Volusion vs BigCommerce

Hello,

We are in the process of starting a new website for our business www.FlagsExpress.com. It's going to sell the same products but we need to start from scratch because our current website was built a looooong time ago by someone else that had no idea about SEO and it was formed using mostly tables, has terrible link names, etc.
We currently use Quickbooks Retail edition 12.0. Volusion does not work directly with this version however we could hire a 3rd party (like Webgility) to coordinate our accounting system with the shopping cart. I'm still trying to decide between Volusion and BigCommerce as a shopping cart and wanted to know what experiences any of you out there have had with either company.
Also, any other shopping cart suggestions would be very helpful. Thank you for your time.

Hi NikkiD,
I'm in the same boat with my 12 year old hand-written site. Need to start over. I have a friend who's a local developer specializing in Volusion and I was real close to jumping in that direction. I was frankly scared away from them by comments in another thread on this forum. I took a 2 week trial a couple months back and it's great looking software but it's the uptime, service and company in general that made me wary. Some however recommend it as serving them just fine.

I have no experience with BigCommerce but have seen it talked about here. (Search this forum for "BigCommerce" to see comments). It looks very similar in pricing structure to Volusion. No software to buy, host on their servers, and only your own development costs, however much you choose to spend there, in order to go live.

One comment was made in this forum that has stuck with me and it was something like "why anyone would choose a package where you're forced to host with a particular host...". I think that would describe how V & Big are structured (as well as Magento, mentioned here alot). Now maybe they're easier to launch, but I want to think long term so I don't have to retool for awhile.

So I'm looking a little harder at the following:
AbanteCart - php open source hostable anywhere
Avactis - ditto, although they offer to host similar to V & Big
CS-Cart - php based, hostable anywhere. Either free or commercial version
aspdotnetstorefront - hostable anywhere, commercial pkg

aspdotnet has ability in the future to interface with my accounting software so I'm mildly interested, but the cost is driving me toward other solutions. I think that with any of these, I would plan on the help of a local developer to configure and launch. Skinning is going to cost you with any mentioned solution, but you can certainly go simple there to begin with.

I'm writing all this from research only, no hands-on. And BTW I'm an end-user business owner and don't work for/resell any of these.
CW

NikkiD, why not to look at CS-Cart?

CWMurchee, if you have any questions about CS-Cart I will be glad to answer.

Hey Nikki,

If you are comparing BC and Volusion, I would also look at CoreCommerce as well. When I did I found they have all the same features I needed, for a better overall value for my business. Their support is way better than BC and Volusion, especially. I have tried all 3 with different stores I have started, so I can tell you from experience, check out CoreCommerce too.

CSCART,

I am looking into setting up an ecommerce site with roughly 100 items. The store is already live but I need to transition it to something that is actually functional/modern.

I am new to all of this, my concerns.
1) There needs to be separation between retail and wholesale options. Easy to do?
2) Integration with quickbooks. Is this something cs-cart handles or the host?
3) Works fine with merchant account and paypal.
4) Does an open version handle all this or do I need to upgrade to commercial?

Thanks for your help.

CS-Cart - no complaints on the inventory item handling. I didn't go deeper into site options or category options, but I suppose that you can turn on/off the currency and language selector and other site-wide options? Can it be skinned for mobile user?

I like alot about what I see in the Professional Demo: Filters, Site News, Recently Viewed, etc. Maybe that can be had in any cart program but flow seems very natural; all options are always there on screen and you don't feel stuck in a screen. You don't have to go back, back, back to get somewhere.

How are you involved with CS-Cart?
CW

@mybusiness

Start your own thread. What you are doing is called 'thread hijacking'

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NikkiD

Hello,

We are in the process of starting a new website for our business www.FlagsExpress.com. It's going to sell the same products but we need to start from scratch because our current website was built a looooong time ago by someone else that had no idea about SEO and it was formed using mostly tables, has terrible link names, etc.
We currently use Quickbooks Retail edition 12.0. Volusion does not work directly with this version however we could hire a 3rd party (like Webgility) to coordinate our accounting system with the shopping cart. I'm still trying to decide between Volusion and BigCommerce as a shopping cart and wanted to know what experiences any of you out there have had with either company.
Also, any other shopping cart suggestions would be very helpful. Thank you for your time.

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Nikid,

I would like to say if you are comparing both and thinking which one to use i would suggest you a third one which i have used for many of my client sites Magneto earlier one of client was using big commerce but we switch to Magneto and he is more happy then ever before. So i would suggest you using Magneto without looking for any other .:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CWMurchee

CS-Cart - no complaints on the inventory item handling. I didn't go deeper into site options or category options, but I suppose that you can turn on/off the currency and language selector and other site-wide options? Can it be skinned for mobile user?

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Yes, you can disable the currency and language selectors.

As for the mobile skin, we have a special add-on for this - Twigmo (I am not sure if I am allowed to give the links here), you can search for it at our website.

Quote:

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I like alot about what I see in the Professional Demo: Filters, Site News, Recently Viewed, etc. Maybe that can be had in any cart program but flow seems very natural; all options are always there on screen and you don't feel stuck in a screen. You don't have to go back, back, back to get somewhere.

How are you involved with CS-Cart?
CW

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I am glad to hear that you like our product. I am one of CS-Cart employees.

mybusiness,

I have answered your questions here: http://forums.smallbusinesscomputing...9768#post39768

I don't have much experience with Volusion but I have spoken with Bryan at New Dynamx about BigCommerce. The software seems pretty competent for my business and would not require too many customizations. It doesn't hurt to check it out before you make your final decision.