Introduction Ecwid And Quickbooks

Have you ever Wondered if you’re using the right ecommerce platform for sale online? Can you occasionally stumble upon a new service that’s more functional and cheaper than what you’re using now? Starting a small business is all about keeping your costs low, and finding an ecommerce platform that will help you with half the battle. Unfortunately, when you run a small company website it often becomes tricky once you want to bring on a new ecommerce platform or perhaps just alter your website whatsoever. Read our Ecwid review to find out more about this solution. Ecwid And Quickbooks

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Many solutions Purposefully create a closed system, which is tedious to maneuver away from as soon as you get started. However, with a stage called Ecwid, you do not need to be concerned about it. Actually, the whole goal of the business, which began in 2009, is to quickly and quickly make an internet store system in your existing websites.

You don’t have To create a completely different site. Just implement Ecwid on any platform, CMS or social network (in five minutes) and you’re good to go.

This raised my Attention, since I understand the struggles that come along with attempting to migrate websites, especially when it comes to ecommerce. So, I needed to gather a comprehensive review of this Ecwid system to find out if it is worth the time.

How Many Men and Women Use Ecwid?

It is rather Remarkable what Ecwid has achieved since 2009, with over 1 million merchants getting signed up. What is even more cool is that the Ecwid retailers span over 175 different countries, showing that this isn’t only a platform for most people in the US or Europe. Even companies in developing nations have a chance to get an internet store going, and you don’t even have to squander your prior site if you have one.

The usership Continues to grow, particularly considering Ecwid is currently PCI DSS Level 1 accredited. If you’re not sure what this is, it’s pretty much the gold standard for security in the ecommerce world. You can rest easy knowing you and your customers’ information is safe and protected.

In addition to The overall merchant count, over 20,000 active users are using the Ecwid Shopping Cart for WordPress. The difference between that 20,000 and the 1 million is the simple fact you don’t require a WordPress site in order to implement Ecwid. So, the 20,000 only refers to WordPress users using the plugin.

What’s Ecwid, and how does it work?

Ecwid is a hosted Solution for building an internet shop. Unlike competing products like Shopify, Bigcommerce and Volusion, which allow you to construct a new website with e-commerce functionality, Ecwid is targeted more towards people who currently have a website and simply wish to add an internet store for this.

Much like other E-commerce programs, Ecwid allows you to set up’catalogs’ of all products, and include photos, pricing, weight etc. . each. You can specify shipping rates, accept credit card payments etc — all of the crucial things that you would expect to be able to do with an e-commerce alternative.

However it differs Apart from competing products such as Shopify, Volusion, Squarespace and Bigcommerce since it is not actually designed to let you produce a fully-featured, standalone e-commerce site; instead, it is designed to allow you add an internet store to an existing online presence.

(That said, Ecwid have Recently added some new functionality, known as’Starter Site’, that will allow you create a one-page standalone offering. We’ll chat through this in more depth later on in the review.) Ecwid And Quickbooks

Click Here to sign up to Ecwid now!

The Product operates by providing you a widget that gets put on other websites — hence the title Ecwid: it’s short for’E-commerce Widget’. You get a couple lines of HTML code (the widget) to add to an existing site or social media profile, and your store is displayed wherever you have added this code.

Characteristics

Ecwid makes Strides in the market by catering to companies which don’t want to begin a brand-new website. The primary attribute is that you can choose your old website and immediately integrate the Ecwid system within a couple of minutes.

You can also Mirror the machine onto various other websites if you plan on selling elsewhere on the web. Manage all these sites from one location instead of switching between multiple dashboards.

Another nice Feature is the syncing between multiple devices. Sell on-the-go with your smartphone. This usually means you could go to a tradeshow to generate a few sales and each one of these earnings are reflected onto the back part of your site.

The system is Also designed to integrate nicely with social networks, so you may sell your items on Facebook if needed. 1 part of Ecwid we especially enjoy is the delivery facet. With real-time transport integrations you always know what’s happening with your requests and where they’re being sent to.

What other cool Things are included with Ecwid?

It runs on a super quick frame

It comes with an address book to get customers and customers

The machine has over 43 translations for selling around the planet

You get a Lot of promotional instruments like vouchers, discounts, bulk pricing and much more

Produce your personalized email alerts

Utilize the automatic tax alternative (automatic taxation rates at checkout, tax reporting and filing)

Point-of-sale performance

Thanks To Ecwid’s point-of-sale (POS) performance, you may use your Ecwid shop to market not just online but in physical places too — in shops, market stalls, in concerts and so on.

Together with Ecwid’s POS Performance, irrespective of if or not a customer buys a product in shop, online, in their telephone or through Facebook, everything remains in sync – i.e., the merchant’s catalogue, inventory and client / transaction information.

There is a couple of ways you can take advantage of this attribute: the simplest is likely to use’Paypal Here.’ This involves downloading the Ecwid iOS app from the Apple’s App shop, connecting it to the Paypal Here support, and then taking payments using a mobile card reader (pictured above).

You have two choices when it comes to POS Hardware and Paypal Here: you can either buy a processor and swipe reader (for $24.99) or a processor and also tap reader (for $79.99). Both may be arranged direct from Ecwid.

There’s a few Things worth noting the Paypal Here integration: first, it’s only available to retailers in the US and UK. Secondly, it’s not yet available on Android devices. (On their site, Ecwid say it’ll be available soon — but they’ve been saying that for quite some time now). Ecwid And Quickbooks

If you are located outside The US / UK, or want to work with another mobile device kind, the fantastic news is that Ecwid also works together with all the Vend, Clover, NCR Silver and Square POS systems. These all ease using a wider range of hardware in a physical retail location (full-sized card readers, receipt printers, cash drawers pill racks etc.) and are usable in more nations.

Although you can avail Of the Paypal Here POS choice on most of paid-for plans, you’ll need to be to the priciest’Unlimited’ plan if you would like to avail of a Vend, Clover, NCR Silver or Square admin.

Reactive storefronts

Ecwid Storefronts are responsive, meaning they will display properly across apparatus — desktop, tablet and mobile. In a age where smartphone internet browsing is eclipsing desktop surfing, this is vital.

Free plan

Unlike many similar Goods, Ecwid offers a totally free program.

Granted, it’s a fairly Standard plan, in which features such as discount coupons and service are not available, and it merely lets you sell up to ten products in two categories — but this could really be sufficient for some users, and using it is a good way to try out the system.

But, A key point to note about the free program is the fact that it isn’t great from an SEO standpoint — you need to be on a paid program to make certain that your product pages speak to hunt engines accurately (more on SEO below).

Speech detection

Ecwid is ahead of the Pack in that its storefronts could be mechanically translated into nearly 50 different languages — clients can see your shop in their own language, without you having to worry about creating alternate versions of it. Ecwid provides this performance by discovering visitors’ language automatically based on their browser preferences / IP address.

Competing products like Shopify And Bigcommerce are nevertheless to supply this sort of performance — they force you to rely on third party programs, the creation of numerous shops or Google Translate to supply different language versions of your shop, which can be less than perfect. So a definite win for Ecwid here.

Ecwid and search engine optimisation

Search engine Optimization (search engine optimization ) in Ecwid is a fairly straightforward affair. You can edit the name of your webpage and its own meta description; the relevant fields are pre-populated for you automatically, however you can tweak them to match your SEO objectives.

As far as I can tell But you can’t manually change the URL of a product — you need to make do with the one which Ecwid creates for you. This isn’t ideal because key words in URLs are used by some search engines to categorise content during indexing.

However, The URLs that are automatically generated by Ecwid comprise the name you have given to your product – so if you include some keywords on your product name (not a bad idea anyhow ) your URL will comprise them also. This serves as something of a workaround, but I’d prefer whole control over URLs. Ecwid And Quickbooks

1 area where Ecwid does not perform so Well on the search engine optimization front entails AMP — accelerated mobile pages. As the name suggests, AMP pages load quicker on mobile devices. This motivates people to remain longer on your webpage, thus increasing’dwell time’ –something that’s considered by many SEO experts consider to be rewarded with Google with preferential treatment in search results. Additionally, Google occasionally highlights AMP webpages in carousels in search results, giving AMP articles an extra little boost.

Unfortunately However — and unlike rival products like Bigcommerce or Shopify, you can’t create AMP versions of your products using Ecwid.

Importing and exporting information

Like many competing Goods Ecwid permits you to import and export your data in CSV format.

The Export option allows you to export product information, orders and customers (again, in CSV format) and means that should you feel the need to migrate your shop to a different e-commerce platform, then you should not have any major difficulties doing so.

Using Ecwid with other platforms

Ecwid and WordPress

WordPress doesn’t Provided any e-commerce functionality out of the box, so anybody wanting to sell on the stage will need a third-party alternative like Ecwid. There’s an Ecwid plugin available, so adding an Ecwid shop to your WordPress site is very straightforward — you can get up and running with a couple clicks.

You simply sign up to get an Ecwid account and install the free plugin.

Ecwid and Squarespace

Squarespace comes with Increasingly good e-commerce features, but the number of payment gateway options is very limited — you have to use Stripe or Paypal. (And with Stripe only functions if you’re selling goods from certain countries). The other principal issue with the built-in Squarespace marketing software is they don’t facilitate dropshipping, and full export of merchandise isn’t currently possible.

Integrating Ecwid with Squarespace allows you to bypass these constraints, and adding it into some Squarespace website is quite easy: it’s a simple matter of including a code block to a webpage and pasting some HTML into it.

Ecwid and Wix

As With Squarespace, there is currently no dropshipping option for Wix users, so again Ecwid can provide a fantastic workaround. A dedicated program is provided by Ecwid to allow you integrate the product on a Wix store easily.

Apps and plugins

Ecwid provides a pretty Restricted number integrations with other apps that are well-known. Integrations do exist together with services Mailchimp, Xero and Freshbooks; but to be fair the range of integrations could be more extensive — competing goods like Shopify offer a much broader range of apps. Notable omissions in the Ecwid store comprise Quickbooks and Zendesk, such as (that said, a Quickbooks integration is coming soon).

The Image is better in regards to CMS plugins: these are available for WordPress, Wix and Joomla, enabling to you set up Ecwid on one of these platforms quite easily. Ecwid And Quickbooks

Interface and ease of use

Ecwid’s Interface is rather user friendly. Like many similar online shop builders, you receive a vertical menu on the left that allows you to access key performance, and the place on the right is used to edit or display associated products, website reports and content.

As with any e-commerce tool, you’ll need to Spend a reasonable amount of time getting your head about producing catalogues and product variations, setting up shipping prices etc…but there is nothing that should represent also a lot of a learning curve.

Matters are helped by an ‘onboarding checklist’ that’s supplied to you when you log in for the first time.

If You are stuck nonetheless, you can always get in contact with Ecwid’s support team — more on this later — or, if you’re on a’Business’ or’Unlimited’, you can make the most of the included customization support (you get 2 hours and 12 hours personalization period from Ecwidon these programs ).

Ecwid and GDPR

I am not a Attorney, so please be aware the below observations shouldn’t be interpreted as legal information, but I am going to do my best to spell out some of the major GDPR issues facing Ecwid consumers under.

With the introduction of The EU’s new GDPR laws, there are many legal steps that website owners now need to take to ensure they are adequately protecting EU clients’ and visitors’ privacy. There are severe financial penalties for not doing this (to the point where it is typically a great idea to speak with an attorney about what to do); and even if your business is not based in the EU, then you still need to obey the regulations where any site visits from the EU are concerned.

Based on my Understanding of the key GDPR principles, the principal priorities for potential Ecwid store owners would be to:

· Provide sufficient privacy and cookie notices

· Process and store information safely

· Get explicit consent from those signing up to mailing lists that it is fine to send them e-newsletters

· Provide a way to opt in or revoke permission to use of non-essential cookies on a website (and also to log that approval ).

There doesn’t seem to be Whatever stops you meeting the first three requirements easily enough with Ecwid, though you will need to devote time and possibly money generating adequate notices and crafting information capture forms so they are GDPR compliant.

Where things get Complicated with Ecwid is the fourth requirement — cookie cutter consent. To ensure GDPR compliance, you need to exhibit a cookie banner to your visitors which

· Allows them to choose which cookies they want to conduct BEFORE those cookies are run (i.e., to give’prior consent’)

· Logs their consent to run biscuits Ecwid And Quickbooks

· Enables them to revoke approval at a later point

So for Instance, If you Utilize a Facebook Advertising cookie in combination with your Ecwid shop, you’ll be breaking up GDPR legislation unless you’ve got a banner in place which does all the above.

Now, out of the box at Least there isn’t a means to deal with the cookie approval issue with Ecwid. Nor is there a decent app available from the Ecwid app store (the only alternative on this front that I can find, the’EU cookie banner’, doesn’t appear to provide the essential functionality — even though costing $1.99 a month to use).

It Seems to me that the only option available to Ecwid users is to use a professional product such as CookiePro, which will provide all the necessary functionality to generate cookie approval fully GDPR compliant. Despite being a strong product however, Cookiepro does need quite a lot of configuration and you will need to set quite a great deal of time apart to set it up.

Setup and Layout

I really enjoy The simple fact that you can run a website without paying anything. This makes the installation process that much simpler, because you just have to punch in your email and make a password to go right to the backend interface.

The machine has Wizards for each platform you would like to place your shop on. If you’ve got a WordPress site, just walk through three steps to get up and running. You can also click on options like Facebook and Joomla, based on where you want to market.

The backend Design is flawless, because it walks you through every site creation and integration measure with some nice photos and text. Once you obtain your shop implemented on a website or social page it appears fairly sleek.

The layout Depends upon the subject you have on your site, however as you can see below, it shows photos well and appears clean and simple to navigate. I particularly enjoy the Shopping Bag place, which can be outstanding and easy to find for clients when they wish to checkout.

Although many Websites are going to be mobile friendly, its nice knowing that Ecwid includes a native shopping program for both iOS and Android. Merchants now get a native shopping application for iOS and Android.

This means you Can mange your shop and market on the go, while also providing your customers an opportunity to get products from the mobile interface.

The closing Design item that makes sense to mention is the language tool. Since conducting an internet store generally requires one to attain out to people from all over the planet, you’re bound to stumble upon some customers who’d like to read product pages and other content in their native tongue. Ecwid supports 45 languages, so if a user would like to translate from English into Spanish, that is not a problem at all.

The Ecwid App Economy

Having the Chance to put in software is a sure fire way to scaling up your ecommerce site in a reasonable manner. Ecwid includes a place called the Ecwid App Market. It provides 65 applications, helping merchants extend their shop performance readily. Ecwid And Quickbooks

A Few of the apps Will help you out with rating and reviews, rewards programs, automatic ad tools, analytics, custom layout themes and much more.

SEO and Marketing

Ecwid is a Third party solution to your present site, so you’d typically have to employ additional SEO and advertising tools to really get the word out. Nevertheless, Ecwid supplies quality SEO features to help merchants increase their visibility in Google searches.

Moreover, Google now indexes AJAX sites, so all Ecwid shops are indexed by Google without any excess effort. It gets even better with WordPress websites, since you acquire access to additional SEO plugins and also the default search engine performance on the dashboard.

Managing Your Inventory

The Ecwid Inventory system is as straightforward as they come, because it doesn’t seem to incorporate any of the unnecessary bells and whistles you may find on other ecommerce platforms.

Each step is Clear and concise, so that you can just go in there and type in a product name, price and image then save the product for afterwards. Of course you can always open up the Powerful Options, however they different these for if you’re ready to start ramping up your store.

As an example of the inventory Rich management toolset, you obtain access to things like from stock product monitoring, mobile device inventory management, barcode scanning and more.

Customer Care

Ecwid offers A Chat With Sales feature that is one of my favorite ways to converse with companies. Simply send them a query and you are able to work on something else until they respond.

The Business also Provides a potent support department with FAQs, a knowledge base, email capabilities and a forum.

Overall, the Support outlets include telephone service, online chat service and email support, maintaining the response time short and encourage quality .

In my mind, the Platform has all you could want in terms of support.

Payments and Security

It’s not necessarily Easy to locate an ecommerce platform that doesn’t charge fees, but that is exactly what you get with Ecwid. They never control any kind of trade fee with any of those plans they provide, which makes it desirable for any shop that’s hoping to keep costs down and also to improve margins.

Remember that Ecwid isn’t a payment processor, which means you have to setup something such as PayPal or Stripe to process all the trades that come through your website. It’s pretty easy to implement one of these systems, since Ecwid integrates with over 40 international payment options. However, each of these processors have their particular transaction fees so you need to get ready for these.

It is quite Evident that Ecwid takes safety seriously, because the company is a PCI DSS Level 1 accredited supplier. The company also claims that each trade that includes sensitive data is transferred via a secure HTTPS channel. Ecwid And Quickbooks

Imagine if you Would love to collect both online and offline payments? Maybe you’d prefer a point of sale integration?

Ecwid Integrates together with Square, Clover, Vend POS, iZettle and PayPal card readers, enabling Ecwid to turn your performance into both an offline and online system.

Advantages and disadvantages of using Ecwid

Benefits

· Ecwid represents a very simple way to add e-commerce to some existing website.

· Point-of-sale performance can be obtained, and there are quite a few strategies to implement it.

· The item is cheap by comparison to other solutions.

· It supports multi-language versions of your store.

· The store layouts are responsive.

· Plugins / programs are available for major platforms (like WordPress, Drupal and Wix).

· It allows users of website building products that don’t facilitate dropshipping to begin doing this (i.e., Squarespace, Jimdo, Wix etc.. )

· The’starter website’ option is a good stopgap measure for retailers who need a store fast, but have yet to create a full website to bring the Ecwid widget to.

· The free Ecwid program isn’t time-limited, includes support, and is fairly generous in terms of attributes.

Disadvantages

· The Paypal Here POS system is limited to the US and UK.

· The Paypal This POS process is limited to iOS users.

· Phone support is only available on the more expensive plans.

· There is a limited number of programs / integrations offered from the Ecwid App store.

· You can’t alter merchandise URLs, which is slightly annoying from an SEO point of view.

· You can not create AMP variations of product pages utilizing Ecwid.

· Creating Ecwid GDPR-compliant (with respect to getting cookie consent) seems hard.

· The free version will not allow you to access any of the SEO tools.

Pricing

Ecwid comes With four strategies, one of which is totally free. They market the free plan like crazy, and mention that many different platforms drag you in free trial, where you may finally have to pay.

That is where Ecwid stands out, and you’ll be able to see the other payment plans are fairly affordable.

The Free program Lets you sell 10 products, whereas the Venture program ups that count to 100 goods and you get things like an iPhone management program. The company program goes up to 2500 products for a superb price and you also get live chat service. Priority support comes alongside the Unlimited plan and you can also sell an unlimited number of merchandise.

Ecwid is one of The most economical solutions available on the marketplace. You can see that it’s actually cheaper than a lot of the other platforms we’ve reviewed in the past, so if you’re searching for value, this could be the right plugin for you.

Wrap-up

In short, I’m Starting to believe that Ecwid is one of the greatest ways to market online, provided that you employ the best methods to enhance your sales online as well. Ecwid is a sleek system, with super simple implementation steps, which makes it ideal for your small business crowd. Ecwid And Quickbooks

Click Here to sign up to Ecwid now!