When
selling stuff online, you have two primary choices. You can use
marketplace websites such as Amazon and eBay, whose obvious upside is
that they're absolutely free
to join –
an appealing prospect indeed for an Ecommerce beginner. (Of course,
these guys also charge hefty marketplace fees of anywhere between 3%
and 10% of the total order value!)
The
second choice is to take the plunge and choose an Ecommerce software platform,
which is essentially a tool that gives you everything you need to go
out on your own and sell, sell, sell! Everybody seems to accept that
there's a level of cost involved in springing for an Ecommerce
platform – but there's often confusion regarding exactly what those
prices are, and how they're broken down.
In this article, we'll take a look at
the costs involved in purchasing an Ecommerce platform. We hope you
find it useful!
Before
you begin
Before
you choose an Ecommerce platform, you'll need to pick up a domain
name –
you can do this relatively inexpensively via one of any number of
vendors, including Go Daddy, Name.com and 1and1.
Domain
Name: From $10
What Else Do You Need?
Since the vast majority of platform
providers offer a range of different packages, with different price
points – based on a variety of factors, which we'll go into shortly
– there are clearly a few price variables to deal with.
The
early stage of choosing an Ecommerce platform often involves making
some pretty big decisions regarding
exactly what
you need your
package to do.
This includes stuff like:
- How
many different products
will you be selling?
- How
much traffic
do you expect to attract to your store page?
- How
much storage
will you need for files, etc.?
Hopefully, one of the reasons you're
taking this step is to grow your business. That's why it's important
to make the following point. A standard, or entry level plan, can
look mighty appealing when you're first signing up – after all,
that's as much as you need right now, and it certainly helps to keep
your costs down.
But what about 6 months or a year down
the line? Will the package still do the job for your business? Make
sure you don't get tied into long-term agreements that inhibit your
growth in this way! Here at AmeriCommerce, we offer 5 different ecommerce pricing packages to cater to the needs of the startup all the way to enterprise sized businesses.
Package
prices - from $24.95 per month
Design/Themes
One
of the great things about taking your operations onto a dedicated
Ecommerce platform instead of using marketplace sites is the
flexibility in terms of design. This can really help you pair great
functionality with effective, vibrant and consistent branding – a
powerful combination!
There
are different options for different budgets here. You may choose to
go ahead and have a custom website designed and built for you, or you
could simply choose a platform which supports themes. Ecommerce Themes are
inexpensive (or even free) designs for your page which you can
download and apply in a matter of minutes with no design or coding
skills necessary. They give you the power to create a
beautiful-looking store quickly, and inexpensively!
Themes:
$0 to $95
Custom Design: Dependent on requirements
Security
Before
you can accept credit card payments through your website, you need to
get an SSL certificate on your page. This helps to ensure that your
customers' details are safe and reassures them that they can shop in
confidence.
Whereas
many platforms sell security certificates to their merchants,
AmeriCommerce customers can use our free, shared SSL certificate. Of
course, if you have the budget, you can always decide to pay extra
and purchase a dedicated certificate for even greater peace of mind.
SSL
Certificate: $0 (dedicated certificates may cost more)
Transaction
Fees
In
simple terms, transaction fees mean that, every time you sell a
product through your store, you'll pay a percentage of the order
value back to your shopping cart provider. This can range from 0.5%
through to 2% and, while that doesn't necessarily sound like a huge
amount, it can definitely make a difference to your margin.
We're
proud to say that we don't charge transaction fees in any
of our packages – after all, we believe that the money you make
from your hard work selling stuff should be yours to keep!
When you're deciding on an Ecommerce
platform, make sure you're fully aware of their policy on transaction
fees, and – should they be applicable – that the platform is
worth the extra expense!
Transaction
Fees – 0% of each order value
Extra
Features and Functionality
The
main nuts and bolts of each package should be displayed pretty
clearly when you're signing up, but it's important to make sure
you're getting access to all
the
tools and features you need.
AmeriCommerce accounts provide hundreds of different features –
from blogs, to Facebook shops, discounts, loyalty rewards, coupons,
order management and tons more. Again, we're proud to say that
they're all available on all plans!
Final
Thoughts
There's
no doubt that an Ecommerce platform can be one of the most important
investments you'll ever make in your business. But as you can see
from some of the numbers we've shared in this article, you don't
necessarily have to break the bank to get a solution that does what
you need it to today, while being scalable to accommodate your future
growth. Ecommerce isn't easy, and we recognize that; that's why it's
important to make sure you have the tools to tackle the challenges
you face every day. If you have questions, we would love to talk with you about how AmeriCommerce could be exact solution you're looking
for!