# Sick of bigcommerce, need a new site



## poezoe (Jul 10, 2012)

Hey all,

I am sick of bigcommerce.com, they have been promising new templates since August and are just jerking around their customers.

I want a new website and am not taking the one from bigcommerce with me so I am starting from scratch. I pay $25 a month for hosting and would like to stick around that or lower but am not looking for free or cheap sites.

I have good html skills to fix stuff but don't want to design a site from scratch, I just don't have the time, so I need a place that offers free templates so i can get the base down and tweak it to my liking. 

That all being said, my biggest problem is that I don't want a boxy style website which is 98% of the sites out there. I want something organic where the homepage is a cartoon like drawing that looks like a picture with parts that interact. Something like a tree where you could click on a leave or branch and its the link, but not using FLASH!

Here are some examples:

Motor Club | Free Website Templates

Organic Paper Free CSS XHTML Template | The BEST Free Website Templates


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## GordonM (May 21, 2012)

I'd concentrate on templates that use HTML5 and CSS3 for all the effects, including menus and slider (if you use one). Since most templates are just old (and badly written) HTML, and effects are often done in Flash, it actually narrows down the field quite a bit just to limit the search to HTML5. Do a parametric search and it'll weed out much of the crap.

All the free template sites are more or less the same, and most are offering older technology stuff -- formats using tables, and so on. Their CSS is really arcane, and making alterations is a challenge. If you can find a free template then fine, but I think you might broaden your search a bit and look at some of the lower-cost paid templates, at least the template subscription sites. You pay an annual fee and can download whatever templates you want. These tend to be a little better than the all-free template sites.

The best templates I have are paid for. I've never paid more than $75 for one, but I found the fee was minuscule compared to the time I had to spend fixing up and correcting some free template.


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## KabirC (Aug 29, 2011)

Check out Ecommerce Software, Online Store Builder, Website Store Hosting Solution- Free 30 Day Trial by Shopify., doesn't get much better.


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## cryptkeeper (Apr 26, 2010)

Shopify, they even have a tshirt modual. Hosting included.


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## poezoe (Jul 10, 2012)

Yeah I am testing shopify, I like them but they don't like my ecommerce cart (securenet) so i will have to try and figure something out


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## KabirC (Aug 29, 2011)

poezoe said:


> Yeah I am testing shopify, I like them but they don't like my ecommerce cart (securenet) so i will have to try and figure something out


Why are you using a different ecommerce cart? Shopify has all that built in, unless you are talking about the payment method, in which case I would highly recommend Stripe.


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## poezoe (Jul 10, 2012)

I am dropping bigcommerce and have an merchant account through them that I want to transfer (one of the reasons I am leaving bigcommerce is that they don't support paypal advanced)

However I have had a hell of a time trying to setup paypal advanced through shopify, they want me to create a paypal manager account which costs more $$$ and they need way too much merchant info (like 25 different numbers) 

I was just hoping to switch over easily but it hasn't been easy and i don't have the time to run a business, setup a new website and grovel with them setting up a shopping cart


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## mattybear (Jun 8, 2012)

Use Shopify.

Matt
deadmanvalley.com | Homepage


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## TRMMarketing (Nov 22, 2011)

If you're looking into Shopify, where we recommend customers for go themes is Envato Theme Forest. They are one of the biggest theme marketplaces out there and are run out of Australia. They are very reputable so you don't need to stress how your personal information is handled and if you run into issues with the theme etc they are very good at refunds.

The one thing you want to make sure is you are getting a responsive theme. Responsive themes adjust to fit the content to the size of the display. This will allow you to increase your conversions(sales) for mobile shoppers.

If you have any questions concerning responsive themes or want a free professional opinion before purchasing a theme feel free to shoot me a PM.


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## cryptkeeper (Apr 26, 2010)

TRMMarketing said:


> If you're looking into Shopify, where we recommend customers for go themes is Envato Theme Forest. They are one of the biggest theme marketplaces out there and are run out of Australia. They are very reputable so you don't need to stress how your personal information is handled and if you run into issues with the theme etc they are very good at refunds.
> 
> The one thing you want to make sure is you are getting a responsive theme. Responsive themes adjust to fit the content to the size of the display. This will allow you to increase your conversions(sales) for mobile shoppers.
> 
> If you have any questions concerning responsive themes or want a free professional opinion before purchasing a theme feel free to shoot me a PM.


They sell shopify themes on TF? The more you know!


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## plan b (Feb 21, 2007)

try wordpress with woocommerce


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## evnetwork (Jul 18, 2011)

You either get on a managed solution like bigcommerce/shopify, or you build your own tools with one of the many e-commerce softwares that are out there. There's plenty.
The more popular they are, the easier you will be able to find themes and resources to use with them. 
Costs of the two solutions are obviously different, but they give you also very much different capabilities when managing them.
Some of the e-commerce softwares out there are:



> Magento eCommerce Software and Platform | Magento
> PrestaShop - Start an online store today with PrestaShop's Free Open-source Ecommerce Software
> OpenCart - Open Source Shopping Cart Solution
> Drupal Commerce
> ...


I could go on, but you get the idea.


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## poezoe (Jul 10, 2012)

So far I am staying with bigcommerce, I tried shopify and like it but after entering my SKUs I had to bump up to their premium plan at $60 a month which is way too much money.

I haven't found an alternative yet, I can't do Wordpress, just don't have the time/patience to customize another site and i know HTML pretty good but I am not an advanced user to get my site the way I want it to look.


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## estuffs (Nov 15, 2012)

I think Shopify charges a per transaction fee if I'm not mistaken.


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