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Rodney · February 17th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by nromano1212


	I just checked out Volution....They told me it will be about $80 a month plus about another $25 a month for the shopping cart through autherize.net and another $80 a year for the security thing...How long would it typically be before i saw enough results to atleast cover the monthly costs?

That seems pretty high, especially for someone just starting out.

A webhosting account is about $80-$150 per year (say with dreamhost or lunarpages)

CubeCart is free

An SSL certificate will run you about $25-$49 per yearat ev1servers.net (theplanet)

If you had someone design your layout and customize your cubcart, that's a one time fee of $100-$700. You could also do it yourself and save that amount with some research and time.

You could process orders through PayPal or Google Checkout for no monthly fee.

If you needed a merchant account so you can accept credit cards right on your site or over the phone (that's what the SSL certificate is for), e-onlinedata will have a setup of about $80 and a monthly fee of about $30 or so.

CrazyTeeShirts · February 17th, 2007

I currently use volusion for one site and am very pleased. It usually runs me about $129 a month (+ the security certificate) for around 60K visitors. Built in affiliate program, good newsletter management, real quickbooks integration and the ROI tracker are the things that make it worth it to me. I've done the customizing of scripts and writing code for improvements for one of my other sites, which is all fine, but if you want to be up and running quickly and want to just concentrate on selling without all the other involvement, it is a good solution.

As for the cost of any cart, if you take into consideration how much it would be to have a brick and mortor place to sell your wares, the price is really nothing. After all your site is your store.

Twinge · February 22nd, 2007

I'm trying to figure what's so mcuh better about these paid carts that they're worth $100+ per month?

Most of the praise I've seen so far sounds like it could easily be applied to Zen Cart, Cubecart, etc. The only thing that I've noticed someone mention here so far that the paid ones offer better stat tracking -- which you can get seperately for half the cost of these carts (and potentially free as well, if you look/work hard enough).

Maybe they take less time to set up - in which case you're comparing an upfront cost (I'd say more than Rodney's estimate - more like $300-$1200) to a monthly fee. The upfront cost becomes cheaper after a year has passed, if not sooner, so it'd probably be the better investment in that case.

Anything else I'm missing?

JonWye · February 22nd, 2007

Don't underestimate the value of ROI tracking and other stats... they are incredibly important to figuring out where and how your customers are finding you.

Shopping carts like Volusion ( my favorite) are also so well organized that, IF managed properly, google bots love searching very much. Type in "Jayhawks belt buckle" in google and my site comes up at the top. It's not because I am the only store that offers jayhawks belt buckles, it's because volusion organizes my pictures and wording in such a way the google love them. And in e-comm you want to get as many organize search results as possible.

If a t-shirt biz is your sole income you need to make your shopping cart as nice as possible. Customers need to feel that you are a players in your field and you know what you are doing.

If t-shirts are only your part time gig then a shopping cart like Zen Cart is the way to go.

I highly recommend contacting Volusion and setting up a trial!

Rodney · February 22nd, 2007

Quote:


	Don't underestimate the value of ROI tracking and other stats... they are incredibly important to figuring out where and how your customers are finding you.

That's definitely important information, but it's also information that you can get for free from your server logs and from free third party tools like Google Analytics (Urchin)

Quote:


	Shopping carts like Volusion ( my favorite) are also so well organized that, IF managed properly, google bots love searching very much. Type in "Jayhawks belt buckle" in google and my site comes up at the top. It's not because I am the only store that offers jayhawks belt buckles, it's because volusion organizes my pictures and wording in such a way the google love them. And in e-comm you want to get as many organize search results as possible

This is just a matter of making sure your cart pages are search engine friendly. Just about any shopping cart can do that for free. Cubecart has a mod that does this for about $15 one time price. It's also about making sure that you have links to your shop. If your site is search engine friendly (static links, relevant titles, good descriptions) and you have other people linking to you, you'll start getting better search results.

Quote:


	If a t-shirt biz is your sole income you need to make your shopping cart as nice as possible. Customers need to feel that you are a players in your field and you know what you are doing. If t-shirts are only your part time gig then a shopping cart like Zen Cart is the way to go.

I currently use a very expensive shopping cart (ShopSite), but I can tell you from experience that a free cart like cubecart can do just about everything that my expensive cart can do. It won't make you look any less professional and it won't matter whether or not if you'd doing it full time or part time.

Volusion might be a good solution for some, but it is pretty high priced for a startup (and even an established) t-shirt company.

I've used several different paid and free shopping carts, and I can honestly say, if I was going to do it again, I'd just go with cubecart and use the plugins available to make it unique.

JonWye · February 22nd, 2007

I stand by my adoration of Volusion! But with the Rod giving a glowing recommendation of cubeart I will give it a shot for my next e-comm store. And I will report for first hand experience

Rodney · February 22nd, 2007

Quote:


	I stand by my adoration of Volusion!

Defintely no problem with that

We all have our favorites.

I just wanted to clarify that using a free cart doesn't make you look any less credible to customers and that many can do what the expensive carts do.

Vtec44 · February 22nd, 2007

Just for comparison Jon, you can post a list of features that you like about Volusion, and others can post a list of similar features in their software. That way, it's much easier to see it side by side.

JoeJon · March 17th, 2007

I may be wrong, but from my research, there seems to be some mis-information in your posting, which STINKS for people just starting out!

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonWye


	Here are some tips. 1. volusion is the best e-comm system. However, unlike Yahoo, which gives you most of what you need to get started, you will have to obtain your own payment gateway from a company like authroize.net (best payment gateway site by the way). .....

Actually according to the Volusion website, they have teamed up with Authorize.net to offer complete merchant account / payment gateway solution. So that's a pretty glaring oversight on your part.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonWye


	2.Network solutions is an antiquated domain registration system......

Network Solutions OWNS Monstercommerce! And in plain english on their site, the first thing mentioned in the slate of services provided by Monstercommerce, DOMAIN REGISTRATION ...oooopss

:

"
Domain Registration
Storefront System
Merchant Accounts
Website Promotion
SSL Security
E-Commerce Power Hosting
Online Shopping Directory
"

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonWye


	3. Authorize.net is the best payment gateway I have used. ......

Great, but if you use Volusion, and Volusion has teamed up with Authorize.net, why are you outsourcing your payment gateway service??

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonWye


	4. acutal credit card processing companies. I used to use West Coast Merchant Services (well know for credit card processing for walmart) but they are more expensive. I now used e-onlinedate. They are the cheapest I have found. It's a small and well managed company. I have often talked the the vicepresident or president when calling with stupid questions. ......

Great, but if you use Volusion, why are you outsourcing your CC processing??

Makrista · March 18th, 2007

Have any of you all used ZenCart...great plugin if you are selling both wholesale and retail...FREE FREE FREE

My cart is not yet active but it is going to be great

Rodney · March 18th, 2007

Quote:


	Great, but if you use Volusion, and Volusion has teamed up with Authorize.net, why are you outsourcing your payment gateway service??

It's possible that the team up with authorizenet is something new that wasn't available when Jon originally signed up.

reyna24 · April 26th, 2007

Apart from the Carts and the SSL there is still a Payment Gateway Fee Right?

Parlophone · April 26th, 2007

i think yahoo & paymentech are a good value. all i have to do is sell 4 shirts (or 2 hoodies) and i cover the entire month's overhead.

Rodney · April 26th, 2007

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