Prostores

[scouttech-outfitters]

I was wondering for those that have been using prostores out there how it has been working for them?

I've always used traditional webdevelopers to run sites since long before prostores, but now one of the developers has let the coding in the site become well outdated to the point where it's falling apart. Coding repairs start at $1500 ranging to quotes from $2500-$4500 to have the eccommerce site completley redone. With that said the prostores takes care of the most expensive bit (eccomerce behind the scenes stuff)and is looking pretty appealing right now. I understand that prostores probably might not allow certain freedoms such as running boards such as this one, but with blogs, myspace,etc out available for those purposes that's no longer a concern.

I was also having some difficulty finding out, if I used PayPal as the CC processing company, if I will be able to charge in CAD and if the customer will be able to pay using their CC without having a PayPal account. I was on the phone with Prostores and PayPal yesterday and they both kept giving me the run around saying the other would have the answer, which has me a little nervous about dealing with them

Thanks a bunch in advance for any opinions you can offer on the situation!

Darrell

[whoscloset]

Given your product line I would run screaming from ProStores. Why would you want to pay ANYONE a percentage of your final sale price. Yes, upfront the cost to have a good designer create your website is higher...but in the long run, with the proper SEO and a good reliable host (about $35 per month for the best ones) you can save a fortune.

A well-designed site can be relatively timeless and not require updating, other than entering new product, for years.

[whoscloset]

I should also mention that even if you went with ProStores you would need to have a designer create a unique storefront for you.

If you want to open an off-ebay store that is very basic and requires no real design saavy you should look into some shopping cart software programs like Mal's e-commerce or x-cart. Some are free and others only require a few hundred dollars up-front...NO back-end percentage of sales charges.

[futuretech_liquidations]

The only advantage to using PROSTORES is the ability to take your ads from PROSTORES and upload then to eBaY and vica-versa.

However, PROSTORES does not compute taxes for Canada so you will still have to manually adjust your invoices to get the proper tax calculations done.

Like Monique mentioned, there are other cheaper alternatives if you are just wanting a webstore. You can look into NETFIRMS.COM - they have good prices for complete hosting packages.

We have used them and we are very happy with the service.

Tim @ FTL

[scouttech-outfitters]

Thanks guys

Those tax issues are already a huge hassle on eBay so my website which services primarily Canadian customers would be a nightmare!

I guess the reason I wanted to downgrade to a basic store is due to a few unfortunate and expensive issues with lousy developers such as this last one that let the coding fall so far behind that whole sections of the site would not work

I can find plenty of inexpensive designers, but the problem I seem to have is finding one that can set up and maintain all of the eccommerce background work.

Darrell

[futuretech_liquidations]

Darell, you might want to check with your local University as here in Hamilton I have used the services of a few computer science students to write our own ebay posting application and HTML code generator. Very happy with the development and saved a ton of money compared to the costs of using 3rd party software which is mainly ASPware and you have to pay monthly plus a percentage of your sales.

Cheers,

TIM @ FTL

[scouttech-outfitters]

Thanks Tim,

That's a great idea -- How did you contact them? Did you post an add at the actual university or call the computer sciences division for a reccomendation?

[futuretech_liquidations]

I went to our local University and posted an ad on the bulletin board - but I am sure you can call and inquire with the Computer Science division.

Also, most universities have online bulletin boards/websites you might be able to post a jobs ad.

[scouttech-outfitters]

Sounds great! McMaster/Mohawk are actually closer than Kitchener or Downtown universities so I'll pop in next time I'm down that way

Thanks again

Darrell

[scouttech-outfitters]

Tim -- I forgot to ask, were they able to configure the background eccomerce bits as well? Or just the design?

Thanks

Darrell

[futuretech_liquidations]

Darrell, yes they are capable of doing that too but the costs are more obviously given the experise involved and the amount of work too.

Anyhow, you will save a ton of money eitherway and you will own the code - just make sure you have that clearly defined in your contract that you have them sign.

Cheers,

TIM @ FTL