The 5 Easiest E-Commerce Solutions for Non-Techies

Over the last 4-5 years, the barriers to getting a site up and running and actually generating some cash have virtually been eliminated. You don’t need a Web geek to charge you through the nose if you want to sell your wares online.

Today, there’s a ton of quick get-it-up-and-running solutions for non-technical folks looking for a way to get a Web store, as well as more advanced Webofiles to test out a proof of concept.

Sifting through the options and choosing the best one based on specific needs is definitely a chore. To be honest, it is the number one problem I try and solve for my in-laws, neighbors and clients wanting to have a Web site with e-commerce functionality. Here’s a list I’ve compiled. There’s a million of these turn-key Web store solutions out there these days. So, if you’ve run into a few that you’re interested in, or you’ve tried with some success, contact me. I’d love to keep this list up to date. You would be doing me a favor, believe me. It would keep the conversations with the in-laws to a minimum.

Here they are, in a blaze of glory. One item of note – this is definitely an evolving list based on criteria like costs, the time and effort in getting things up and running, and the functionality therein. Also, I’m assuming you want to sell your own specific products, either digital or physical and you’re not wanting so sell from an existing catalog system.

5. Paypal Payments Standard: Bar-none the easiest game in town. However, the out of the box solution for folks that don’t have a merchant account and payment gateway system is severely lacking. It will get you up and running quickly. But, because Payment Standard is so obtrusive to the run-of-the-mill shopper, it will be a big hindrance to sell-through, and probably not give you a true indication of your products demand online.

4. E-Junkie: Simple cut and paste buttons with a slick AJAX cart. the price is right too. Starting at $5 a month, you can get a tremendous amount of flexibility and functionality. All it takes is a simple knowledge of cut and paste and you’re up and running in minutes. Caters mostly to digital products, but I’ve used it for physical products as well. The features E-Junkie has for shipping calculations are great. A tremendous amount of bang for the buck. You get the same amount of functionality with a starter account at 1ShoppingCart but for a fraction of the price.  You need a merchant account/payment gateway for this solution to take advantage of full benefits.

3. Mal’s E-Commerce: Similar to E-Junkie, but without the frills. And, that’s O.K. because it’s free. Come on, people, what do you expect? Cut and paste buttons get you up and running in a jiff. But, the cart is not AJAX like the E-junkie solution. Plus, the options for shipping, email and other pieces are a lot more simplified.

2. Volusion: Got to admit I love this solution. Why? Because it gives you a full end-to-end store with management interfaces, analytics and the ability to scale your operations over time. Not bad for a $20 bill per month.

1. Yahoo Stores: They may be playing catch-up in search, but Yahoo! owns the small biz category with their online store model. Simply no hassles what so ever here. No merchant account set-up, payment gateway, nuthin’. Plus, I’ve personally met a couple of people that are running $15M – $20M businesses using a Yahoo! solution. With no hickups. To get started it will cost you about $50 per month. But, you’ll be on a platform that will scale as your business grows.

In summary, there are a lot of solutions out there, but if you don’t have a lot of time, money or inclination to become a techie, these are great out-of-the-box solutions.

If you would like more information about any of the solutions above, shoot me a line. I’d love to discuss it.