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Overview - Popular Carts - Hosted Carts - Buy Carts - Help?

Shopping Carts Overview: Types of Carts to Choose

There are many different types of shopping carts available for you to use when opening an eCommerce store. Choosing the right cart provider really depends on your needs, budget and the future goals of your eBusiness. Many merchants choose a hosted, managed or leased shopping cart where providers charge a monthly fee to host and manage the shopping cart for you. There are also shopping carts you can purchase, download or get for free, but typically you have to install and host it on a server that you manage yourself. Some cart providers offer both options.

Most Popular eCommerce Shopping Cart Solutions

The shopping carts listed below are considered the most popular out of all current reputable eCommerce shopping cart providers. They are the most downloaded, purchased, leased, hosted or modified cart systems that we know about and we have them all listed here for you to browse through. Depending on your overall needs, one of these shopping carts may the the right fit for your eBusiness.

Hosted, Managed & Leased Shopping Carts

The shopping carts listed below all require a monthly fee and sometimes there can be additional fees such as a percentage of each sale processed. There are typically different package options with varied price points. The cost each month depends on the amount of products you have, number of visitors you expect and any additional features such as marketing or SEO. The benefits of using a hosted cart include easy setup, comes with hosting included, requires little technical ability and includes data backups and security management. The downfalls are higher overall costs plus a percentage of sale, they offer little feature customization or theme modification and can be harder to market or optimize.

Purchased, Downloaded & Free Shopping Carts

The shopping carts listed below typically require installation, setup and a hosting account managed by you. There are plenty of cheap hosting companies that make it easy for you to get server space for your store. The installation and setup process usually requires basic technical knowledge and some general computer program skills. Cost varies, but typically there is an initial fee to setup the store and possibly a small monthly fee for support. There are also basic free carts, although these may not be the best option if you need a cart that is easy to modify, flexible and scalable with your eBusiness. The benefits of using a cart you purchase include cheaper hosting fee, easy customizations or theme modification, cheaper overall costs, more flexible and easier to market within search engines. The downfalls are higher upfront costs, can require basic to advanced technical or programming knowledge and can have more security vulnerabilities.

Need Help Choosing a Shopping Cart Solution?

Choosing the appropriate eCommerce shopping cart is an important step towards opening a successful eBusiness. Shopping around and comparing features for all the different choices can sometimes be an exhaustive, time consuming task that usually requires prior knowledge and minimal researching skills. Web developers typically build a custom cart system or sometimes choose a downloaded shopping cart. Many eCommerce development companies are capable of using an existing software or one that you buy first and bring to them to build. The cart you choose should be flexible and easy to customize or modify to meet the needs of your unique eBusiness. If you already posses basic technical and design skills, or know someone who does, a free cart, downloaded or purchased shopping cart would be the most cost effective choice. Be sure to leave yourself with some kind of support outlet in case you get stuck or break the cart during the setup process. Hosted shopping cart solutions tend to be less hassle in the short term and will usually get you up and running quickly, however the recurring fees can add up fast. No matter which cart system you choose, it's best to consider features, current needs, your customers, budget and future goals before making your final decision and either buy a cart or pay to lease one per month.

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Shopping Cart Feedback, Errors & Updates

If you find any information on this page outdated or in need of an update, please get in touch so we can make the necessary changes to this guide. If you are an owner or founder of one of the shopping carts listed on this page and would like information changed, tweaked or updated we are eager to hear your thoughts, so drop us a message and tell us how we can better describe what you offer. If you know of a shopping cart that should be listed on this page that is currently NOT listed, we would be happy to consider adding it.

If you find misspellings or typos, try to ignore them, but let us know so we can fix those too!