May 11, 2006

Selling Online is Easy - You Just Have to Have the Right Tools

The only online selling I've done so far has been with PayPal and CCNow. With both services you don't have to have a merchant account but these services do everything for you, take a cut of the money and then deposit the rest into your bank account. However, if you are selling many products online and want a more professional image it's better to use a more robust ecommerce platform. Small Business Computing recently reviewed a product by Miva Inc.

SBC writes "We've spent a lot of time in the e-commerce arena, we talked to a lot of customers and got a feel of what they were looking for. We found that one of the major focuses is the need for simplicity in the management and creation of a store. But many features in Miva Merchant 5 are never used or are too complicated for some people. Fast Track is a streamlined version, with a simple interface to get online," said James Harrell, vice president and general manager of Miva Small Business Division.

Harrell said Fast Track still has same modular architecture as Merchant 5, so third party developers can still add functionality. Merchants are limited to selling 100 products in five categories with this platform. There is currently no upgrade path for merchants that surpass the 100 product limit, he said, but the company is working on such a solution.

"Miva Merchant 5 is our primary product, with 110,000 installations. But the focus of our small- to medium-sized business development is to provide a full suite for SMBs to monetize their Web businesses," he added.

There are SO many ecommerce tools you can choose from. The best way to choose one is to read (like you are doing now), test and most importantly know what features you think you'll need. Of course, like with many technologies it's hard to know what you'll need as you don't know. But work with your local solution provider for guidance as well.

Wilson Web is a GREAT resource as well.

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