Boost your sales with Web Marketing Today Premium Edition

Feature Comparison of Popular Shopping Cart/Store-Building Programs

by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, E-Commerce Consultant
Web Commerce Today, Issue 51, October 15, 2001

This chart compares some of the leading small business online stores feature by feature: PayPal, CCNow, Americart, Bigstep, ShopSite, Yahoo! Store, Miva Merchant, and MerchandiZer. There are many, many other programs available, but these are some of the best and most popular for use by small to medium businesses.

 

PayPal

CCNow

Americart

Bigstep

ShopSite

Yahoo!
Store

Miva

Merchan-
diZer

Hosting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Type

order form only

order form only

order form only

ASP

merchant's choice of host

ASP

merchant's choice of host

ASP

Site design

PayPal

CCNow

Americart

Bigstep

ShopSite

Yahoo!
Store

Miva

Merchan-
diZer

Page design

-

-

HTML page generator available, pages then uploaded

Different templates or customer HTML design

Different templates or custom HTML design

Different templates or custom design language

Wizards and some templates. Custom design possible

Many templates and styles. Wizard

Product page generation

-

-

-

dynamic

static HTML

static HTML

dynamic

dynamic

Products

PayPal

CCNow

Americart

Bigstep

ShopSite

Yahoo!
Store

Miva

Merchan-
diZer

Product database

-

yes

-

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

Product categories

-

-

-

-

-

yes

yes

yes

Appropriate max number of products

hundreds

hundreds

hundreds

hundreds

thousands

20,000

hundreds of thousands

hundreds of thousands

Product database upload

-

yes

-

with catalog manager option

yes

yes

yes

yes

Product database export

 

not easily

-

-

yes

-

yes

yes

Option handling

-

multiple options at same price

multiple options at different prices

multiple options, same price, require catalog manager option

options with different prices in Pro

multiple options at same price

multiple options at different prices

options with different prices module

Monograms, inscriptions field

-

yes

yes

-

yes

yes

yes

yes

Cross-selling

-

-

-

-

yes

yes, accessories, families

yes

yes

Additional info/pics

-

-

-

-

yes

-

yes

yes

Featured products

-

-

-

-

yes

yes

 

yes

Product indexing

-

-

yes

-

Pro version

yes

yes

yes

Digital products

-

Not allowed

yes, with website

-

-

yes

3rd party licensing module

yes

Shows if in-stock

-

yes

-

can indicate unavailable

Pro version decrements inventory

database or real-time inventory connection

yes, inventory level notification

yes

Pricing

PayPal

CCNow

Americart

Bigstep

ShopSite

Yahoo!
Store

Miva

Merchan-
diZer

Sale pricing

-

-

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

Discounts

-

-

quantity & flat discounts

-

Pro version based on transaction total

quantity pricing

discounts based on transaction total

discounts for groups

Member prices

-

-

flat discount

-

-

-

yes

yes

Taxable/non-taxable

 

-

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

Minimum order option

-

 

yes

-

-

-

both min. quantity and min. price

yes

Order Form

PayPal

CCNow

Americart

Bigstep

ShopSite

Yahoo!
Store

Miva

Merchan-
diZer

Order retrieval

web interface

web interface

secure e-mail

web interface

web interface

web interface

web interface

web interface

Digital Certificate

included

included

included

included

host's or own

included

host's or own

host's or own

Customer registration

Must join
PayPal

-

-

yes

only in TX versions

yes

yes

yes

Taxes

single state

single state

state, VAT, multiple counties

yes

multiple states, VAT, multiple counties

multiple states, VAT

multiple states, VAT, CertiTax plugin

multiple states, VAT, optional DPT tax plugin

Gift wrapping

-

-

yes

 

-

yes

-

yes

Gift message

-

-

-

-

-

yes

-

yes

Coupons

-

-

yes

 

-

yes

3rd party module

yes

Shipping

flat amount or % based on purchase total

flat amount charged per order for US, Canada, Int'l

many options, UPS/FedEx plugins

 

many options

USP, USPS, FedEx, other tables for various methods

many options, UPS plugin, 3rd party FedEx, UPS WorldShip, USPS modules

many options, UPS, USPS, European, and other plugins

Ship to multiple recipients

-

-

-

-

-

yes

-

-

Single-page order form

-

-

option

-

-

-

-

-

Multiple items in a "package" deal with a single order button

-

-

yes

-

-

-

-

-

Custom ordering scripts

-

-

-

-

Pro version

-

3rd party plugins

-

Order faxing

-

-

yes

-

-

yes

-

-

Orders via XML

-

-

-

-

-

yes

-

-

International

PayPal

CCNow

Americart

Bigstep

ShopSite

Yahoo!
Store

Miva

Merchan-
diZer

Order form languages

-

-

partial

-

any single bit lang.

16 lang/country choices

 

any single big language

Currency

US only

US only

any

US only

any currency, 2 display at a time

18 currencies

 

any currency

Payment System

PayPal

CCNow

Americart

Bigstep

ShopSite

Yahoo!
Store

Miva

Merchan-
diZer

Merchant account

not needed
2.9% discount rate

not needed,
8%-9% fee

needed

needed (unless PayPal)
CardService Intl, $24.95/mo., US residents only

needed

needed. Payment Tech, $22.95/MO, US residents only

needed

needed

Payment gateway

included

included

VeriSign, Authorize.net, LinkPoint

included

VeriSign, CyberCash, Authorize.net, ClickPay

included

VeriSign, CyberCash, Authorize.net, LinkPoint, CyberSource, etc.

Authorize.net, VeriSign, Netbanx, and several others

Types of payment

PayPal,
credit card,
bank debit

credit card (Visa, MC, Disc, Amex)

credit card, PayPal, online check

credit card, PayPal

credit card (other options are not real-time)

credit cards (other options are not real-time)

credit cards

credit cards, electronic check, etc.

Marketing

PayPal

CCNow

Americart

Bigstep

ShopSite

Yahoo!
Store

Miva

Merchan-
diZer

Search engine registration

-

-

-

yes

-

yes

-

yes

E-Mail customer list

-

-

-

yes

-

yes

 

yes

Affiliate program

-

Allows 3rd party affiliate program code

Allows 3rd party affiliate programs, basic program included

 

Pro version

no, but works with CJ.com

yes, built-in and 3rd party programs

optional module

Site statistics

-

-

-

crude

crude

excellent

good

good

Gift register

-

-

-

-

-

-

 

optional module

Accounting

PayPal

CCNow

Americart

Bigstep

ShopSite

Yahoo!
Store

Miva

Merchan-
diZer

Data export

tab-delimited, Quicken, QuickBooks

 

-

-

tab-delimited

Excel, Access, CSV, M.O.M., Quicken, QuickBooks, PC Charge, XML

flatfile, QuickBooks

CSV, QuickBooks

Vendor management

-

 -

-

-

-

-

-

optional vendor interface

Order management

PayPal

CCNow

Americart

Bigstep

ShopSite

Yahoo!
Store

Miva

Merchan-
diZer

E-mail upon shipping

-

-

-

-

TX versions

yes

yes

yes

Customer tracking interface

-

-

-

-

TX versions

yes

yes

yes

Order management

-

fair

3rd party StoneEdge Order Manager

fair

3rd party StoneEdge Order Manager

good

good

good

B2B Features

 

 

Some

 

Pro TX version

 

yes,
3rd party modules

yes,
optional modules

Vendor Management

 

 

 

 

 

 

yes,
3rd party modules

yes,
optional modules

Fees

PayPal

CCNow

Americart

Bigstep

ShopSite

Yahoo!
Store

Miva

Merchan-
diZer

Licensing fee

-

-

-

-

$495 Manager, $1295 Pro

-

 Purchased thru resellers

-

Set-up fee

-

-

-

-

varies with host

-

varies with host

$149 to $500

Monthly fee

-

-

$249/yr

$44.90 to $74.90

host

hosting $49.95

host

$95 to $500

Gateway fee

-

-

varies

-

varies

-

varies

varies

Merchant acct fees

-

-

varies

CardService Intl. 24.95/MO.

varies

optional Paymentech
22.95/MO.

varies

varies

Discount rate

2.9% on sales

8-9% on sales

varies

 2.35%
20¢ transaction fee plus 15¢/day

varies

2.32%
20¢ transaction fee

varies

varies

Misc fees

-

-

-

 

 

0.5% transaction fee, 10¢ item insertion per month, 3.5% revenue share on Yahoo! Shopping sales

-

various optional modules

Miscellaneous

PayPal

CCNow

Americart

Bigstep

ShopSite

Yahoo!
Store

Miva

Merchan-
diZer

Mass pay feature

yes

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Auction interfaces

yes

yes

-

Auction Manager

-

yes (Yahoo only)

-

-

Customer rating

-

-

-

-

-

yes

-

-

Forms-to-email program

 -

 -

yes

contact us page

-

contact form

contact form

contact form


Other articles from this issue

AddThis Social Bookmark Button
Three free e-books Subscribe to our free e-mail newsletter — Web Marketing Today®, published to 108,000+ confirmed opt-in subscribers worldwide. Just to encourage you to take this step, I'm including three free e-books that you can download and read: The Web Marketing Checklist: 32 Ways to Promote Your Website, 12 Website Design Decisions Your Business Will Need to Make, and Making & Marketing E-Books, each worth $12 -- just for subscribing. No catch.RSS feed
First Last
E-mail
Country (2-letter abbreviation)
Preferred Format Plain text
HTML

We respect your privacy and never sell or rent our subscriber lists. Subscribing will not result in more spam! I guarantee it!


Brand new ebook: How to Write an Ad that Clicks. Buy just one or both bundled for big savings.