ecommerce - store front software

Web-based store front software allows you to manage your store from any PC, without having to download or install any software. Another criteria is whether or not you already have a website you want integrated with your store, and whether you want your own web address. Here is a table showing my opinion of the four store fronts you should consider for your fixed-price store (vs. auction selling).

eBay and Amazon store solutions are geared towards novices who are part-time sellers out of their homes; Yahoo and Miva solutions are designed for full time professional businesses. Or if you are a programmer (or have a programmer friend) and have simple needs (for example, only a single product), you can save some money by rolling your own store front software via Perl or PHP etc. Here are links to lead you on a search for other software: cgi-resources, Commission Cart, X-Cart...

Store Provider	Comments	Pricing
	Good ease of use and power for professionals. Web-based. Allows you to use your own domain name. Extensive look-and-feel customization possible for your store. Yahoo brand: many developers will support Yahoo Store, and many shoppers could find your store.	$49.95/month for hosting, $0.10 per item per month, 0.5% transaction fee on all transactions (plus separate credit card processing fees-- see below), and 3.5% revenue share on transactions that originate on the Yahoo! Network. There is no startup fee and you can cancel whenever you want. info
	Nice solution for part-time work-at-home sellers. Lots of shoppers, great shopper technology. Your URL will be www.amazon.com/shops/storename.	$39.99/month for up to 40,000 items; commission 5% for items up to $25; else $1.25 + 2.5% for items up to $1,000, etc. Fees include credit card processing. info
	Nice solution for part-time work-at-home sellers. Primarily the dominant consumer-to-consumer auction company, eBay's success has created hundreds of thousands of successful small businesses who sell on eBay, resulting in creation of programs like eBay Stores to give more selling options. Your URL will be www.ebaystores.com/storename.	$9.95/month or more; fees include credit card processing. info
	Miva is very different from the above three providers, who are all consumer companies who also have store fronts. Miva only builds software for professional sellers. You will need to signup with an ISP who can host MIVA for you, or buy licenses to run on your own server. Here are a couple lists of ranked providers: truxoft and mvcentral. I've heard that Hostasaurus is great. Merchant account and gateway transaction fees are separate from the Miva hosting fee..

Here is a partial spreadsheet showing fees for the above providers, based on criteria for your store. If you have corrections or additions, please email me.