# eCommerce website selling t-shirt



## DatraInc (Jun 17, 2012)

Please give me advice on a reliable eCommerce web designer and which program best suite for t-shirt.


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## Fieldrep (Jun 17, 2012)

I might be able to help you with a design. word press, php, open cart are a few i have personally used.

Will


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## printingray (Apr 4, 2012)

If you want to make your online store, or online business a brand please search a developing company and ask them the quote of a e-commerce website related to the t shirts. See some previous examples of them as well.


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## Fisched (Jun 8, 2012)

I've been looking into this as well and I think Volusion seems to offer the best overall solution. Look into it and let me know what you think.

Just a point of referrence, i heavily researched Wordpress and they seem to be a good option as well. But, there seems to be more development needed and upfront costs (to buy all the modules that I want)


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

I just opened a store with 3DCart and it has all the bells and whistles.....


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## treefox2118 (Sep 23, 2010)

Wordpress can do it 100% free (free plugins, free themes, etc).

Our web design team over here put e-commerce websites together for our customers in under a day regularly. If you're good with some basic coding under Wordpress, you can throw one together in a week.

The downside is you won't get all the bells and whistles as a custom coded site can offer, but the difference is $0 versus $10,000.


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## Fisched (Jun 8, 2012)

I agree, Wordpress can probably do it 100% free. But, to get it to the level I want, I'll need to purchase ~$250 worth of add ons (e.g. premium theme, usps api, paypal, etc.). Not to mention that you need to pay $8-$10 a month for hosting. So, for the first year, it will cost ~$370. If one is just trying to see if his/her tshirt designs will sell, the upfront cost is too high.

For Volusion, it's $19 a month (if you have less than 100 products) and you can cancel anytime. No need for additional add-ons (I believe -- except for Google Analytics which is $250 for set-up which is not a necessity for s start-up store) and you get all the bells and whistles. So, Volusion is less riskier if one is just testing out the waters (which is what I am doing  ). Plus, it seems highly scalable if your venture takes off and you end up having 1000 products in your inventory.

I'm an Electrical Engineer by trade so programming is not new to me. Although, I'm used to programming in C++, Matlab, and LabView and not really used with HTML or JavaScript. I still figure it would take me at least 2 weeks to get my shop set-up.

Plus, you won't have to worry about updates and you get 24/7 support. Anyway, that's just my POV and I'm still doing all the research so I'm not 100% final with Volusion... I'm just sharing my info so far.

Can you provide a bit more details why you prefer Wordpress over the other shopping cart software? Just curious to hear your POV. Thanks.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Volusion vs 3dcart. Compare 3dCart with Volusion eCommerce Solution


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## Fisched (Jun 8, 2012)

royster13 said:


> Volusion vs 3dcart. Compare 3dCart with Volusion eCommerce Solution


I haven't really researched 3Dcart yet and it does seems like a better alternative to Volusion, thanks for sharing. I'll look more into it to see if it is a better fit for me -- I'm looking for customer rewards, printing invoice labels directly from the store, etc.

Are you pretty happy with 3Dcart so far? No downtime at all? Thanks.


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## GN (Aug 1, 2011)

What about bigcartel.com? I've seen some nice sites from them.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Too new to tell much.....Only been working on it since Sunday.....


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## Fisched (Jun 8, 2012)

Fisched said:


> I haven't really researched 3Dcart yet and it does seems like a better alternative to Volusion, thanks for sharing. I'll look more into it to see if it is a better fit for me -- I'm looking for customer rewards, printing invoice labels directly from the store, etc.
> 
> Are you pretty happy with 3Dcart so far? No downtime at all? Thanks.


Ok, nevermind. Volusion apparently sucks! Haha. On to the next one. Anybody here happy/unhappy with Magento?

Volusion Review Unbiased User Reviews


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## Fisched (Jun 8, 2012)

royster13 said:


> Too new to tell much.....Only been working on it since Sunday.....


Ok please keep me updated. I'm interested to know how it pans out. Thanks.


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## GN (Aug 1, 2011)

Fisched said:


> Ok, nevermind. Volusion apparently sucks! Haha. On to the next one. Anybody here happy/unhappy with Magento?
> 
> Volusion Review Unbiased User Reviews


I use Magento and it is very powerful. For the most part I am very happy with it. However, there is a learning curve and the newsletter does not work properly unless you go in and recode it. (which I havent done yet and am thinking of just using a different service like Mailchimp) Those are the only 2 downfalls. Everything else is great and professional. 

Ps I use my own server so if you use Magento's Connect server the newsletter may not be an issue.


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## Fisched (Jun 8, 2012)

GN said:


> Ps I use my own server so if you use Magento's Connect server the newsletter may not be an issue.


You mean you use your own home sever or a hosting service like Fatcow, goDaddy, etc? What was you main motivation for not using their servers?


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## GN (Aug 1, 2011)

I use JustHost.com as my server. The main reason I did not use Magento Server was because I purchased my server package about a year before I purchased my cart, otherwise I might have considered Magento's server.


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## TRMMarketing (Nov 22, 2011)

GN said:


> However, there is a learning curve and the newsletter does not work properly unless you go in and recode it.


GN I feel for you on the Magento newsletter. I own a firm that develops and markets e-commerce websites and Magento is our flavor of choice when it comes to robust platforms, but you are absolutely right, there is a learning.

That said, I would never recommend using the built in newsletter functionality, it does not offer near the level of analytical integration necessary to run a proper email campaign. With smaller clients we generally integrate them into either Mailchimp or Constant Contact. Mailchimp just came out with an update to their free Magento extension making this an even better option than before. 
MageMonkey - MailChimp Integration by ebizmarts - Magento Connect

For larger clients we generally look to providers such as ExactTarget. However, their pricing structure is generally cost prohibitive to our smaller clients.

If you have any questions about integrating Mailchimp or any other issues concerning Magento send me a PM.


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## GN (Aug 1, 2011)

TRMMarketing said:


> GN I feel for you on the Magento newsletter. I own a firm that develops and markets e-commerce websites and Magento is our flavor of choice when it comes to robust platforms, but you are absolutely right, there is a learning.
> 
> That said, I would never recommend using the built in newsletter functionality, it does not offer near the level of analytical integration necessary to run a proper email campaign. With smaller clients we generally integrate them into either Mailchimp or Constant Contact. Mailchimp just came out with an update to their free Magento extension making this an even better option than before.
> MageMonkey - MailChimp Integration by ebizmarts - Magento Connect
> ...


Hi TRM.. Your mailbox is full. I have a couple questions.


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## TRMMarketing (Nov 22, 2011)

Sorry, wasn't aware of the message cap, should be all cleared out now.


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## Fisched (Jun 8, 2012)

GN said:


> I use JustHost.com as my server. The main reason I did not use Magento Server was because I purchased my server package about a year before I purchased my cart, otherwise I might have considered Magento's server.


I read through Magento's user guide and it seems very powerful. I think I'm gonna try it out.

Now i just need to figure out how to create my own themes!! 

Thanks for steering me this way


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