Website building sites

holidays365

hi all, I want to put a fairly basic e comm site together and would like to keep costs down by using one of the block building site like jimdo ,moonfruit, ibuilt etc has anyone used one of these for a proper commercial site and recommend /point out major drawbacks , any other opinions welcome,

OctavarIan

Anywhere I've seen someone ask about setting up an online shop, the word "Shopify" hasn't been far behind.

http://www.shopify.com/

holidays365

thanks for that

the shopify looks easy enough to build the site but it is way more expensive to run and they take percentage of sales,
its interesting but I think60 us a month is a bit steep for what i want as compared to moonfruits 20 euro and no commision, I wonder why shopify charge such a premium..maybe im missing something?

Trojan

Shopify charge so much because A) they're good, and they're the market leader (i.e. they can). You can also check out 1ShoppingCart and others.

I think one of the reasons shopify is mentioned so often within the context of these types of discussions is because the original question is often "How do I start an ecommerce website on a tiny budget?". And shopify does a fantastic job within that context.

Outside of that context, if someone with an existing retail operation is looking to expand into online sales and has a significant budget to do so, then going with a self-hosted solution may be more suitable and a better investment in the medium-long term.

OctavarIan

holidays365 wrote: »

thanks for that

the shopify looks easy enough to build the site but it is way more expensive to run and they take percentage of sales,
its interesting but I think60 us a month is a bit steep for what i want as compared to moonfruits 20 euro and no commision, I wonder why shopify charge such a premium..maybe im missing something?

Moonfruit seems like a website builder with a shopping cart thrown in as an afterthought. Their site gives practically no information on the ecommerce features, security, payment options, etc. I can't speak for or against their other services because this is the first time I've heard of them.

JD RoX

I don't get it - why do you even need to pay monthly? Wouldn't it pay back to buy a, lets say, wordpress eCommerce template, hire some student to modify it for cheap, and then host it somewhere? Then you would only pay ~6 euro monthly for hosting. If you're so desperate for money, I could put it on my server, for free, just because I have a good heart

Then again - you will get some standard template, modify it and it will look even worse than it did before. Think: why would people buy stuff from scammy looking sites when there are so many professional looking websites on the market?

People, especially in Ireland, don't understand the importance of professional website. For all eCommerce sites - website is what sells products, how it makes them stand out, branding you as a leader of that specific market. And being a leader - That's priceless