Comparison of Popular Stores

Amazon.com
zShops

Yahoo!
Store

Lycos
Stores

iCat Web Store

ShopSite
Manager SC
standalone

Maximum Products

3,000

18,000 in largest site

5,000+

1,000+

5,000+ but clumsy. (better on Pro)

Own Domain Name

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

External Product Searches

Yes, on Amazon site

Yes, on Yahoo Shopping

Yes, on Lycos shopping

No

No

Store product search engine

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No (only on Pro)

Database Upload

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Graphic upload

Yes

Yes. Automatic thumbnails

Yes

Yes

Yes

Product Display Flexibility

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Product Options such as size, color

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Web Pages

Dynamic

Static

Static

Dynamic

Static

Sale Pricing

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Specials

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Quantity Pricing

No

Automatic

Through options

No

Through options

Cross Selling

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Digital Downloads

No

Yes

No

No

No

Tax Calculation

None

Auto calculation by state from tables. Real-time CGI available

Real-time by Taxware.com

Auto calculation from tables

Customer selects state from drop-down menu. Tables

Shipping Calculation

None. Flat fee or seller pays

Auto calc from price or weight tables, from UPS calculator, or real-time CGI

Auto calc by state from price or weight tables, supports zones

Auto calc by state from price tables

Customer selects type and/or zone. Calc from price or weight tables

Order Tracking by customer and merchant

No

Superior

Superior

No

No

Merchant Order Notification

E-mail

E-mail or fax

E-mail or fax

E-mail or fax

E-mail

Inventory Management

Sort of

No, but displays "availability"

No

Yes

No

Traffic and Sales Reports

No

Superior

Yes

Yes

Yes

Merchant Credit Card Account required

No, but desirable

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Accept Checks Online

No

Yes

Yes

Yes, but no real-time authorization

Payment Gateway

Not needed if using Amazon Payment Sys

Included

Part of Transact platform, included in monthly "rent".

Clear Commerce, but not required

Signio,
CyberCash,
AuthorizeNet, but not required.

Payment Gateway Set-Up Fees

No set-up fees for Amazon Payment Sys

No

No

$300

$150 for Signio

Store Software Purchase

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

$495 ($1295 for Pro)

Initial Set-up Costs

None for listings.
$50 for Pro Merchant Sub. ($10 intro)

None

None

None

$40

Hosting Fees (paid monthly)

Listing fees $0.25 to $2 every 2 weeks ($.10 intro)
OR
Pro Merchant: 0 to 500 prod, $29.99/mo ($9.99 intro); to 3,000 prod, $99.99 ($9.99 intro)

$100/mo up to 50 prod;
$300/mo up to 1000 prod

$99/mo "rent"

$9.95/up to 10 products,
$99.95/mo up to 100 products; $249.95 up to 1000 products

$39.95/mo

Transaction Fees (%)**

Completion Fees: 5% to $25; then 2.5% to $1000; then 1.5%

No

Transaction Fees: 5% to $25; then 2.5% to $1000; then 1.5%

No

None

Transaction fee (fixed)

None

No

Taxware, $.05 per trans.

No

No

Payment Gateway Fees

None. When using Amazon Payment Sys. costs are 4.75% plus 60 cents per transaction

None. Uses First Data Corp (Nashville)

None.

$45/mo
ClearCommerce

$39.95/mo
Signio Payflow Pro