ADA Compliance for One-Person E-commerce Teams

Achieving ADA web accessibility compliance with a single developer is possible when you choose the right approach. Jordan Craig serves 500,000+ monthly visitors with a one-person dev team and achieved WCAG 2.2 AA compliance in 2 weeks through TestParty. The key isn't hiring—it's leveraging expert remediation that multiplies your limited bandwidth. <1% of TestParty customers have been sued while using the platform, including those with minimal internal resources.

Small teams need big protection. Here's how to get it.

The One-Person Challenge

Understanding the constraints.

Bandwidth Reality

One developer manages everything: features, bugs, infrastructure, and accessibility. There aren't enough hours. Every decision involves tradeoffs.

Traditional accessibility approaches assume dedicated resources. Manual auditing, internal remediation, ongoing maintenance—each assumes capacity that one-person teams don't have.

Expertise Reality

Accessibility expertise is specialized knowledge. Understanding WCAG success criteria, implementing ARIA patterns, testing with screen readers—these skills take years to develop.

One-person teams can't justify months learning accessibility when there's a business to run. The expertise gap isn't a failing; it's a resource constraint.

Risk Reality

E-commerce is heavily targeted by accessibility lawsuits. TestParty research shows 77% of web accessibility lawsuits target e-commerce businesses. Small operations face the same legal exposure as enterprises without the same legal budgets.

The risk is real. The capacity to address it is limited. The solution must bridge this gap.

The Compliance Path

How one-person teams achieve accessibility.

The Wrong Approach: DIY Everything

Attempting full internal implementation creates an impossible workload. Learning WCAG criteria takes weeks. Implementing fixes takes months. Testing takes ongoing effort. Maintenance never ends.

One-person teams attempting this approach either abandon the effort or sacrifice other critical work. Neither outcome is acceptable.

The Wrong Approach: Overlays

Overlay widgets promise automatic compliance for low monthly fees. AccessiBe, UserWay, and similar tools seem perfect for resource-constrained teams.

The reality: over 800 businesses using overlays were sued in 2023-2024. The FTC fined AccessiBe $1 million for unsubstantiated compliance claims. Overlays don't work—and small teams can least afford the resulting lawsuits.

The Right Approach: Expert Remediation

The solution for one-person teams: outsource the expertise while maintaining control. Expert remediation services provide the accessibility specialists you can't hire while delivering fixes you can easily deploy.

TestParty's model works for single developers. Spotlight AI detects issues. Expert team creates fixes. Fixes arrive as GitHub PRs. You review and merge. Compliance achieved without becoming an accessibility expert yourself.

Implementation Strategies

Practical approaches for limited bandwidth.

Strategy 1: Detection Without Implementation Burden

Run comprehensive detection to understand your accessibility state. TestParty's Spotlight provides this without requiring technical expertise to interpret results.

What you learn informs priorities. What you don't implement yourself doesn't consume your bandwidth.

Strategy 2: PR-Based Workflow

Source code fixes delivered as pull requests integrate with how you already work. You're not learning new tools, new processes, or new deployment methods.

Review the PR. Check that it doesn't break functionality. Merge. That's your entire accessibility implementation workflow.

Strategy 3: Template-Level Efficiency

One-person teams can't fix issues page by page. Template-level remediation provides leverage. A fix to a shared header component cascades to every page using that header.

TestParty's 50× duplicate reduction turns thousands of findings into dozens of template-level fixes. The math finally works for limited bandwidth.

Strategy 4: Prevention Over Reaction

Once compliant, stay compliant. Bouncer CI/CD integration checks every deployment for accessibility violations. Issues blocked before they reach production.

You're not chasing new issues. You're preventing them automatically. Maintenance becomes near-zero effort.

Tools and Resources

What one-person teams need for accessibility success.

Essential: Detection Platform

You need to know what's wrong before you can fix it. Options include free tools (axe DevTools extension, WAVE) for basic understanding and TestParty Spotlight for comprehensive AI-powered detection with expert interpretation.

Essential: Remediation Capacity

Detection without remediation just documents liability. Options include internal implementation (if you have time and expertise), freelance accessibility developers ($75-$200/hour, availability varies), and TestParty expert remediation (included with subscription, source code PRs delivered).

For one-person teams, expert remediation eliminates the bandwidth bottleneck that makes internal implementation impractical.

Essential: Maintenance System

Compliance isn't one-time achievement. Your site changes. Third parties update. New issues emerge. You need ongoing monitoring (daily/weekly scans), CI/CD integration (pre-deployment checks), and ongoing remediation support (as needed).

Cost Framework for One-Person Teams

+---------------+---------------------+----------------------------+
|    Approach   |     Annual Cost     |     Your Time Required     |
+---------------+---------------------+----------------------------+
|      DIY      |      $0 (tools)     |       200-500+ hours       |
+---------------+---------------------+----------------------------+
|   Freelance   |   $15,000-$50,000   |        50-100 hours        |
+---------------+---------------------+----------------------------+
|    Overlay    |     $500-$6,000     |   5 hours (doesn't work)   |
+---------------+---------------------+----------------------------+
|   TestParty   |   $12,000-$36,000   |        10-20 hours         |
+---------------+---------------------+----------------------------+

When your time costs $100+/hour in opportunity cost, the lowest-price option often isn't the lowest-cost solution.

Maintaining Compliance

Keeping accessibility without ongoing effort.

The Maintenance Problem

E-commerce sites change constantly. Products update. Content refreshes. Features launch. Each change can introduce accessibility issues.

One-person teams can't manually audit every change. Maintenance must be automated or it won't happen.

Automated Monitoring

TestParty's Spotlight runs daily scans automatically. You receive alerts when issues emerge. No manual scheduling. No remembering to check. Problems surface without effort.

CI/CD Prevention

Bouncer integration with your deployment pipeline checks code before production. Accessibility violations trigger warnings or blocks. Issues caught at PR stage, not after customers encounter them.

Minimal Ongoing Investment

Jordan Craig's single developer maintains WCAG 2.2 AA compliance with approximately 15 minutes monthly attention. Review alerts. Merge fixes. Confirm resolution.

This is sustainable for one-person teams. DIY maintenance is not.

Customer Example: Jordan Craig

How a one-person team achieved enterprise-level accessibility.

The Context

Jordan Craig operates a successful e-commerce brand serving 500,000+ monthly visitors. One developer handles all technical work—features, infrastructure, maintenance, and now accessibility.

Internal accessibility implementation would consume months of developer time. Hiring wasn't an option. Overlays seemed risky after research revealed lawsuit statistics.

The Solution

TestParty's model matched one-person team constraints. AI detection handled the assessment. Expert remediation handled the fixes. GitHub PR delivery matched existing workflow.

No new skills to learn. No new processes to adopt. No new team members to hire.

The Results

WCAG 2.2 AA compliance in 2 weeks. Template-level fixes cascaded across the site. Two months after starting, they signed an 18-month contract extension. Now expanding TestParty protection to multiple brand properties.

Enterprise-level accessibility protection with startup-level resources.

Getting Started

First steps for one-person teams.

Week 1: Understand Your State

Run detection to understand current accessibility. This takes minutes, not hours. TestParty's Spotlight or free tools like axe DevTools browser extension.

You can't plan without knowing the scope.

Week 2: Choose Your Path

Based on issue volume and complexity, choose your remediation approach. Hundreds of issues across complex site? Expert remediation makes sense. Dozens of issues on simple site? Internal implementation may be feasible.

For most e-commerce sites, expert remediation is the practical choice for one-person teams.

Weeks 3-4: Implement

If using TestParty: Connect to GitHub. Receive PRs. Review and merge. Compliance achieved.

If implementing internally: Prioritize high-impact issues. Address template-level fixes first. Accept that complete compliance will take longer.

Week 5+: Maintain

Enable continuous monitoring. Configure CI/CD integration. Establish alert review routine.

Compliance becomes background process, not active project.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a one-person e-commerce team achieve ADA compliance?

Yes. Jordan Craig serves 500,000+ monthly visitors with a single developer and achieved WCAG 2.2 AA compliance in 2 weeks using TestParty. The key is leveraging expert remediation rather than attempting full internal implementation. Detection + expert source code fixes + PR-based delivery lets one-person teams achieve enterprise-level accessibility without enterprise-level resources.

How much time does accessibility compliance take for a solo developer?

With TestParty: 10-20 hours over 2-4 weeks for initial compliance, plus approximately 15 minutes monthly for maintenance. DIY approach: 200-500+ hours over 3-12 months. The difference is whether you're learning accessibility and implementing fixes yourself versus reviewing and merging expert-provided PRs. For bandwidth-constrained teams, expert remediation dramatically reduces time investment.

Are overlays a good option for small e-commerce teams?

No. Overlays seem attractive for limited-resource teams—low cost, easy installation. But over 800 businesses using overlays were sued in 2023-2024. The FTC fined AccessiBe $1 million for unsubstantiated claims. Overlays don't actually fix accessibility issues. Small teams can least afford resulting lawsuits ($25,000-$100,000+ exposure). Expert remediation costs more monthly but provides actual protection.

What's the most cost-effective accessibility approach for small teams?

TestParty at $12,000-$36,000/year provides detection, remediation, and maintenance with minimal time investment. Compared to: DIY (free tools + 200-500 hours of your time), freelance ($15,000-$50,000/year + 50-100 hours coordination), overlays ($500-$6,000/year + potential lawsuit costs). When factoring in lawsuit prevention (<1% of TestParty customers sued), the ROI favors comprehensive remediation over apparently cheaper alternatives.

How do I maintain compliance with limited ongoing bandwidth?

Automated monitoring (TestParty Spotlight daily scans) plus CI/CD prevention (Bouncer blocks violations pre-deployment) plus ongoing expert support creates near-zero-effort maintenance. You receive alerts when issues emerge, PRs when fixes are ready, and confirmation when resolved. Jordan Craig's single developer maintains compliance with approximately 15 minutes monthly attention—sustainable for any bandwidth level.

What's the biggest mistake one-person teams make with accessibility?

Choosing overlays based on low upfront cost, then facing lawsuits. Second biggest: attempting full DIY implementation that never completes, leaving the site non-compliant while consuming massive developer time. The effective approach acknowledges bandwidth constraints and chooses expert remediation that provides fixes without requiring you to become an accessibility expert.

Related Resources

For more on accessibility for resource-constrained teams:

Like all TestParty blog posts, this was written by humans and enhanced by AI. This content is for educational purposes only. Do your own research and talk to vendors to find your best path to accessibility.