What are the risks of hiring a really cheap Shopify developer?

Sometimes it's a genuine new-but-talented developer; often the low price hides real costs. Common outcomes: a copy-paste template passed off as custom, bloated code that tanks speed, no testing across devices, no documentation, work that breaks on the next theme update, and no support once they're paid. Fixing a bad build frequently costs more than doing it right the first time.

That doesn't mean expensive is automatically better. Judge by the work and the terms, not just the number — but be realistic that quality dev time has a floor. If a quote is a fraction of everyone else's, ask exactly what's included and who owns the code.