on product images, captions on video, and all of it tested on a phone, since that's where most of your customers are. Plus the accessibility statement the law expects you to publish.
On overlay widgets and accessibility plugins. If someone has sold you a one-line script promising instant compliance, be sceptical. These tools have been widely criticised by disabled users and accessibility professionals, and they don't fix the underlying code. We don't sell them and we'd advise against relying on one.
How we work
From Audit to Fixed
1
Scoping Call
Thirty minutes. We establish whether the Act applies to you, which templates matter (home, category, product, basket, checkout, account), and what platform you're on. You get a fixed price before anything starts, and an honest answer if we think you don't need this.
2
Testing
Automated scanning to catch the obvious, then manual testing where the real problems live: keyboard navigation, screen reader behaviour, zoom and reflow, and completing a full purchase without a mouse. Automated tools alone catch only a fraction of real issues.
3
The Report
Every finding with its location, the standard it relates to, the severity, what a user actually experiences, and a specific fix. Ordered so the things that block a sale come first. Written to be handed to a developer, not decoded by you.
4
Fix and Retest
We either implement the fixes or support your developer in doing it. Then we retest and confirm what's resolved, so you have evidence of the work and a record of where you stand.
Packages
Fixed-Price Accessibility Audits
Priced on the number of page templates, not pages: a shop with 900 products usually has about six templates. The price is agreed before we start.
Checkout Audit
The journey that costs you money when it fails.
€950
one-off · about 1 week
Included
✓
Basket, checkout and payment journey
✓
Automated and manual testing
✓
Screen reader and keyboard testing
✓
Prioritised findings with fixes
✓
Written report and a walkthrough call
Most chosen
Full Site Audit
The whole shop, against WCAG 2.2 AA.
€1,950
one-off · about 2–3 weeks
Everything in Checkout, plus
✓
Up to 8 page templates
✓
Mobile and desktop tested separately
✓
Full WCAG 2.2 AA assessment
✓
Draft accessibility statement
✓
Developer-ready fix list
✓
One free retest within 3 months
Audit and Fix
You'd rather it was simply dealt with.
From €3,500
quoted on scope · about 4–6 weeks
Everything in Full Site, plus
✓
We implement the fixes
✓
Theme and template corrections
✓
Retesting until findings are closed
✓
Accessibility statement published
✓
Short training for whoever adds products
✓
Guidance so new content stays accessible
What these prices don't include. Prices exclude VAT. Fixing problems that sit inside a third-party theme, plugin or payment provider may need their involvement, and we'll tell you when that's the case rather than quietly billing around it. We can't promise another company will fix their software.
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the European Accessibility Act apply to my online shop?
If you sell to consumers online and you're not a microenterprise, very likely yes: the requirements have applied since 28 June 2025. The microenterprise exemption covers service providers with fewer than 10 employees and a turnover or balance sheet total of €2 million or less, and it applies to services rather than products.
We'll give you our reading on the first call, free. But whether the Act applies to your specific business is a legal question, and we're not solicitors. Confirm it with the CCPC or an adviser before relying on it.
The deadline has passed. Am I already in trouble?
Not automatically. Enforcement generally begins with a complaint or an inspection, and authorities typically look for evidence that a business is addressing problems rather than ignoring them. Having an audit, a prioritised plan and work under way is a materially better position than having nothing. The sensible move is to start now rather than wait to be asked.
Can't I just use an accessibility overlay widget?
We'd advise against it. Overlays have been widely criticised by disabled users and accessibility professionals, they don't change the underlying code, and businesses using them have still faced complaints. They also tend to interfere with the screen readers and settings people already rely on. We don't sell them.
Isn't an automated scan enough?
No. Automated tools reliably catch only a portion of real accessibility problems. They're good at contrast and missing alt text, and poor at whether a checkout can actually be completed with a keyboard, or whether an error message makes sense when read aloud. We run the scans, then do the testing that matters by hand.
What standard do you test against?
WCAG 2.2 at level AA, which is the technical standard referenced throughout European accessibility work, including the harmonised standard EN 301 549. The Irish regulations set functional requirements rather than naming a checklist, so meeting WCAG is strong evidence of conformance rather than an automatic legal guarantee. It's a distinction some vendors gloss over.
How long does an audit take?
A checkout audit takes about a week. A full site audit takes two to three weeks depending on how many templates you have. If you need something faster because of a complaint or a tender deadline, tell us on the call and we'll say honestly whether we can do it.
What platform do you work with?
Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, BigCommerce, Squarespace and custom builds. The testing is the same regardless of platform. What differs is how easy the fixes are: Shopify and WooCommerce themes are usually straightforward, while heavily customised builds take longer and some third-party plugins can't be fixed by us at all.
Will you work with our existing developer?
Yes, and often that's the cheapest route. The report is written to be handed straight to a developer: each finding has a location, the relevant success criterion, and a specific fix rather than "improve accessibility". We're happy to be on a call with them to work through it.
Start by Finding Out Whether You Need This
Book a 30-minute call. We'll tell you whether the Act likely applies to your business, show you the two or three things most likely to be failing on your checkout, and quote you only if it's worth doing.