# the right e commerce platform



## darrenharper

hi people im just starting up my own custom t- shirt business, ive bought a domain name, but i would be very gratfull for your help on the best e commerce platform i would need... i live in the uk and need the site to allow the customer to be able to pick a t-shirt size, the shirt colour, the shirt style, the vinyl colour and have a text box for the customer to be able to enter the text that they would like printed on the shirt... once again thanks for your help


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## darrenharper

anything help at all would be helpful....


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## KristineH

If you don't need the customer to see a preview of the shirt, and basic ecommerce platform can do that. If you want the customer to see a preview and be able to move the design around on the tee you'll need to check out inksoft, deconetwork and openshirts (I think that's what it's called) and choose what is best for you.


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## darrenharper

thanks for your help, also im looking for a platform that i would be able to build the shop myself, im good with computers but not html coding, i was thinking of using shopify?? do you know anything about it or recomend it? no i dont need the customer to see a preview by the way... many thanks again.


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## mags1892

If you dont need clients to see a preview than any options are good, I like wordpress with woocommerce, but also joomla and virtuemart, but their are many options. Id also learn a little html just to make landing pages a little decent.


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## Ace of Spades

Take a look at Big Commerce. Very easy to use platform from the old days and they have inexpensive plans. 

Like other have said, pick a platform based on your needs.


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## TRMMarketing

darrenharper said:


> thanks for your help, also im looking for a platform that i would be able to build the shop myself, im good with computers but not html coding, i was thinking of using shopify?? do you know anything about it or recomend it? no i dont need the customer to see a preview by the way... many thanks again.


Looking into BigCommerce, Magento Go, and Shopify. They are all hosted shopping carts so you don't have the issues with hosting or PCI compliance.


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## codyjoe

I second the mention of using WooCommerce on a WordPress site.


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## ChristopherG

TRMMarketing said:


> Looking into BigCommerce, Magento Go, and Shopify. They are all hosted shopping carts so you don't have the issues with hosting or PCI compliance.


I don't know about the others, but I'd stay away from Shopify because on top of the monthly charges they also charge a percentage from your sales. It's an unnecessary cost since there are others out there who don't charge that extra amount.


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## priest

I use oscommerce which I have been using for a few sites I built over the years. The current one I'm working on is for my t-shirt business. Check my signature link.


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## LinuxGeek44

Magento is definitely the dominant eCommerce platform these days. The one issue is that it takes a little more technical know-how than some of the other options. If you go with Magento, you have to choose between the Enterprise Edition or the Community edition, which this article breaks down quite nicely. Is The Magento Enterprise Edition Worth The Cost? | @nexcess

OpenCart or WooCommerce on WordPress will be easier to implement, but if the stores gets large, Magento is definitely where you'll want to be. Hope this helps.


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## darrenharper

yes its helped a lot thanks, think id be at a loss with out this forum keep up the good work folks


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## Zippy Doodah

The best ecommerce solution for a t-shirt store is one with built in customers_ lol_ Seriously, there really is no "1" that is better then the next. The one that works best for you, that you can get customers to come to, will be the best for you. Most all ecommerce based websites do pretty much the same. One of the best open source ecommerce platforms is OpenCart. It's easy to configure and it's scaleable. It can be anything you want it to be. The options work great with any kind of clothing or product that you want to sell and the huge selection of add on modules and themes is endless. If later, you decide that you want have a custom, online design tool (studio) OpenTshirts can't be beat. It's a module that installs into the OpenCart platform very easily and can be used to create designs for just about any kind of product. But, like I said ..you really need to understand how you are going to get customers to your website and then get them to buy. It's not easy. If you build it ..they aren't going to come, until you get them there. If you think you can buy a couple of Gargle Ads, figure on at least $1500.00 a month to see any kind of result ..and don't expect any kind of ROI right away. There are 100's if not 1000s of online t-shirt ecommerce websites that launch every day and most you will never hear about. IMHO, (and it's just that, but from experience) ..you really need to have some kind of customer base, already, before you try and compete online. Ecommerce is not an easy sell, anymore.


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## priest

Zippy Doodah said:


> The best ecommerce solution for a t-shirt store is one with built in customers_ lol_ Seriously, there really is no "1" that is better then the next. The one that works best for you, that you can get customers to come to, will be the best for you. Most all ecommerce based websites do pretty much the same. One of the best open source ecommerce platforms is OpenCart. It's easy to configure and it's scaleable. It can be anything you want it to be. The options work great with any kind of clothing or product that you want to sell and the huge selection of add on modules and themes is endless. If later, you decide that you want have a custom, online design tool (studio) OpenTshirts can't be beat. It's a module that installs into the OpenCart platform very easily and can be used to create designs for just about any kind of product. But, like I said ..you really need to understand how you are going to get customers to your website and then get them to buy. It's not easy. If you build it ..they aren't going to come, until you get them there. If you think you can buy a couple of Gargle Ads, figure on at least $1500.00 a month to see any kind of result ..and don't expect any kind of ROI right away. There are 100's if not 1000s of online t-shirt ecommerce websites that launch every day and most you will never hear about. IMHO, (and it's just that, but from experience) ..you really need to have some kind of customer base, already, before you try and compete online. Ecommerce is not an easy sell, anymore.


You've hit the nail on the head Zippy.


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## jordanpdesign

I 10/10 would recommend BigCartel, it has a lot of features, it's rather cheap for what they give you, the UI is so easy to use, it grows with you, and you can custom theme it! There are a lot more reasons but you get the idea! BC Forever!


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## Fisched

ChristopherG said:


> I don't know about the others, but I'd stay away from Shopify because on top of the monthly charges they also charge a percentage from your sales. It's an unnecessary cost since there are others out there who don't charge that extra amount.


Is the % charge through shopify or is that because of the merchant fee?


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## Fisched

jordanpdesign said:


> I 10/10 would recommend BigCartel, it has a lot of features, it's rather cheap for what they give you, the UI is so easy to use, it grows with you, and you can custom theme it! There are a lot more reasons but you get the idea! BC Forever!


Sorry but I disagree with this. I also use BC and am very happy with it -- it works really well with what we are trying to do. But, with a lot of different options (like the OP mentioned), I think the implementation might be a little more challenging. Just my 2 cents.


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## ChristopherG

Fisched said:


> Is the % charge through shopify or is that because of the merchant fee?


From I what I understood the % is on top of Shopify's monthly fee _and_ your merchant account's charges.


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## jordanpdesign

Fisched said:


> Sorry but I disagree with this. I also use BC and am very happy with it -- it works really well with what we are trying to do. But, with a lot of different options (like the OP mentioned), I think the implementation might be a little more challenging. Just my 2 cents.


Making this happen is very easy if I'm honest. After hacking together a lot of different BC stores because of there lack of developer customisation. I feel BC would be the easiest for BC to use, never mind what the web humans like myself have to do


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## Fisched

ChristopherG said:


> From I what I understood the % is on top of Shopify's monthly fee _and_ your merchant account's charges.


Yeah, that's what i thought too. But,i'm not quite sure if that is accurate. Anyone here using shopify that can verify?


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## ChristopherG

Fisched said:


> Yeah, that's what i thought too. But,i'm not quite sure if that is accurate. Anyone here using shopify that can verify?


Just had a quick look on their site and the percentage varies depending on the package you get. Ie Basic (£20 p/m) is 2%, Professional (£53 p/m) 1%, and Unlimited (£121 p/m) is 0%.


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## Fisched

ChristopherG said:


> Just had a quick look on their site and the percentage varies depending on the package you get. Ie Basic (£20 p/m) is 2%, Professional (£53 p/m) 1%, and Unlimited (£121 p/m) is 0%.


Maybe it's different in the UK. In the US, current Shopify pricing for the Basic Plan is $29/month plus merchant fees (2.9% + $0.30 per transaction -- which is what Paypal charges too). There's no mention of additional % charge aside from the merchant account fees.


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## ChristopherG

Ah, hang on. Early in August they introduced this Shopify Payments scheme in US and Canada where if you choose this for your transactions, your extra fees are waived. Is this what you're talking about?


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## Fisched

ChristopherG said:


> Ah, hang on. Early in August they introduced this Shopify Payments scheme in US and Canada where if you choose this for your transactions, your extra fees are waived. Is this what you're talking about?


Yes. I'm not really sure though since I'm on Big Cartel.


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## DonkeyRags

The most professional looking and full featured ecommerce engine available at this time is going to be Shopify.

I know some will disagree with me and say such-and-such is cheaper or such-and-such has more features. However, I've been in software over 15 years, and pound for pound, the Shopify engine is the absolute best for getting past the distractions and red tape and letting you focus on your product.

P.S.
Yes, I've tried:
BigCommerce (pretty nice features, lacks refinement)
Etsy (awesome for testing your product)
Magento
BigCartel
SquareSpace (really nice, but not quite fully baked)


-William
What Inspires You?


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## ChristopherG

Fisched said:


> Yes. I'm not really sure though since I'm on Big Cartel.


In that case, if you use Shopify Payments as your gateway (for new users it defaults to that) then all you pay is the monthly fee and the transaction fees you said.

By the way, I tried the no-obligation 14-day trial and I must admit I loved it. I think as soon as this payment option becomes available in the UK, I'll move my e-shop there.


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## Fisched

ChristopherG said:


> In that case, if you use Shopify Payments as your gateway (for new users it defaults to that) then all you pay is the monthly fee and the transaction fees you said.
> 
> By the way, I tried the no-obligation 14-day trial and I must admit I loved it. I think as soon as this payment option becomes available in the UK, I'll move my e-shop there.


Good to know. I'll probably stick to Big Cartel for now.. I'm quite happy with it. I do agree that Shopify is better. We'll probably shift to Shopify when we hit the 25 pc limit for Big Cartel's limit (Platinum plan).


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## calhtech

Fisched said:


> Good to know. I'll probably stick to Big Cartel for now.. I'm quite happy with it. I do agree that Shopify is better. We'll probably shift to Shopify when we hit the 25 pc limit for Big Cartel's limit (Platinum plan).


Do you have a URL for your BC store .I recently signed up with them, but have not launched it yet. I'd like to see how yours turned out. Thanks


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## Fisched

calhtech said:


> Do you have a URL for your BC store .I recently signed up with them, but have not launched it yet. I'd like to see how yours turned out. Thanks


Yeah, i've been actually asking for a site review.. just check a few posts down from this one.. hahaha.

Anyway, here it is...

Fische Republic

Let me know if you have any questions and I'll try to help out! Also, let me know what you think of my site 

Btw, did you go to Caltech in Pasadena? Just curious.


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## jonajon

darrenharper said:


> i would be very gratfull for your help on the best e commerce platform i would need...


The quality and appearance of your e-commerce design will have a huge impact on your brand image. 

Honestly, I think that *by far* the best option out there is Squarespace (Build a Website - Squarespace). Squarespace is just emerging and I think they have awesome and simple solutions for e-commerce.

Other valid options are Shopify and Big Cartel. 

Good luck!


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## calhtech

Fisched said:


> Yeah, i've been actually asking for a site review.. just check a few posts down from this one.. hahaha.
> 
> Anyway, here it is...
> 
> Fische Republic
> 
> Let me know if you have any questions and I'll try to help out! Also, let me know what you think of my site
> 
> Btw, did you go to Caltech in Pasadena? Just curious.


No, I lived in Burbank when I was a kid, but that was 45+ years ago. My last name is Calhoun. I started a computer consulting company in 1991 called Calhtech Interprises. I later opened a retail shop and it is called MicroSource. I still have both companies. I have 4 employees at the computer store, and I run the t-shirt side of CalhTech out of my house. I do computer work from 9-4 and t-shirts from 5-midnite 7days a week. That'll take its toll on a 54 year old real quick  I appreciate your help, and I will have a look at your site. Thanks


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## Fisched

calhtech said:


> No, I lived in Burbank when I was a kid, but that was 45+ years ago. My last name is Calhoun. I started a computer consulting company in 1991 called Calhtech Interprises. I later opened a retail shop and it is called MicroSource. I still have both companies. I have 4 employees at the computer store, and I run the t-shirt side of CalhTech out of my house. I do computer work from 9-4 and t-shirts from 5-midnite 7days a week. That'll take its toll on a 54 year old real quick  I appreciate your help, and I will have a look at your site. Thanks


Sounds good. I'm an electrical engineer (semiconductor) by day, aspiring entrepreneur by night. Similar fields.


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## jegz

Wordpress with woocommerce for sure. Very flexible and lots of support. But there is a learning curve in getting the correct look on your website.


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## sailordiver

Has anyone tried Amazon?


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## JacksonMas

I'm currently trying to make my shop with Smoolis. It's new and really cool platform, you should check it out! It has a multilingual function and so far i'm very pleased. It seems amazing that i can build my own shop in my own language without any programming knowledge


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## Posylane

We have four Magento webstores and are in the process of creating a fifth. I think Magento is a great solution - if your sales justify it (or will). I say that because Magento can be customized and made to do about anything. If you need a custom solution, typically there is already a module that is a good starting point, if not bang on.

But, Magento has needs. One is fast hosting. I pay $160 a month for hosting. I could probably pay a lot less if I used a different cart. Opening a new webstore generally costs me about $5-7k between the graphics work and the implantation.

However we are always adding unique features for ourselves, and every time we do, it does not cost much more to implement it across the sites.


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## AndrewLET

The one my MGF business uses is etrader, that's quite a big one in the UK!


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## ilovefashion88

Hi,
Choosing the right e-commerce platform depends on your scale of business. If you haven't a lot of products, and you don't need a lot of website customizations, using hosted platform like Shopify is best and vice versa. I'm using Magento for my clothes store with over 5000 products and it never let me down.


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## jam680132

ecommerce business is growing day by day. so i have a good plug-in for your ecommerce. you can use this for your ecommerce and this is very easy plug-in.


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## Yuvaraj

Vist Magento Go, & Shopify


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## Zippy Doodah

Open Cart is open source and free. It's powerful and can do anything you need it to do with the thousands of extensions that are available. Make it unique with Kuler Themes and you'll have a platform that can do $100,000.00 a month with the right host. When it comes to ecommerce ..Don't spend money where you don't need to.


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## Screen Medics

darrenharper said:


> hi people im just starting up my own custom t- shirt business, ive bought a domain name, but i would be very gratfull for your help on the best e commerce platform i would need... i live in the uk and need the site to allow the customer to be able to pick a t-shirt size, the shirt colour, the shirt style, the vinyl colour and have a text box for the customer to be able to enter the text that they would like printed on the shirt... once again thanks for your help


I have been into Joomla and wordpress for about 5 years, I know a little html and css and have been utilizing those skills with every website I have built except for CAPTIVA. Captiva is a wordpress plugin that includes woocommerce. The website is beautiful and responsive. I added the pluging "Woocommerece variation swatches and photos" the plugin allowed me to have sizes and colors show up without having to select a dropdown. I highly recommend checking out this product. Captiva is $45 and i think the variation plugin was $15. I have not had to do any css or html and I have a very beautiful efficient responsive product.


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## Wilsonss

LinuxGeek44 said:


> Magento is definitely the dominant eCommerce platform these days. The one issue is that it takes a little more technical know-how than some of the other options. If you go with Magento, you have to choose between the Enterprise Edition or the Community edition, which this article breaks down quite nicely. Is The Magento Enterprise Edition Worth The Cost? | @nexcess
> 
> OpenCart or WooCommerce on WordPress will be easier to implement, but if the stores gets large, Magento is definitely where you'll want to be. Hope this helps.


I agree Magento is definitely the dominant eCommerce platform till now


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## Zippy Doodah

Wilsonss said:


> I agree Magento is definitely the dominant eCommerce platform till now


Ok, I know I have been a fan of Open Cart in the past and my Open Cart web site has done well for me. But, I'm in the process of modernizing (updating) one of my web sites and I have over 1000 items with multiple options to add. I can't seem to find a decent bulk product add/edit extension, and the same with the image management. I started looking at Magento and, though, there's no way I'd spend the money for the Enterprise Edition, I'm wondering if the Community Edition would work for me and whether the product and image adding/editing is better and faster than what I have. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks,


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## ejtipi

For platform like Magento or Presta You need very good hosting or VPS. For t-shirt store i recommend LiteCart - small, fast and easy


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## kukonstantinos

This is the site I've been working on for our new product range

BoredSport Clothing

I made this using opencart, which I've found to be the beste-commerce solution so far, there are others with more features an cheaper add-ons, but oencart is vert easy to just get ready on go with.


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## kevinpieter

jordanpdesign said:


> I 10/10 would recommend BigCartel, it has a lot of features, it's rather cheap for what they give you, the UI is so easy to use, it grows with you, and you can custom theme it! There are a lot more reasons but you get the idea! BC Forever!


I would like to recommend Magento is best eCommerce platform. 

Why Magento?

It allows you to update your eCommerce website automatically, which is not available in other e-commerce platforms.
It is simple, quick and versatile, which makes it easy for customers to search and purchase products and services through Magento-powered websites.
Magento offers users with highly interactive shopping experience.
Magento e-commerce platform features a powerful SEO, marketing and catalogue management tools so as to fulfill exclusive business requirements of merchants. 
Contus is a leading Magento development company in USA that offers a wide range of Magento Ecommerce development with assurance of premium quality.


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## David09

I would like suggest wordpress


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## Bugmeister

JosephRegan90 said:


> Opencart 2.0 is the best for e-commerce business,


Why? What sets it above the other options available? Is this assertation opinion based, or backed up with statistics?


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## JosephRegan90

you create all type of option in opencart.. color selection, sizes etc...


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## stevenphillips

darrenharper said:


> hi people im just starting up my own custom t- shirt business, ive bought a domain name, but i would be very gratfull for your help on the best e commerce platform i would need... i live in the uk and need the site to allow the customer to be able to pick a t-shirt size, the shirt colour, the shirt style, the vinyl colour and have a text box for the customer to be able to enter the text that they would like printed on the shirt... once again thanks for your help


Darren, open cart is the best platform to build e-commerce website, if you are looking for a company who can build e-commerce website for you so you can tell me, because i have company who had recently build an e-commerce website for our brand, if you want you can pm me. I'll provide you their contact information so you can contact them easily.


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## splathead

stevenphillips said:


> if you are looking for a company who can build e-commerce website for you so you can tell me, because i have company who had recently build an e-commerce website for our brand, if you want you can pm me. I'll provide you their contact information so you can contact them easily.


If you are making a business offer (acting as a seller of products or services for example), then this post would fall under advertising/self promotion, and isn't permitted per forum rules.

If you are just helping out, from one forum member to another, then you can post the information directly to the thread, so it can help anyone who reads it.


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## stevenphillips

splathead said:


> If you are making a business offer (acting as a seller of products or services for example), then this post would fall under advertising/self promotion, and isn't permitted per forum rules.
> 
> If you are just helping out, from one forum member to another, then you can post the information directly to the thread, so it can help anyone who reads it.


Joe, i am just sharing my experience with other members.


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## splathead

stevenphillips said:


> Joe, i am just sharing my experience with other members.


Then you can post the information directly to the thread, so it can help anyone who reads it.


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## stevenphillips

splathead said:


> Then you can post the information directly to the thread, so it can help anyone who reads it.


If i post the contact information here so it against the forum policy.


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## splathead

stevenphillips said:


> If i post the contact information here so it against the forum policy.


Nope, it's not your company right?. Post it.


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## stevenphillips

splathead said:


> Nope, it's not your company right?. Post it.


Yes its not my company, their company name is Dizomedia they build an e-commerce website for me. If you want to contact them, you can tell me i'll pm you their contact information.


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## splathead

stevenphillips said:


> Yes its not my company, their company name is Dizomedia they build an e-commerce website for me. If you want to contact them, you can tell me i'll pm you their contact information.


Why PM it? Share it here for everyone to benefit. Dizomedia won't mind the extra business.


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## dennx

David09 said:


> I would like suggest wordpress


I'm familiar with wordpress and built my site with wordpress and woocommerce plugin. Home | Red Can Outfitters


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## aldorabancroft

ChristopherG said:


> I don't know about the others, but I'd stay away from Shopify because on top of the monthly charges they also charge a percentage from your sales. It's an unnecessary cost since there are others out there who don't charge that extra amount.



And Magento Go is no longer available but magento is best option. What you say?


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## contusecommerce

As per my point of view Magento is the best eCommerce platform for small & mid size businesses. 

Why is Magento the most preferred E-Commerce Platform?

Magento platform comes packed with loads of user-friendly features.

It allows you to update your eCommerce website automatically, which is not available in other e-commerce platforms.

Magento offers users with highly interactive shopping experience.

Magento e-commerce platform features a powerful SEO, marketing and catalogue management tools so as to fulfill exclusive business requirements of merchants.


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## RichWashington

Magento is the best option for e-commerce store.


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## ejtipi

RichWashington said:


> Magento is the best option for e-commerce store.


Mhm... Yes, and combine-harvester is the best option for mowing grass ^^

Magento is powerfull tool but not for small (<1000 products) t-shirt stores - there are many better solutions.


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## bhaveshk

darrenharper said:


> hi people im just starting up my own custom t- shirt business, ive bought a domain name, but i would be very gratfull for your help on the best e commerce platform i would need... i live in the uk and need the site to allow the customer to be able to pick a t-shirt size, the shirt colour, the shirt style, the vinyl colour and have a text box for the customer to be able to enter the text that they would like printed on the shirt... once again thanks for your help


If you want to start online business, i recommend SoftwareSuggest. They listed on many eCommerce platform for online business with software demo, features, price quotes, comparison and much more.


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