Yahoo Stores vs. MonsterCommerce???

[chelseaandco]

Opinion time: Which one is better a Yahoo Store or a MonsterCommerce one?

Pros and cons?

I need to find a new host for my site that has grown too big for CityMax and I'm stumped.

Help!
Michele

[chelseaandco]

Help...please...somebody...

Ok, I still don't know what to do. I've wasted so much money on bad solutions the last couple of years I'm afraid that I'll make a huge mistake.

Has anyone used 3Dcart.com? Any input on them? I'm concerned about SEO primarily.

Thanks all,
Michele

[incrediblehelp]

I haven't used either one. I know at least with Yahoo you can "SEO" the website to a point. My friend was using Monster Commerce 1-2 years ago and you couldn't even change titles tags for each page, yikes.

Have you looked at OS Commerce?

[chelseaandco]

Incrediblehelp,
Thank you so much for helping me out. I did look as OsCommerce, but I'm looking for a total solution, similar to Yahoo stores, where hosting and a site builder is included and you pay a monthly fee for everything.

This is stand alone software right? Am I correct in thinking that I would need to have a website designed and then add OsCommerce to it, and then find a web host?

Thanks,
Michele

[chelseaandco]

Incrediblehelp,
Oh, I forgot to ask something. I'm now looking into Volusion and 3Dcart.com.

Have you ever had experience with either of those, or heard any feedback about them?

Thanks,
Michele

[CarolineBogart3]

Hi chelseaandco,

I don't think you need to narrow your choices to those 2 shopping carts. Last time I looked yahoo took a bite of every sale. Monster, I think, is part of network solutions now. shudder.

What you should pick depends on your expertise and budget.

OsCommerce right out of the box is a good choice. If you were willing to go with yahoo or monster commerce I think oscommerce is a better choice.

I've also done a few virtuemart stores. That's a component to Joomla CMS. I'm on the fence whether I like that or oscommerce better.

If you're going to customize the project maybe you could share more about the store's goals?

[incrediblehelp]

Originally Posted by chelseaandco

Oh, I forgot to ask something. I'm now looking into Volusion and 3Dcart.com.

No I have not, sorry.

I agree with CarolineBogart3, laying out some goals and what exactly you want the website/webstore/hosting to do is the best way to match up to the "all-in-one" product you need.

[ryanfritz]

I really enjoy MonsterCommerce...

ryan
www.irongorilla.com

[jcisar]

Originally Posted by chelseaandco

Help...please...somebody...

Ok, I still don't know what to do. I've wasted so much money on bad solutions the last couple of years I'm afraid that I'll make a huge mistake.

Has anyone used 3Dcart.com? Any input on them? I'm concerned about SEO primarily.

Thanks all,
Michele

Chealsea&CO,
You wrote how you are primarily concerned with SEO. If this is a primary concern for you, I would not recommend a Yahoo Store. In terms of site SEO, storefronts hosted on such "turnkey" sites like Cafepress or Yahoo Stores attribute more to the credit of the provider rather than to the hosted storefront. In all my experience, I've never seen a all-in one, turnkey store perform at the top of the SERPs.

[ryanfritz]

Monster at least has some SEO fields and such included with their software. They at least take it into consideration. Certainly better than Yahoo...but I only have experience with Monster Commerce. I do however get me site such as chandelierparts.com in the top search engine results for many chandelier terms like, of course "chandelier parts"

[jester]

I wouldn't rule out some like vectorcraft either. They are a small out fit but are working on some great features for both users and managment of your content. Fine grain seo control with superior product and contennt management i promise you its worth looking to.

Check out their eCommerce solution. An example site is Bath Accessory Store

[jungledsales]

After a lot of research of osCommerce vs. Yahoo vs. Joomla vs. volusion vs. anything else on the market, we have found that Americommerce is the best website management tool and top of the industry for SEO. Yes, it's a bit pricy but it will put you ahead of your competitors. Plus, their customer service is as good as any. They will even design and program a whole site for you for a reasonable price.

I have watched all their videos, interviewed existing users, and signed up for the demo and I like everything I see. Even if I have something that needs to be customized, they will do it for me. Probably the biggest benefit is that I can use the same "warehouse" for as many websites as I want. And since I already have a few sites and am currently developing a couple more, this was the feature that attracted us the most.

My 2 cents.

[jestep]

Take a look at http://www.applepiecart.com/

I have heard very good things about them as far as SEO is concerned. It isn't the cheapest out there, but it does offer the all-in-one package you are looking for.

[chelseaandco]

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Everyone!

I have been looking at all these other options and appreciate the feedback you've all given me.

I do have another question, though. Alot of these differt webstore/cart solutions seem to offer the same things, such as Volusion, 3Dcart, Applepie cart, etc.

How does one decide?

By the way, I've decided against MonsterCommerce or a Yahoo Store.

Thanks,
Michele

[ryanfritz]

I found it impossible to decide if youre comparing apples to apples of each and every cart. Eventually you have to simply pick which cart you think will fit best. Thats the problem we find is that we want to "try" other carts but there is time and a learning curve involved with each one. Why did you decide against monster? Only curious as we happen to be using it...maybe theres something I need to know about Monster!!

[DrTandem1]

I don't know anything about MonsterCommerce, but I have experienced Yahoo Stores and I would avoid them.

If you just want a shopping cart to integrate with your site, SquirrelCart appears to be an inexpensive solution.

[Mekchoudi]

Hello Chelsea,
Have you looked into Actinic? I have been using it for 2 years, a very well optimised products. It is computer based so you do not pay fees to anyone apart from your web hosting company.
Regards, Nicolas

[Coinman]

We proccess a couple of thousand orders a month thru Monster commerce. They offer a very good product but may not be the best for SEO. We are in a very competitive field and have mixed results with SEO with them. We actually left Yahoo stores for monster a fews ago when they started taking a cut of the sales. I believe they stopped that practice though.

[CarolineBogart3]

Re: my VirtueMart mention. I'd say don't go with that. I don't like the SEO aspect.

To your question, how does one decide? Based on what you've done with your current store, I'm guessing the following are important to you:

SEO: good keyword url's, lots of human and search relevant content spots and site map generation. I modified VirtueMart to display the product names in the title tag. Creating these title tags was a huge boon to the Google results. See if you can find or hire this feature as it was a powerful move. And Yahoo still reads meta tags so make sure you have control over these.

Products: Unless you are spreadsheet-phobic you'd do well to export your current inventory to a CSV file and upload it to the new store. I don't know your skill level here, you also might either hire someone to do this or input the products by hand. The better the cart's import intelligence the less work/money you need to spend.

For marketing reasons I think you want a mass mailer or an ability to capture customer emails. All you want here is an HTML email tool attached to the store or an ability to dump the store emails to an opt-in list management tool. A built in opt in management tool is better.

Web Design - what's up with the current design? Do you want to keep it? If so you need a template based solution. If you're happy with pre-made templates that don't necessarily promote your brand then any store will have that.

Modifications - does your store do any processing that a typical shopping cart package doesn't have? If you plan to modify the software on a budget go with a PHP-based store. Microsoft/ASP.Net programmers are more expensive (I know, I do both PHP and ASP.Net).

Hosting - {{blatant self-interest warning}} you might want an all in one hosting/ecommerce package, or you might need to make template and behavior modifications to your shopping cart before you go live.... In other words, you might do well to find a programmer to support your initial setup and then do the backups, hosting and maintenance as part of the monthly fee.

Where is the basket/cart on the page - do you have a preference for where the basket is positioned within the user experience? In my opinion it should be on the right side of every page, but there are other opinions (put something in the basket and then show the user the basket). So look at this feature according to how you shop. Maybe you could ask your current customers what they like or dislike about their ecommerce experiences.

User experience -- play with the shopping cart software demos, pretend you're a customer. How do you feel about navigation and information? Are you likely to abandon the cart? If you are so is your customer. Find a cart that works with you, not against you.

Payment, Shipping, Taxes - how comfortable are you setting up the cart's payment options? Can you flip a switch to enter your authorize.net transaction ID? Do you want real time UPS prices? Will you ever have a complicated tax zone problem you'll want to solve? Play with the admin area of the demo carts to get a feel for these solutions.

Wholesale pricing - do you have one price for everyone, or do you need any special features for different customer types?

hth,
Caroline

[Design Dog]

Oh boy. Where do I start? and how do I say this in the least words?

I'll try. Let me just say this.

As you can probably tell by now, deciding on a cart, as well as other issues like web design, marketing issues, SEO, etc., etc., is at minimum a part-time job.

To try to keep it simple - A website solution is in some sorts almost like a car. Like many people, or unlike many people, whatever the case, you might do what your doing now, go around to dealers, get pricing, kick the tires and spend some time doing research for the best decision/buy at the time.
One of the main deciding factors is your budget. Plain and simple.

When you go looking each car is different. It comes with different features. A different engine (the cart and/or system core that drives it), the interior, all manual, all electric, cool guages, bigger tires, good gas mileage, but maybe comes in crappy colors. All of these attributes, both good and bad, come with it. And, of course, there is pricing. So, of course, you want the best bang for your buck in your price range.

Like mentioned before in order to determine that decision making - it's best to put your realistic goals and requirements into perspective. That way, you can then seriously look at the available cars and effectively make a decision based on it's plus minus attributes, whether you need a station wagon, and then call it a day - so you can decide on other things like getting the sports upgrade or cd player.

What's my whole point?? Good question.
In short, if you are like most small businesses upgrading is a vital step (especially if your getting boxed in - prelude to my whole point), BUT and there's a big butt - chances are you have a budget. So, therefore, as you sort of mentioned before, you DON'T have the money OR time to put into something - NOT get what you ultimately want or need, lose that money and time spent and have to REDO it again.

So what's your Point?? huh?? Oh yeah. Right. sorry. So if you only have so much time and money then this is what you need to consider:
1. Remember - Go into this knowing that what you hope to do is get a solution. Money out = viable working solution (for example a cart / site that handles the bandwidth, order flow transactions, editability, and above all - makes you money.)
2. Know your considerations / goals and needs for the site. (Do you plan on doing heavy advertising and anticipate heavy traffic? Is security a main issue? Tranaction fees? How much can I spend? What's my audience?)
2. Just like a car, you might want to go with a name brand in your case like a Honda or Toyota. Something I can get that is not uncommon, anyone can work on it, I can get parts, and something I can drive around a lot and put some miles on it. So, for example, I would consider VirtueMart or OSCommerce. It's low cost, proven, you can get parts for it, someone can work on it and you can drive it for a while. There are others in the main stream to consider - Zen Cart, AgoraCart, whatever. Stay within the mainstream is my 5 cents. You can depart from the path, but you better seriously have a good reason why, meaning one seriously good attribute you need specificly for your store. Otherwise, it doesn't make sense. Why would I get an old BMW if I want to drive around a lot, don't have any other money to fix it up and don't have spare parts. Why would that make sense? (which by the way I love old BMW's but that's not the point.)

Which brings me back to the other part of my whole point. Here's the key. If your going to own and drive a car - Your gonna need a good mechanic! Sounds simple and stupid. But it's so true. Now problem is, sometimes like with your car, FINDING a good mechanic isn't always and easy as it seems. Oh sure, there's one on every corner - BUT seriously a good one - I mean a really good one - that's a different story. Oh. and I forgot. What you REALLY need is an HONEST mechanic. Yep. That's right. But just like with cars. If you find an honest mechanic your half-way there and sleeping better at night. If I get a off-breed custom cart solution (a ferarri,) You'd better have the cell phone number to a damn good ferrari mechanic. What you'd drive it around without a good mechanic for that? No. Not me. I'd drive it around looking for a good mechanic maybe. On top of that it helps if you find someone who knows something about marketing, can handle hosting and number of different other issues. Because it's not just the software package that runs itself and determines your fate, it's the mechanic that knows how to change out the fuel lines and put ties on the hoses to prevent problems from happening right before you take it for a drive to Vegas even though you didn't ask and they didn't charge you for the labor. Get my drift?
(which by the way, a all-inclusive package like Yahoo or Monster (which ain't all that inclusive by the way) just won't do that for ya.) But you will spend some time on the phone though. Which brings me FINALLY uP To the Point That you Lead INTO in the First Place:

What do I do - LEASE or OWN???
:-)
Still trying to keep it simple here.
You see. Just like a car I guess - what your talking about and no body has mentioned yet... is. You have been talking about Apples and Oranges.
One set is Yahoo and Monster, which are both all-inclusive software "SERVICES"
YOU DONT OWN THEM. YOU LEASE THEIR SERVICE under THEIR TERMS and CONDITIONS and maybe not even that, I would have to look, you just own the CONTENT.
Although there is nothing wrong with that. Because in CERTAIN situations DEPENDING on your REQUIREMENTS - THATS ACTUALLY A BETTER WAY TO GO. It serves its purpose. Nothing bad against it. BUT YOU BETTER CONSIDER IT BEFORE going in. I dont own Google's GMail I just use it.
VERSUS -
The flip set to that is OWNING your OWN STORE. Meaning nobody really owns exclusively the software (BUT THE CUSTOMIZATION YOU DO - See above about mechanic) BUT you do MAINTAIN, RUN and MANAGE your own copy of your own software on your server.

For me its easy. If your a small business. Your making money. Your on a budget. You need to take your company to the next level. You need to retain a strong online presence and that business is so important that your willing to "risk" managing it yourself, then you need your own Website on your own managed server running your own system. Flat out.
Note that there is nothing wrong with Monster or Yahoo other than the above mentioned and they're are major benefits in choosing them. This is especially true if you dont need major customization, are o.k. with there "service" package, need something up fast, and only expecting certain volume or just plain down-right dont want to deal with it, then a service like Yahoo or Monster might just be better. But if your a small business your in retail, you have future plans to be in business online, you can handle the responsibility, and you need control over things like who you choose to process your payments and what you pay then you need a sole solution.

SO. AFTER all that. Short version is You might want to consider a main popular low-cost cart solution (Virtue, OSCommerce, ZenCart, etc.) running on your own owned server space, budget for that and factor in money to customize it.

And let me point this one last thing out. Just like with you new car - It's just not going to have everything. Well, maybe. But what I mean is it's a package. What your ultimately hoping for is to get the closest you can with all that you want with all of the benefits and stay the farthest away from all the bad things or drawbacks and above all - Try at best not to box yourself into a situation, an incompatible corner, or something you cant use anymore. Time and Time I have heard stories about the horror project that started the money spent and bottom-line of no end solution or any better off after months of frustration and getting ripped off. All aside though, If you spell out your plans, requirements and budget then finding a "solution" get's narrowed down fairly quickly. And if you find the right person that "knows" what I am talking about 'here' and can implement it, then you are good to go.

Bottom-line: Given the fact that you want to maintain and keep your branding, work on or with SEO, have control over your online business, be able to fix problems, find a solution that will work for at least the next 2-3 years, handle volume, (important) Have room to grow, be stable, and make you money back from your ROI, then stay with something proven, server-side and get a good mechanic. Get AT MINIMUM medium rate hosting with decent bandwidth at a good rate. Doesnt have to cost you an arm and leg. Just beware there are a lot of bad hosting companies. Middle rate or above. Email if you want suggestions.

Oh and by the way, I can work on it and be that good mechanic for you, even though I get busy these days, only - I happen to know Caroline - - and honestly, shes a better mechanic than me. Don't let her fool you. (she's good. I'd send my Mother over there with her '87 Oldsmobile if I had to, shes that good.)

Good luck :-) Still confused?? Not to worry, sometimes it even boggles me. Back to work.

[CarolineBogart3]

Simon I love you man.

To your point. The lease/own issue is a great analogy.

cb

[chelseaandco]

Hi Everyone,
Happy New Year!

I wanted to thank everyone for the helpful comments you've all left. I really do appreciate it.

I finally made my final decision and went with neither Yahoo Stores or Monster Commerce. I've chosen Volusion.com. It costs around the same per month as Yahoo Stores or Monster Commerce, yet they're not taking a percentage of my sales.

I've already gotten most of the transfer over to my new Volusion site done, and it has gone very smoothly.

So far...I'm very happy with what I see...

Michele

[xenu]

I guess it was very good that you asked that question, then. Probably saved yourself a bundle. Let us know how Volusion.com works for you!

[Jeff_AH]

Hi Chelsea,

We went through the same dilema back in June, we was with Monstercommerce for 2 years before we decided to move, HUGE MOVE TOO. We went with volusion and researched every single cart out there for months. We have had great success with Volusion and looking forward to there growing technology.

Jeff
Aquatic Hobby Aquarium Supply

[CarolineBogart3]

how's the setup with Volusion - i.e., was it a huge move in part because setup was hard, or it was just a large store ...?

[florence]

I really enjoy MonsterCommerce...






[mod edit by jt: please use profile for sig links -- 3 max]

[isharli]

I use Volusion and the setup is not too bad. They offer some standard templates and some quick setup features. I have found that their support staff is really strong. They typically respond the same day. I have used them for 2 years and have been very pleased.

[patrickkidda]

Not Yahoo Stores. Have you thought about channel feed distribution?

Marketworks works in this manner, although I canpeak to the optimization.

OS - yes

[Design Dog]

I think outsourced cart solutions are great.

Just like anything else in the web development world they serve a purpose.

If your a complete start up or extremely small with little or no budget and you can opt in, and I say that because you might want to look at some of the contract verbage sometime, then they are great to get an ecom website hooked up and running for low start up.

The other good thing is that "they seem" be sort of a set up and worry free solution, which again, if your just a small store, that's true.

However, you have a business online, and you find someone who truly knows what they are doing at a reasonable price, and you're serious about doing business online, and your business is making money already or does some volume - I still say the way to go is to ultimately "retain" ownership of your own store by setting up your own store space. Self-developed. Even VirtueMart and OSCommerce are free and have come along way, which, in the long run, will keep you in proper business positioning.
By the time you transfer, revise, invest more time, and develop, you still end up doing it on someone elses terms with their system software.

I clearly see the benefits, and they keep getting better. and maybe I am missing something, but when it comes placing part ownership, I'll stick with complete ownership and on the worst-case scenario, go with something open source.

Anyway. On that unwanted note.
I am truly glad to see your sites looking great, really. Looks like it worked out for you - good ecom site.
Thanks for sharing, and keep us posted as to how the solution is working out for you. I'm happy to discover new solutions. Maybe I can learn something here I hope and share it with a client or two.

Simon Ayriss
Design Dog
www.designdog.net

[jjrs79]

Originally Posted by florence

I really enjoy MonsterCommerce...

If you like MC then you really need to take a look at 3dcart, Admin Panel works very similar but the price is better and your pages are HTML instead of ASP.

After trying a couple hosted solutions I would really narrow it down to Monstercommerce, 3dcart and Volusion.

[imsickofwebpro]

Go OScommerce or ZenCart.... tons of free templates to manipulate... and tons of online assistance...

[imsickofwebpro]

I posted this, but one of the admins may hav ereplaced it...

continuing from OScommerce/ZenCart....

If your looking for a large Ecommerce site with an easier Admin system than ZenCart/OScommerce, Adcorr - Business Services and Application Experts builds a pretty good system that i've seen a few HotTub sites.

[skincareguy]

Hi Michelle:

I have a monster hosted site, a volusion hosted site, and a small ct based isp hosted site. The thing I have found is that there are no perfect solution out there unless you are willing to build a custom solution. Very few sites really do enough volume (orders) to justify a custom solution, so that leaves us with deciding on what is closest to what we need. IMHO you made the right choice. Volusion seems to have a good handle on the static page generator, site map generator, and product custimization. Where Volusion starts to fall short is when you get a decent volume of orders. Order processing is much slower than other carts, but I guess this is a mixed blessing problem I have another e-com site in development and will likely drop it on Volusion because they have a 30 day cancellation notice so once I ramp it up I can find a better admin cart.

Best of luck to you.

Richard

[pixma85]

We have monstercommerce and works great, seo is bad though but they have a new version coming up shortly.

[kmlawn]

Hi Michele,
Now that you have been using Volusion for a while, what do you think?

Our current cart recently changed their pricing plan and now the cheapest plan they offer is double what we are currently paying. I am in the middle of the two week Volusion trial, and need to make a decision soon on a new cart; For the new price of our current cart, Volusion seems to have a lot more features.

Just when I thought we had found the perfect solution with Volusion, I discovered a lot of negative feedback regarding bandwith overage charges (due to crawlers?) and site down time, have you experienced any of this?

I am also concerned with the way they count every product option as an independent inventory item, meaning that one art print offered in three sizes and with or without a paint texture option would actually count as 6 separate products. I thought we could go with the 1000 product plan, but with the way they count each option combination as a new item, we will likely be well over 1000, as we have a lot of products with options (special order items). Or, we will just have to offer less options to our customers, which we would rather not do.

My primary concern is budget, meaning I'd like to know how much it will actually cost per month, and if we go with the unlimited products plan, we don't want to be surprised with additional bandwidth fees that occurred due to crawlers and not actual site visitors.

Any feedback you can supply would be very helpful and most appreciated! Thank you --

Kim

[cw1865]

Hey Kim,

I can say this, AN OPTION DOES NOT COUNT AS A PRODUCT!

I use volusion over quite a few websites now and they are all successful. If you are starting out with a new site and go with the Bronze plan, after you start getting traffic, you will start going over the limits for bandwidth, but the bandwidth charges are not that bad. Once you get to that point, you're going to be looking to upgrade the plan to get more products to sell even more, so really I wouldn't worry about it.

[kmlawn]

CW, Thanks for the info...

OK, I think I understand how they do it now...I went to your site, found your Deluxe Mini IPOD Case, offered in 5 colors -- I added 2 different ones to the cart and see that they both have the same sku at checkout. I am still learning the system, but can I assume you are not using the inventory tracking feature for this product's options?

So, I guess that for special orders which I don't inventory, it can count as one product with options, but anything for which I want to track inventory that has options, a new ID# will be given for each option combination and that each of these becomes a separate product. So, if I understand correctly, your IPod case, though shown on your site as one item, would count as 5 -- but only IF you keep inventory on it in the system. Does that sound correct to you?

I think I will take your suggestion and start small, then add on when/if I need to.

Thanks again --

Kim

[cw1865]

By inventory, I think you mean that the system could theoretically track what you have left in stock and if it hits zero, it wouldn't permit the sale of the item. You are correct, I do not use this feature. I don't see why that would count as additional products for purposes of the volusion database however.

If you have product X, each with 5 options that you are stocking 10 deep, that would not count as 50 products.

If that were the case, you'd be done with 4 different skus, if you hapened to have a little over 50 in stock.

Volusion offers a 14 day free trial. Sign up for it and then over the weekend build a small website just to make sure that you will lilke the functionality, build categories, get some text into the site, export data, change data in the .csv file and then reimport it.

I think on the trial version you are permitted to have up to 100 products, so put 100 products in with two different options, tracking the inventory, see if it triggers limits in the system (it won't)

[DianaRSWD]

I looked into Monster some time back... things may have changed since I investigated, but I found the platform to be a bit more difficult than Yahoo!'s. It is possible that I am just more used to Yahoo! though. Personally I prefer Yahoo! because you have a lot of SEO features - especially with the new v3 stores. Many other carts I have worked on are not setup for SEO at all.

I also found that Monster had only one set of keywords to cover you for every page of the site... (again... that may have changed) The initial set up for a Yahoo! Store will allow you to have unique keywords, titles and descriptions for each page of your site which is really nice. You can also have an RTML programmer add some advanced coding that will automatically decide the META tags for you... which is really nice for stores that have hundreds/thousands of products and doing META tags for every page can take some time. It's a nice go-between while you fine tune.

[Shades]

I have 3dcart. Works great for setting up and editing. I'm not good with html either so it's a big help to have the cart fully integrated the way it is. Maybe you should look at what sites have what carts there using and see overall what you like better "visually" first.

[chrisbarney]

Yahoo is nice but not worth it, if you take the time with other software it will pay off big time at the end

[johnxuster]

I agree with CarolineBogart3, laying out some goals and what exactly you want the website/webstore/hosting to do is the best way to match up to the "all-in-one" product like laptopbattery you need.

[chelseaandco]

Hi All,
Sorry, haven't been on here for a long time. I just wanted to let everyone know that now that I've been with Volusion for about a year and a half now, I'm convinced I chose the right website solution. I really like just about everything with Volusion and it is VERY seo friendly. Volusion is a bit pricier than some of the other options out there, but it pays for itself with the increased traffic it has brought.

[confettiguru]

Originally Posted by incrediblehelp

I haven't used either one. I know at least with Yahoo you can "SEO" the website to a point. My friend was using Monster Commerce 1-2 years ago and you couldn't even change titles tags for each page, yikes.

Have you looked at OS Commerce?

I disagree. I've been using Monster Commerce Pro for 3 years. I rank number 1 in Google for my most important search terms, both single word and long tail. It's easy to edit title tags and pretty much anything else SEO. We tried Yahoo and didn't get the support we needed during setup. We cancelled during our first 30 days and moved to Monster. Mine is an ecommerce site that has been online for 11 years. The URL is in my signature if you want to see what we do with title tags.
If you have any questions I'm happy to help. I don't work for Monster but am a fan.

[CS-Cart]

Michele, thank you for sharing your experience with us. May I know if you've developed some custom features - what do you think of Volusion in terms of customizability?

[Katt]

I still have a cart on the old v4 of monstercommerce and have refused to upgrade to the network solutions v7 (I don't know what happened to v5 and v6??). Netsol has some serious issues that I was concerned about two years ago when they bought out MC and they still haven't addressed most of these problems. I probably won't ever move from v4 unless they force me to, and then I'll be looking for another company. I'd be interested in hearing how flexible Volusion is and does it integrate well with quickbooks?

[loversuper]

If you're in California, Yahoo Stores may give better customer service because they're forced to by california law. If you're outside california, that doesn't help of course...

[textbox]

We have moved clients from both Yahoo and Monster. I think Yahoo was overall a better cart. It may be worthwhile to look into a cart that you can own rather than paying to rent your store from month to month.

[WhitneySegura]

Yeah, I agree you definitely should not go with a Yahoo store, I tried them for my first eCommerce store and was extremely disappointed. I ended up moving carts within 5 months of the start up. If you find a really good one, "the best", I would like to check it out if you would let me know. Thanks

[X-Cart]

Originally Posted by WhitneySegura

Yeah, I agree you definitely should not go with a Yahoo store, I tried them for my first eCommerce store and was extremely disappointed. I ended up moving carts within 5 months of the start up. If you find a really good one, "the best", I would like to check it out if you would let me know. Thanks

I am afraid there is no the best shopping cart on the market. Each company would find some software that would meet its needs the most.

As for Yahoo ecommerce solution - since it is hosted one, I would say its main disadvantages would be lack of access to the software code itself. Also, i have heard negative feedback about support service provided by Yahoo.