Ecwid is an e-commerce platform that focuses on selling your goods on as many marketplaces as possible. The service allows you to create an online storefront and embed it on other platforms via plug-ins. Though some competing services chase big budget companies, Ecwid remains an affordable, two-plan ecommerce platform below the industry’s starting price of $ 29 per month. Ecwid’s limitations put it behind our Editors’ Choice Picks, Shopify, and Wix Stores, but it’s a decent option if you’re just starting your small business or just selling a few products.
Ecwids shopping cart packages
Ecwid offers four ecommerce plans: Free, Venture, Business, and Unlimited. In fact, it’s one of the few ecommerce services we’ve reviewed that offers a free tier. Ecwid’s free plan gives you a free online store; Facebook, Google, Pinterest and Snapchat advertising; and the ability to sell only 10 products. Shift4Shop, on the other hand, has a robust free tier that doesn’t impose any restrictions on your products (other than requiring you to use the payment system).
The $ 15 per month venture plan is the next step. It has a capacity of 100 products, a mobile point-of-sale system, the integration of Instagram and Facebook stores, gift cards, discount coupons and the ability to sell digital goods. The business plan (USD 35 per month) supports a spacious 2,500 products, offers personal support for setting up the shop and has many additional shop features such as product filters, notifications of abandoned carts, wholesale prices, planned orders and chat / phone support. This plan allows you to list products on major marketplaces like Amazon and eBay.
The Unlimited plan costs $ 99 per month and completely removes inventory restrictions. It also adds priority support. Ecwid’s top tier is relatively cheap when compared to its top tier services – they generally cost around $ 299 per month. Plus, any Ecwid plan lets you hook up your store to WordPress or website builders like Squarespace, Weebly, and Wix. They also lack transaction fees, storage and monthly data transfer restrictions.
Create an Ecwid online store
Starting a business on Ecwid is easy. First, you’ll create an account and password, then enter your business name, address, and the types of products you sell. If you already have a website, Ecwid can act as an add-on service; If you don’t, Ecwid will give you a generic sub-domain name (think storename.ecwid.site) that will act as your Instant Site page.
The Ecwid control panel has almost everything you need to manage your store. It has a list of tips to help you set up your website, create products, optimize your shipping settings, and set up payment options. Ecwid allows you to add blocks for headers, product presentations, or contact information, but no more images or video blocks. Ecwid’s Instant Site Website Builder is a quick way to publish pages, but you shouldn’t expect the rich set of features found in the equivalent products from GoDaddy Websites + Marketing, Shopify, and Wix Stores. Please note that users using the older version of Ecwid will have access to more than 70’s designs.
You can add new products by visiting the catalog section of the dashboard. There you can name products, add pictures and change prices. Shipping prices are automatically retrieved from USPS, UPS, and FedEx. Ecwid lets you use many payment systems, including Stripe, Square, and PayPal. Ecwid has helpful educational materials, including tutorials and knowledge base articles, and an active user forum. This is important as live human support is only available to the higher levels of Ecwid. The control panel is simple and clear. It feels like you’re working in a normal software application; there are no hidden menus or strange navigation logic. If you’ve used WordPress or any other blogging platform you will understand the admin user interface.
You can see everywhere that your shop is embedded in the Sales Channels section. Sell ​​on WordPress? There is a plug-in. Wix? There is an app. For Squarespace or other website builders, you can just add Ecwid’s store integration code. The flexibility to set up your shop once and sell anywhere is a great feature. Ecwid offers mobile apps for Android and iOS, as well as offline point of sale (POS) options with Square and Clover.
Ecwid integrates with existing websites, so it doesn’t offer the expected features like blogs or email marketing software. If you need these features, you’ll need to install and manage them separately. Unfortunately, Ecwid only supports a few hundred third-party integrations; Shopify supports thousands.
Ecwid lets you checkout customers without creating a profile and save delivery addresses for future orders. We like the fact that Ecwid’s storefront can be translated into different languages ​​based on the buyer’s localization settings. The best thing about Ecwid? The pages are optimized for every screen and device you use. Our storefront looked great on both desktop and mobile.
Payment systems
Authorize.Net, ePay, First Data Merchant Services, PayPal and Stripe are just five of 30 payment gateways that are compatible with Ecwid. There’s even a crypto.com option if that’s your thing. If you’re using a supported payment gateway, follow the setup instructions to create an account and link your bank account. The articles in the knowledge database offer assistance in getting started with payment transactions.
Ecwid partners with Square and the physical Square Reader for in-person sales. This is a nice feature that we don’t see often in shopping cart software. Editors’ Choice Shopify also handles in-person and online transactions. You can accept bank transfers, cash on delivery, and phone orders (which Volusion also supports), as well as checks and money orders.
Limited customer service
Ecwid offers phone- and chat-based customer support – if you’re on the Business or Unlimited plan. The free tiers lack live support (you’ll need to visit the aforementioned user forums and help pages), while the Venture tier supports web chat but no phone assistance. We’re not fans of this tiered support. In addition, you can only receive a callback after a request via chat. In short, Ecwid’s customer service is unnecessarily limited. On the other hand, phone support is available 24 hours a day, but only Monday through Friday.
Lite features but easy to use
Ecwid isn’t the most feature-rich ecommerce service we’ve tested. It has a barebones website builder, limited product inventory with low-end plans, and tier-based phone support. That said, Ecwid has a valued free tier that can get your store online quickly without spending a dime, and generally cheaper premium plans than competing services. Still, we recommend our Editors’ Choice Picks, Shopify and Wix Stores, online retailers looking to grow their business.
For more information on ecommerce, see Building an Ecommerce Website: 8 Technical Things You Must Know and How to Protect Your Ecommerce Website.
Juan Martinez contributed to this review.
