# right E-commerce platform for t-shirts, hosted vs open source



## paata01 (Aug 31, 2013)

Hi all, 
Need help. I am currently working on website and don't know which platform to choose. I made decision between HOSTED VS OPEN SOURCE. 
hosted is already optimized and should be better. which one is the best. 
SHOPIFY? BigCommerce? BigCartel? Magento Go? OpenCart?

I want to transfer CSV from ETSY. for t-shirts with preview option, which one is the best, I checked magento go they have limit on SKU's, probably will not look at it. about Shopify heard that they charge a lot of fees on everything. Let's say what those guys use:
icecreamtees.com
Very Funny T-Shirts For Sale, Crazy and Cool Tees! - RoadKill
and so on. Thanks


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## Butterback (May 16, 2014)

Hi,

You should look into PrestaShop, it's free with no limitations on products. PrestaShop powers over 185,000 stores worldwide. The newest version 1.6 has been met with rave reviews. PrestaShop Review , 
PrestaShop 1.6 Adds Improved Business Intelligence, Other Features » Practical Ecommerce

It's free, feature rich with a low learning curve. To get a better idea of what PrestaShop is, PrestaShop: Ecommerce Software to create your Online Store 

Is there anything specific you are looking for other than having CSV import and preview option.


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## Tshirt Terrorist (Aug 24, 2008)

I searched for ecomm platforms, came across this thread - also looking for info on ecomm platforms for my website redesign: T-shirts - Cool, Funny, South African Originals by Tshirt Terrorist 

I've been against cookie cutter sites and my first site is originally scripted, but the costs for this are really high.

I came across Prestashop yesterday and it looks awesome, but the support is costly (if you're dealing in SA Rands). 

Quick questions:

What are Wordpress Divii and Woocommerce?
Which ecommerce platforms have the best support (I'm not a developer)?

Thanks!


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## Tshirt Terrorist (Aug 24, 2008)

apologies... meant to say "What about Wordpress..."


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## Tshirt Terrorist (Aug 24, 2008)

Is this like a promotional thread for PrestaShop? I'm looking for other sites... I've already seen PrestaShop and yes, it is nice, but one doesn't base one's decision solely on a single option. 

Magento
Shopify
WordPress
PrestaShop 

BigCartel?
BigCommerce? 

These are new to me - thanks! 

Any others? 

Which platforms offer the best/ cheapest support? 
Which platforms deliver the most reliable checkout service?

Apologies for all the questions, and thanking in advance for all the answers


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## aimagedesign (Sep 2, 2009)

Wordpress is a great platform. But you're pretty much on your own. Though there's lots of 'free' support. But that takes time. 
You could turn to a service like fiver or freelancer. But after the fact maintenance of the site is upto you. 
Woocommerce is great. But they update often. And often that creates conflicts with the plugins you maybe using.

Look through the forum, you will see the experiences are all over the place. Ultimately it comes down to costs and your time.


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## Posylane (Mar 3, 2011)

Magento GO is shutting down in 2015.


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## PatriS (Dec 25, 2014)

And I would point out Shopify. I started with Basic pricing plan ($29) which for my small store was absolutely enough. Why I recommend it is its ease of use and catchy layouts. It doesn’t limit adding products and offers cool SEO options. Yees, and 24/7 support, in addition. 
Before, I used Big Cartel that offers lots of customization features, but I didn’t find it really convenient and hesitated to change . After consultation on forums and reading pages of artlces like this (Big Cartel vs Shopify ? Running Online Business with Pleasure), I made a decision to leave Big Cartel. I don’t regret


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