What is a hosted ecommerce platform?

Hosted ecommerce solutions take away the hassle hosting your own website, and then having a web developer maintain all the pieces you need for ecommerce. The pieces typically include a CMS (Content Administration System) to administer your products and content, a shopping cart with promotional and credit card processing features, a dashboard for you and customers to track online orders as they are processed, and links to accounting and shipping systems.

Why is a hosted ecommerce solution better for me?

Probably the simplest answer to this is “cost and support”. The best ecommerce platforms out there provide a lot of great ecommerce features, everything you need for an online storefront, for one low monthly fee plus credit card processing fees. Also, because the big hosted ecommerce platforms have so many customers and websites running on their servers, they have the scale to provide technical support whenever it’s needed.

Are there hidden costs with a hosted ecommerce platform?

The answer to this is a resounding YES. The hidden costs of operating a successful ecommerce website are commonly misunderstood. The reality is that the monthly fees charged by ecommerce platforms only provide you as the customer, with a platform! Someone still has to contemplate your brand marketing strategy, someone has to identify what your website needs to do in order to succeed, someone with graphic design and SEO content writing skill needs to set your site up, and someone with search and advertising experience needs to market it moving forward!

Understand the full costs of a hosted ecommerce website platform

The important thing when contemplating a hosted ecommerce website, is to understand the true costs involved. Often when hosting your own site and working with your own website designer, you have someone doing all the website setup and marketing work for you. More than likely you will need this assistance with the hosted solution also, so factor these costs in when making your decision. The hosted ecommerce platform price comparison chart below outlines the true costs of four hosted ecommerce solutions – Shopify.com, BigCommerce.com, Web.com, and our very own Shopodex.com.

There are a variety of hosted ecommerce website platforms out there. Which one is best for you?


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Shopodex Shopify Big Commerce Web.com
Platform Subscription Fee $29pm $29pm $29pm $160pm
Credit Card Fee 2.59% + 25c  2.9% + 30c ***2.9% + 30c ***2.9% + 30c
Transaction Fee FREE FREE 1.5% + 1.5%
Platform Technical Support FREE FREE FREE FREE
Email Marketing System $39pm **$42pm **$42pm **$42pm
Website Setup  $990 $1,500 $1,500 $1,000
SEO Optimization  $500 ~~$500 ~~$500 ~~$500
Directory Social Page Setup  $300 $400 + $400 + incl.
Adwords Setup Management $300pm ~~$500pm ~~$500pm ~~$500pm
Website Customization/Themes/Support $90ph ^$90ph + ^$90ph + ^$90ph +

Sources:

~ http://www.grmwebsite.com/social-media-management-pricing-and-packages

* minimum average setup costs for online store assuming customer supplies content

^ http://www.sinelabs.com/pricing

** Mad Mimi https://madmimi.com/service_agreements/choose_plan

~~ https://www.redflymarketing.com/pricing/

*** authorizenet (+ $40 setup fee + $25 monthly gateway)

         If you already have a merchant account with another provider you can choose the authorizenet gateway plan for

               $40 set up fee + monthly gateway $25 + 10c per transaction +10c daily batch fee

**** http://www.silverwebsolutions.com/social-media-setup-packages/

         http://www.comentum.com/web-development-cost-rate-comparison.html

         http://raddevelopment.io/blog/want-to-ask-a-developer-how-much-a-web-application-costs-to-build/