# BigCartel.com or own site



## phreebee (Nov 18, 2009)

Hello, about to hire a web firm to design my webpage, but im torn between two options. My first option is to get a firm to design an entire e-commerce site from the ground up. My second option is to get the webfirm to design an entire website (landing blog page, about , contact, faqs) and if a visitor clicks on the "store" option it would lead to a bigcartel.com store..

Can anyone tell me the drawbacks of using bigcartel? thanks!


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## SystemVoid (Dec 18, 2007)

If you're going to pay someone build a custom site for you, then you should go with your own domain name. BigCartel is good for beginners, but tends to lend a less professional feel to it. Your customers may get the impression that you're not a serious clothing company. Or worse, that you're just another fly-by-night t-shirt company...

I remember reading another post about BigCartel on these boards, which someone (I don't remember whom) used the term "half-baked" to describe what is often the case for stores at BigCartel. 

Simply put, a stand-alone store with your own domain name will give your customers more confidence, and will have them taking you more seriously


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## Alex Starr (Feb 16, 2010)

Good answer... This is exactly why we had our web guys implement a 'store' that keeps visitors on our site and doesn't direct them to an outside url.... 

BigCartel was a thought, but nothing more. We definitely did not want to come across less then legit with the 'store' especially when it comes to trying to lure people in to spend their cash in times like these.


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## phreebee (Nov 18, 2009)

I wasn't planning on using bigcartel for the entire site. I was thinking something along the lines like furfaceboy.com. Like I'll have my own domain but when they click on the store it will go to bigcartel but still keep the same theme as the landing site .. Thoughts??


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## wormil (Jan 7, 2008)

SystemVoid said:


> Simply put, a stand-alone store with your own domain name will give your customers more confidence, and will have them taking you more seriously


You can use your own domain name with Big Cartel. 

This isn't my site, just something I snagged real quick from their examples page.
Turn Nocturnal — Home


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## airborneranger (Apr 28, 2008)

It's a good starter for $9.99 per month - and yes, you can use your own domain or customize the code as required to fit your look/feel. I've been using them for about 3 months with no issues under a custom domain:

AirborneRanger Designs — Welcome to the Shop

It's worth the try and at least it lets you get something out there (even if its temp).


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

Disadvantages:
You have to use paypal, and only paypal, for payments.
Most of their sites look alike. (but your web designer can help out with that)
Relying on an outside party to stay in business for your livelihood.

Advantages:
Easy to implement
Inexpensive


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## BrandedBaron (Jan 5, 2009)

I like having the bigcartel site, but I use my own domain name for my store. I personally dislike seeing companies and seeing blahblahshirts.bigcartel.com. THAT to me looks unprofessional. I definitely think you can create a clean looking professional site using a bigcartel site. It's also how you present your shirts. One drawback is I would like to have control of what shirts can be bought with the discount code, instead of having everything. 
But back to the topic, there are designers that are worth speaking to that can customize your site and make it look good. My site may not be the best, but I feel it's clean and looks good. Branded Baron — Home Don't get me wrong eventually I feel I will have to break away from the site, but currently I don't think I have to.


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## EddieM (Jun 29, 2009)

I would make my own blog site it is not hard and then use Ecwid: E-Commerce Widgets to place the cart into your blog site. You only copy and paste the code in and it works.

Looking at the furface you could make that design look in a hour or two not much to that design.

If you use Ecwid: E-Commerce Widgets you would not have the customer jump to another website window that opens up and this cart offers a lot more features it looks like.


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## Hatter & Company (Jan 10, 2010)

We also use bigcartel. We have a custom layout and we are using our own domain name. If you get a good layout and use your own domain name, it can be tough to tell that you are actually using bigcartel. Good luck!


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## GCharb (Jun 12, 2009)

Hello all!

Also building my own store at the momment.

Simple, to the point design using a shopping cart I build myself, easy stuff for a coder like myself.

I personaly would not go with a third party cart, I would feel like I am not in control of my business, also harder to get exactlly what you want.

Took me 2 days to code the whole thing for Payal with returning code for my database and such, actually not that hard.

If you plan on selling through Paypal, which is fine btw, you can get tons of copy and paste code on their developer site to get you started for free.

Gilles


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