EKM Powershop vs 123-REG

[dave1928]

Hi
Im already using 123-reg which i have found fine, but now i want to start another website but its a little restricted on some parts. EKM looks like is more flexible.

What are peoples opinions of these 2 packages and is EKM better?

Im also thinking how good the SEO features of these packages are.

Thanks

[kaysingh]

To be honest the off the shelf solutions are not aways good enough in projecting your brand and business as a whole. These solutions are always template based and limit you with what you can do.

[quikshop]

To be honest the off the shelf solutions are not aways good enough in projecting your brand and business as a whole. These solutions are always template based and limit you with what you can do.

Try telling that to the shop owners who have collectively processed over £115,000 worth of orders since the start of November on our hosted Ecommerce service (http://www.internetretailer.biz) ;)

[Island Computer Repairs]

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10% Discount with this code: AFW10

This package should be fine to start you here: http://www.ukhost4u.com/basic.html


For an Ecommerce Solution got for Cubecart with SEO Mod Installed :)


I can help you set this up at a great price.

Stores I have done already with cubecart are:

www.dnnsigns.co.uk (http://www.dnnsigns.co.uk)
www.wightcanvas.co.uk (http://www.wightcanvas.co.uk)

Hope this helps

Chris

[kaysingh]

With a bespoke system I'm sure these shop owners would be able to double that figure.

Only talking from experience...

http://www.carrierbagshop.com

http://www.thelightbulbshop.com

[International Business]

try fortune3.com they are good and cheap. thanks

[quikshop]

With a bespoke system I'm sure these shop owners would be able to double that figure.

Maybe even treble their turnover if they skate to work on rollerblades :p

[RJH Enterprises]

As others have said I would move towards a standard hosting package with a dedicated IP and SSL certificate then use open source eccomerce software for your store.

Which software should you use? Up to you, personally my favourites are magento and oscommerce.

Cheers
Rob

[Marlene]

Hi,

I wouldn't go with EKM, as I have a shop with them for a year now, they do not have powerfull resources and blame everyone around when trouble arises (customer cannot get past checkout - customer's fault, customer cannot pay - payment gateway fault). Basically the main problem is that their system is not compatible with Mozilla / Firefox or any other browser using cookies - I have lost many many sales / money because of it, so you better stay away from EKM ;)

www ukbusinessforums co uk/forums/showthread.php?t=85722

[Flying Hippy]

I have been using ekm for 7 months. I find the system ok. But have noticed a few people say orders are dropped I think this is a paypal issue.

I have been recommended to use protx and am looking into this as is meant to go well together.

Dropped orders can also happen at the cart when they see delivery cost your charging as small shops cant afford the same postage as i.e play or amazon

Ekm back end could be better I think they are making improvements but seems to be slow. For the price it seems reasonable.

Tried os commerce before but support is rubbish unless you pay the money which cost more than ekm if something goes wrong.

[gibby]

we 123 reg for domains & they are really good at that.
We did look at the e shop package but not something i would use

we use cubecart and have been through few others, many of them much more expensive and not worth the money

for hosting there are many good firms, we use www.pcs-net.com and they have always been very good with us,
For a small operation they are very cheap and very helpful

If you spend a little time cubecart will do almost anything you want.

I would avoid getting something designed as a one off by a developer as if they go out of business you can be left hanging and others wont touch it

Im just about to go into business with someone who has spent alot of money on 2 sites and both are worthless but cost 5 k each

there are some reall good web developers out there too
G

[movietub]

Try telling that to the shop owners who have collectively processed over £115,000 worth of orders since the start of November on our hosted Ecommerce service (http://www.internetretailer.biz) ;)

I use EKM and manage almost as much in that sort of period. However we are now moving to something much more advanced and expect to more than double turnover within 6 months.

Not sure about quikshop (maybe the name is a clue...?)but EKM are extremely limiting. A good place to start out maybe but if you are considering an upgrade or second project then there are far better hosted solutions. Some which will allow complete and uninhibited design control. I'm with Pearlcart who so far have not refused any of my highly individual requests for something special! I'm writing the CSS from scratch too. It's all completely open source and you can develop it as much as you want. For example we are writing a bespoke search widget which they will incorporate once we are finished. With EKM customisation starts and finishes with tweaking the odd bit of HTML - until you tweak to much and knacker the template you started with for all time...

If you want a list of why EKM or any of their clones will hold you back just ask ;)

[ArmitageShanks]

We were with 123-reg and they were awful; support, adaptability....woeful.

Been with salepack since June, and although £100-£200/month I would say without a shadow of a doubt it's worth it.

[quikshop]

If you want a list of why EKM or any of their clones will hold you back just ask ;)

Not wanting to fly a flag for EKM but it sounds like you have done well using their service and are now ready to move onto a more advanced and adaptive custom Ecommerce solution... if you have benefited from a hosted service why criticise it just because your business has outgrown it?

Surely its horses for courses, if you already turn over 1 million plus a year then an entry level hosted Ecommerce solution which EKM and our own Ecommerce service (http://www.internetretailer.biz) are might be a false economy, but for new or smaller businesses they are ideal.

At the top end of the market you can pay £5000 a month for a hosted service with inclusive fulfillment and call centre, one step away from completely outsourcing your Ecommerce services.

If you are after an effective sales channel for your business then there are hosted solutions out there that can meet any requirement.

[movietub]

Not wanting to fly a flag for EKM but it sounds like you have done well using their service and are now ready to move onto a more advanced and adaptive custom Ecommerce solution... if you have benefited from a hosted service why criticise it just because your business has outgrown it?

Surely its horses for courses, if you already turn over 1 million plus a year then an entry level hosted Ecommerce solution which EKM and our own Ecommerce service (http://www.internetretailer.biz) are might be a false economy, but for new or smaller businesses they are ideal.

At the top end of the market you can pay £5000 a month for a hosted service with inclusive fulfillment and call centre, one step away from completely outsourcing your Ecommerce services.

If you are after an effective sales channel for your business then there are hosted solutions out there that can meet any requirement.

Well surely that was my point?

As I said - EKM was a good starting point, now they 'hold me back'.

Thats not a negative critcism, just an accurate one based upon my experience.

The OP stated this was a second project, so inline with your point above I suggested now was a good time to look into more comprehensive solutions.

EKM is certainly one of the best starting points and I reccomend them on these forums quite often to newbies. In fact if it were not for EKM's glaringly simple interface and low costs I would possibly never have started an online shop! :)

[quikshop]

The OP stated this was a second project, so inline with your point above I suggested now was a good time to look into more comprehensive solutions.

I agree with that, nothing wrong with offering the OP alternatives and especially ones based on your own experiences, but managed solutions do not 'hold back' new projects which was your original point, and as you've proven yourself the reality is quite the opposite.

[boho]

I agree with that, nothing wrong with offering the OP alternatives and especially ones based on your own experiences, but managed solutions do not 'hold back' new projects which was your original point, and as you've proven yourself the reality is quite the opposite.

I would agree with that, a managed solution - incidentally via Quikshops service Internet Retailer (http://www.internetretailer.biz) certainly doesn't hold me back from achieving what I want with the business, in fact its a very flexible service. I am aware from friends who went down the EKM route initially that they found that particular package quite limiting and it didn't grow with their needs. Having looked at their back office functionality I have to say personally I didn't like it and couldn't get on with at all, yes its essentially quite basic, but for me it didn't have anything like as logical a system as the one I'm using.

The advantages of a managed system is that it allows me to get on with my business and not worry about the techie aspects, not that I'm a technophobe - quite the opposite in fact. but I dont want to manage some of the aspects that I would have to if it was an entirely bespoke solution, instead I prefer to have a bespoke, managed option :)

[movietub]

I agree with that, nothing wrong with offering the OP alternatives and especially ones based on your own experiences, but managed solutions do not 'hold back' new projects which was your original point, and as you've proven yourself the reality is quite the opposite.

But that in no way applies to what the OP was asking...

This is not an entirely new venture, they have already used 123 reg and EKM is no less restrictive. If EKM was suitable for the new venture then equally so would 123 reg be. Both fantastically easy but as such both are feature light.

They have started, and now wnat to push things further. Clearly no one who has an online shop already but wants to find a more powerful hosting solution would benefit from EKM. EKM are entry level, everything about their service and website is geared up for new comers to e-commerce.

So my advice was specific to the OP's situation, not a criticism of EKM. I'm not sure why you would think I would be commenting about anything other then the OP's situation!

[boho]

Perhaps the OP could give a bit more info about their current online business with 123 reg and what features they are looking for that can't be achieved with that? Just because this is website number 2, it doesn't mean that there still wouldn't be hosted solutions that would be appropriate to the situation.

It also depends on how technically minded/competent the OP is, working with a custom solution, or going it alone with Open Source software isn't everyones cup of tea, and unless you know what you're doing and are capable of creating a secure site then its probably not an advisable thing for online retail. Afterall would you want to put your card details into a site that had been created by someone who didn't know how to protect those details from hackers?

The advantages of hosted solutions is that there are a great deal of aspects taken care of for you, and the variety of hosted solutions is vast, there are some extremely capable systems out there.

On a direct 123 reg v EKM, I would say that neither is the ideal option, and both are limiting, although in slightly different ways, but whilst EKM is in the ballpark cost wise as solutions such as Open Minded Commerce/Internet Retailer etc its not as flexible or sophisticated as the offering from these guys, plus you're talking a different level of customer service. EKM, unfortunately manned by a whole host of sales people in their customer services department v someone like Internet Retailer who are staffed by people who run/have run online businesses and use the software themselves - giving genuine help and advice, which for me is a case of no contest regarding the service, help & advice I get for the money I pay.

Without more info as to what capabilities are required, what type of businesses we're talking about and what the confidence and skill level is of the OP, we can't really offer a genuinely befitting answer.

[dave1928]

123-REG is more restricted than the likes of EKM due to a few things. 123 reg has very limited payment options which suits my current shop but not the new pet shop as i what to eventually use protx where 123 reg does not have that.
ANother and more important problem with 123 reg is that you cannot insert and move around banners or pictures hardly at all, where as EKM is fully adjustable as far as know.

Ive used 123 reg for my current business and its fine for now.....For my new pet shop i want to start with something more flexable which from what i can see, EKM has lots more on offer.

Im also looking at tigerecommerce which i like the look of a lot so trying to decided between them two now.

Going for a full custom build might be better long term but im not prepared to invest so much money to start with when there are these very good basic packages which get you a website up and runnign for very little cost.

[Red Eye Media]

What are your requirements? We may be able to help.

[AntonyChesworth]

you're talking a different level of customer service. EKM, unfortunately manned by a whole host of sales people in their customer services department v someone like Internet Retailer who are staffed by people who run/have run online businesses and use the software themselves

Well being the person who employs the customer service department here at ekmPowershop I can confirm that no sales people work in our support department.

We are also very keen to ensure we do not run any online shops ourselves nor do any of our staff as it would be a big conflict in interests. We have had alot of customers move over to us from other web designers, ecommerce companies who did run their own shops as there was always that fear that their ideas could be stolen and im afraid to report in some cases it happened.

I think it is good to have your ecommerce provider concentrating on providing you a good service rather than doing it as a side line to their own online shops.

[mattlast005]

EKM is fairly limited but from what I have heard about 123 Reg EKM is far superior than 123 Reg in comparison. As you have noticed people have found success and failures with many different providors and flexibility will naturally vary from system to system. But bad customer service is never exceptable and based upon what someone said earlier in the thread that is what people have been getting from EKM. If you want to have a look at a comparison of several e-commerce providors view this link http://www.tigercommerce.co.uk/ecommerce-software-comparison.

I hope this helps.

[dave1928]

Thanks Mattlast005

Ive actually found tiger commerce few weeks back and they are my fav at the moment in front of EKM. The only thing that makes me think twice is ive heard a lot about ekm, that there good on SEO. Not saying tiger commerce isnt any good, they might even be better?

Ive had a go of the free trail for tiger commerce and was very impressed. The SEO packages seem very exspensive on fisrt viewing though.

Thanks for the comments

[AntonyChesworth]

EKM is fairly limited but from what I have heard about 123 Reg EKM is far superior than 123 Reg in comparison. As you have noticed people have found success and failures with many different providors and flexibility will naturally vary from system to system. But bad customer service is never exceptable and based upon what someone said earlier in the thread that is what people have been getting from EKM.

I would be careful about reading too much into what is said on forums like this as alot of the people on here are not independent and have a hidden agenda.

That's generally why we have stayed away on here as alot of the people posting negative comments about us are actually competitors pretending to be the general public.

[mattlast005]

To Dave,

Thanks and I'm pleased you're looking into the SEO side of things also. So many businesses lose out on this with their online business. For any online business to be a great success you need a trusted and reliable platform, a good online marketing strategy and to work with a company that give great support continuously.

I don't know what EKM and 123 Reg are like in terms of basic SEO. But I just typed EKM into Google and found an interesting thread from another forum about them??? But with any company you deal with get them to give at least 5 examples of SEO that they have done and ring at least 5 of their customers. This is the only way you can truly find out how good they are.

I hope this helps.

[Ali-v-8]

123-REG is more restricted than the likes of EKM due to a few things. 123 reg has very limited payment options which suits my current shop but not the new pet shop as i what to eventually use protx where 123 reg does not have that.
ANother and more important problem with 123 reg is that you cannot insert and move around banners or pictures hardly at all, where as EKM is fully adjustable as far as know.

Ive used 123 reg for my current business and its fine for now.....For my new pet shop i want to start with something more flexable which from what i can see, EKM has lots more on offer.

Im also looking at tigerecommerce which i like the look of a lot so trying to decided between them two now.

Going for a full custom build might be better long term but im not prepared to invest so much money to start with when there are these very good basic packages which get you a website up and runnign for very little cost.

If you want off the shelf then choose EKM powershop.
Most important factor is marketing he products you sell and EKM help a lot.

If you can afford a bespoke website (around £3k+) then that is the best option. Code is open to tinker with and improve the positions.

[silvermusic]

Having been a customer of EKM's for nearly two years with one site I have no problems in recommending them. Only ever needed to phone support once for a minor problem with a new email setup, other than that it works fine for me. I do read ekm's forum every once in a while and have come to the conclusion a lot of problems are from people tinkering with aspects they know nothing about and ending up in a mess that they blame everyone but themselves for.

For what it's worth I am of the opinion they should raise their price for a basic shop to stop a lot of time wasters that want personal dedicated support 24/7. i.e expecting something for nothing, but I guess EKM know their business model far better than I do.

For what it offers at £20 a month it's a steal, I just get the feeling some people expect too much for less than a quid a day. It works for me and works well.

[Ali-v-8]

Having been a customer of EKM's for nearly two years with one site I have no problems in recommending them. Only ever needed to phone support once for a minor problem with a new email setup, other than that it works fine for me. I do read ekm's forum every once in a while and have come to the conclusion a lot of problems are from people tinkering with aspects they know nothing about and ending up in a mess that they blame everyone but themselves for.

For what it's worth I am of the opinion they should raise their price for a basic shop to stop a lot of time wasters that want personal dedicated support 24/7. i.e expecting something for nothing, but I guess EKM know their business model far better than I do.

For what it offers at £20 a month it's a steal, I just get the feeling some people expect too much for less than a quid a day. It works for me and works well.

If you are looking to test the water then this is the best bet,

[iboxsecurity]

EKM powershop have proved to be nothing but trouble for many of my customers having moved many from EKM over to our setup and have a site designed by us with a free ecommerce package and custom template designed for them.

EKM do try and pass the buck a lot and we have had some terrible experience trying to get images and source code off of them.

Dave if you are still looking into solutions try oscommerce or Magento if you are serious about ecommerce (http://www.ibox-security.net/ecommerce/)without going into a fully bespoke solution.

PM me if you wish to discuss more indepth.

[silvermusic]

If you are looking to test the water then this is the best bet,

Depends on what you want I guess, for me on the site I have with them it offers me more than enough features and will do for the foreseeable future, on top of that I've had no problems with reliability either.

[silvermusic]

EKM powershop have proved to be nothing but trouble for many of my customers having moved many from EKM over to our setup and have a site designed by us with a free ecommerce package and custom template designed for them.


I'm not here to stick up for ekm, They're more than capable of doing that themselves. But, as I mentioned earlier a lot of the so called problems are from people tinkering with code they don't understand, I've seen it time and time again on their forums. If these customers are so smart why do they not have local backups of code and images, I do, hardly brain surgury is it?

If you have the expertise, you can customise it no end, I did mine from scratch and am pleased with it. However if you're clueless about HTML and are not capable of understanding thier tags system there's loads of templates available.

[AntonyChesworth]

But with any company you deal with get them to give at least 5 examples of SEO that they have done and ring at least 5 of their customers. This is the only way you can truly find out how good they are.

I totally agree with this, for any ecommerce solution i would recommend that you both speak to the company and ask for some examples of high performing sites and I would also recommened speaking to their customers who are using their service to see what they think.

[quikshop]

I totally agree with this, for any ecommerce solution i would recommend that you both speak to the company and ask for some examples of high performing sites and I would also recommened speaking to their customers who are using their service to see what they think.

I couldn't agree more, the only way to find out about whether any sort of Internet service company is right for you is to talk to existing customers, view/check their portfolio and ask for examples of claims made on their websites such as good natural seo.

Doing the groundwork first especially when you are looking at a long term business relationship with a hosted Ecommerce service (http://www.internetretailer.biz) is essential.

[emerchant]

Well being the person who employs the customer service department here at ekmPowershop I can confirm that no sales people work in our support department.

No but you do seem to have plenty of sales people (http://www.easywebstore.net/ekmpowershop) over there at your place (ekmpowershop (http://www.easywebstore.net/ekmpowershop))

[AntonyChesworth]

No but you do seem to have plenty of sales people over there at your place

Yeah we have a strong sales team as you note on your website.

[sockpuppet]

Yeah we have a strong sales team as you note on your website.

A little bit arrogant Anthony, don't forget you were a small company once like many here, its hard enough work anyways but with people calling your customers and lying about you... ;)

[new2bus]

To be honest the off the shelf solutions are not aways good enough in projecting your brand and business as a whole. These solutions are always template based and limit you with what you can do.

Go for a cart that is not off the shelf then pay someone to design it for you, there are designers on this forum that will not be near £3,000 to give you a really impressive site that will knock the socks of a standard template layout one from an off the shelf company, without the problems of being tied into anything.

I personally use and recommend Zen Cart, but their are others that have mods to do a lot more than some of the off the shelf sites offer, but you would need to have a design done to knock the Zen Cart look from it.

I would recommend sending a PM to a few designers on here and see what they offer in the way of design, because in the long run you will find your money better spent.

[AntonyChesworth]

A little bit arrogant Anthony, don't forget you were a small company once like many here, its hard enough work anyways but with people calling your customers and lying about you... ;)

There was certainly no arrogance intended, think you may have read my post wrongly.

[alphanumeric]

i am independant and for me EKM = big pile of no.

maybe just me but they seem to just make things very difficult, template system is very basic, ok for some one who knows nothing, but as soon as you want to do somthing more complex it becomes very frustraing.

Seemingly no way to have a custom css files or js, it all has to be within the pages.
No easy way to upload template images.
As default everything seems to use tables, and not div's.

If you want to test the water then fine, but chances are if your still about in 12 months you will be out growing the system.

improve the template system
add ftp
or online filemanger with image upload (not some crappy fck editor thing)
better modification of the checkout
and update you code to use divs and ul/li and not tables

and the whole system will be a 100 times better

[AntonyChesworth]

You can use css and table-less designs through our HTML editor. However...

I'm happy to announce that in the next couple of weeks we will be rolling out a new filemanager system that will enable you to bulk upload a variety of files such as css, js, images, etc...

With regards to outgrowing our system, we have litterly thousands of large merchants turning over upwards of 200k per month. Large companies such as lotus cars, itv, PGA golf etc.... All choose ekmpowershop because it does scale and works for small shops and large multinationals alike.

[boho]

Well being the person who employs the customer service department here at ekmPowershop I can confirm that no sales people work in our support department.

We are also very keen to ensure we do not run any online shops ourselves nor do any of our staff as it would be a big conflict in interests. We have had alot of customers move over to us from other web designers, ecommerce companies who did run their own shops as there was always that fear that their ideas could be stolen and im afraid to report in some cases it happened.

I think it is good to have your ecommerce provider concentrating on providing you a good service rather than doing it as a side line to their own online shops.

I'm sorry Anthony but defend your staff as I'm sure you must, having been someone your non existent 'sales team' called who then proceeded to make incorrect claims about EKM - such as being the largest ecommerce provider (which I think in actuality is Actinic) and making wildly inaccurate claims about my host who I've been with for 5 years now I think I'm entitled to reserve some cynicism over EKMs approach.

Whilst you may take the view that having your own online shops whilst providing a ecommerce service is a conflict of interest, as a customer of that service I have no such reservations, the fact of the matter is that I have first hand evidence that the service works and that if the host can run a successful business on it then so can I! Not only that what better people to call for advice than people who have actually got experience of how hard and what work it takes to run an online business, rather than the often found 'fools gold' approach where they tell you what you want to hear or else worse still they simply dont know.

Not everything about selling online is easy, or glossy, its not a get rich scheme, you have to work hard, and having a provider whose honest from the start about having realistic goals and aims and can encourage and empathise is simply far more use at the end of the day.

Very few online retail ideas are unique, its creating a niche within industries that is more often than not where the money is...and providing a damn good service. As an Internet Retailer customer I feel neither threatened or sidelined by the fact that its run by genuine business owners and I have no issues with the service I receive - in fact they are under probably more pressure to maintain standards and service when their own shops depend on the software too!

Perhaps EKM would do better to concentrate its efforts on its own customers and spend less time irritating those of us who are other peoples?

[boho]

You can use css and table-less designs through our HTML editor. However...

I'm happy to announce that in the next couple of weeks we will be rolling out a new filemanager system that will enable you to bulk upload a variety of files such as css, js, images, etc...

With regards to outgrowing our system, we have litterly thousands of large merchants turning over upwards of 200k per month. Large companies such as lotus cars, itv, PGA golf etc.... All choose ekmpowershop because it does scale and works for small shops and large multinationals alike.

The large multinationals such as Lotus have minimal product range http://www.lotuscarswebstore.co.uk/, as does the ITV shop - if this is also EKM? http://www.itvonlineshop.com/ large spending power is not a demonstrating scaleability, scaleability is about being able to carry out complex design, unique customised and tailored service options, coping within anything from 1 product to 1 billion products, image manipulation, barcoding, large numbers of product variations etc etc.

There have been lots of threads over the years on here from people who have found that they've outgrown your service and have not been met with the flexibility to expand.

[boho]

I would be careful about reading too much into what is said on forums like this as alot of the people on here are not independent and have a hidden agenda.

That's generally why we have stayed away on here as alot of the people posting negative comments about us are actually competitors pretending to be the general public.

Where are these competitors pretending to be the general public? I would equally advise people to be careful with information they find on public forums, but a lot of ex-EKM (and ex-other providers) come on here and we can see their websites and the feedback is given directly on what is seen and based on what they are experiencing, unless your suggesting your competitors are buying up shops from you en masse just to come on here and complain - which I find hard to believe?

As with all packages, hosted or otherwise its all horses for courses, what suits one person may not suit the next even if they are trying to do the same thing with it, we're all different, ultimately its up to the provider to offer the most 'bang for the buck' and the means for the user to test it out before committing to anything, then its up to the organisations to constantly assess customer wants and needs and look to adjust its business model and offering to suit that and to stay in touch with what people want, and its up to the end user to put the effort in to get the best out of what there is on offer.

[Prettycool]

We have been with EKM for 4 years now and can only say good things about them, our sale continue to grow month on month, never had down time, customer support very helpfull and knowledgeable and most important, they let you get on with your business without trying to sell you extras like most other ecommerce packages.

[boho]

We have been with EKM for 4 years now and can only say good things about them, our sale continue to grow month on month, never had down time, customer support very helpfull and knowledgeable and most important, they let you get on with your business without trying to sell you extras like most other ecommerce packages.

Nice jewellery :)

I actually think that many of the hosted providers on ukbf offer a pretty comprehensive service and there are loads of us on here using hosted solutions and are happy and content.

I'd dispute that most try to sell you extras though, mine has never tried to sell me anything, it has added value services available like SEO,Adwords, web design, copywriting etc if I want it, but it doesn't try and sell it to me (and I dont count being offered loyalty discounts as thats just good practice, in the same way as I offer my own customers discounts at certain times which they can use to purchase from me it they want).

I am glad that you're getting a good service from EKM - its nice to see a happy customer!

My objections to them come from a mixed background, firstly some as I see it underhand..or at best unprofessional sales conduct attempting (quite badly and unsuccessfully I might add) to persuade me away from my current provider. I view that kind of unwanted intrusion into my life with the same disdain I give the numpties who call me to try to convince me to change phone provider, or gas provider etc etc if I want those services I'm intelligent enough to look for them myself and if I'm happy where I am then there would be absolutely no reason why I would potentially destabilise my business to do it. Its my view that their energies would be better spent looking for brand spanking new customers by good marketing tactics and shaping a marketplace for their services, not trying to poach people from existing providers - I find it a little bit odd that they feel so threatened by providers like easywebstore and Internet Retailer etc that they so publicly go down a route which is likely to cause anger and annoyance from those providers/peers as well as in many cases irritate the very potential customers they are trying to poach. Signs of desperation from organisations puts me off entirely and I've never had the likes of easywebstore, pace, open mind etc do this, so its not like this is the cutthroat world of double glazing where the need for cold calling & hard selling has always been the method of approach.

Secondly as someone that also has a business consultancy and has worked with other small businesses on a variety of projects over the years I have come across a number of unhappy ex-shopkeepers, as well as also coming into contact with ex-shopkeepers who are now on the same hosted platform as me who I regularly chat to. I'm sure that can happen perhaps on many platforms that can be named and because we're all different perhaps the things that suit me on the software I'm on are the same things that suit these individuals and why they were unhappy with their lot in life elsewhere...who knows?

I find the Internet Retailer platform very much fits my needs, its grown with me, and in many instances has grown/expanded because of me and my needs and wants, I'm regularly asked my opinion about what would improve the service and all service improvements and extras have been without additional cost, the support structure and network is great either directly with IR, or via other IR shopkeepers and the shiny new server migration has also brought about increased speed, stability and for me thats all I could ask for.

[Prettycool]

Thanks for your comments Boho, I like your site a lot.

I really can't comment on EKM's sales team as we just fell on them by accident and wasn't aproached by them and I must admit that would turn me against them as well, but you can only speak as you see.

[emerchant]

Yeah we have a strong sales team as you note on your website.

For a start I have been a member here for 2007 I dont post often but when I do I try to help and I am not here to promote a site or service however my relationship with easywebstore (http://www.easywebstore.net)is declared here (http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=105717) and I think your critism of "competitors pretending to be..." is unfounded. If you look around the forum a little you will see all your competitors here posting (exceptionally) helpfull messages unlike yourself.

Whats even funnier is that you yourself appear to be the king of forum spamming (http://groups.google.co.uk/groups/search?hl=en-GB&ie=UTF-8&q=%22Take+a+look+at%22+ekmpowershop+%22Antony+Ches worth%22&btnG=Search&sitesearch=).

[emerchant]

The large multinationals such as Lotus have minimal product range http://www.lotuscarswebstore.co.uk/, as does the ITV shop - if this is also EKM? http://www.itvonlineshop.com/ large spending power is not a demonstrating scaleability, scaleability is about being able to carry out complex design, unique customised and tailored service options, coping within anything from 1 product to 1 billion products, image manipulation, barcoding, large numbers of product variations etc etc.

There have been lots of threads over the years on here from people who have found that they've outgrown your service and have not been met with the flexibility to expand.

I don't think the itv online shop is ekm, it looks like it is using jsp pages and it looks like ekm use classic asp (I might be wrong about this) unless Anthony means a different itv shop? or he just made it up? or unless I am wrong? care to say which one?

Also in Anthonys defence usually he only states that they are the uks biggest "hosted" provider, although his sales people do seem to make any nonsense up they feel like on the spot when on the phone. Also in his defence I think he is only trying to market aggressively and there is nothing wrong with that but if they cross the line in terms of incorrect facts (out right lies maybe?) it does dirty his brand somewhat.

[boho]

Also in Anthonys defence usually he only states that they are the uks biggest "hosted" provider, although his sales people do seem to make any nonsense up they feel like on the spot when on the phone. Also in his defence I think he is only trying to market aggressively and there is nothing wrong with that but if they cross the line in terms of incorrect facts (out right lies maybe?) it does dirty his brand somewhat.

Perhaps the use of "hosted" only came in after I and no doubt others like me told them that in fact they were wrong, the salesperson on the phone even had to go off and check their facts...lol!! I'm not convinced though that its the largest hosted provider either? though I'm happy to stand corrected on that.

I dont think its a product/service that needs marketing agressively, and its very offputting. If they must contact other websites in an attempt to get them to change then I would rather that they emailed, the choice then is clear I can ignore it or investigate it at my leisure - and please that is not an invitation for people to email me, I'm happy with Internet Retailer and not looking to change!

I would have thought their time would be better spent dealing with the newbies coming into the market, attending business fairs etc etc, and not this current sales technique. Oh and to get some politer and more factually correct sales staff would be good, I can smell sales BS a mile off, I dont need the ecommerce equivalent of Safestyle thrust down my throat.

Happy customers, testimonials etc thats what helps sell a brand, a good clean image, helpful advice, perhaps some genuine constructive comments on ukbf and similar, but thats not what I'm seeing so far...

[occasionology]

FACTS: I can only have insults for EKM, so I´d better keep my tongue tied and report the facts. :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

I decided that EKM was too expensive, so I migrated my shop to Merchantmoms (brilliant, great service and friendly staff). I still had a year before I needed to renew my domain, OCCASIONOLOGY, so I said we´ll go through that when the renewal date was due. They did not contact me, Nominet was asking for a silly high fee, so I ASKED EKM TO RENEW WHEN STILL ON TIME, BUT THEY DIDN´T, they simply freed my domain. As an expired one, I totally lost control of it. My domain was lost, all the products, photos, descriptions, prices and long hours I had put into it. Never a sorry, EKM even kept the keys that they were being sent and made even more difficult for me to get my shop and name back.

TERRIBLE SERVICE, completely useless, they simply got rid of my shop as I was not paying them the monthly fee and had not trouble in destroying my shop, and even put obstacles by keeping the key. After asking, they gave me one, but not the keys after. Simply washed their hands on me and told me not to contact them anymore. I only got my name and shop back after the "limbo" period expired and nobody bought it before I did. Now I only have to put everything back!!!

I would like to contact a lawyer and see if I can sue them, as I had put hundreds of hours developing my shop, and the worst thing is that I did not even got a sorry from them. If any has a contact for this please le me know using the contact from my shop.

Stay clear of EKM, they will not have any trouble in destroying all your hard work and will not even apologise. Do not waste your money on them, there are much cheaper and very good ecommerce hosting services.

Eva Hudson

[new2bus]

I know it is too late for you, but this is exactly why I never advocate a tied in cart system, they have far too much control over you and even if you had not had an argument with them, where does it leave you and your business if anything should happen to them. It is a time bomb that may or may not go off, but all the assurances in the world does not help you if it does go off and you are not in total control of your domain name and able to control the nameservers.

I really hope you get things back on track ok.

[awebapart.com]

My domain was lost, all the products, photos, descriptions, prices and long hours I had put into it.
Whichever web supplier a business goes with, ideally a business should register and be in control of their own domain, preferably using an established domain registrar company. Unfortunately businesses do try to cut corners and "save money" and they get attracted to web supplier packages that include free domains as part of the package, in which case you have to carefully check your supplier's terms and conditions, or better still forego the freebie and purchase it yourself if your web supplier allows this (if they don't, find a supplier who does). It should be possible to use EKM and still be in control of your domain by purchasing it elsewhere and just pointing the domain's name servers (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=transfer+domain+name+server+site%3Awww.ekmpowers hop.com&btnG=Google+Search&meta=&aq=f&oq=) at EKM (and avoid the physical domain transfer).

Most ecommerce systems, including EKM, also have backup or export features, so in most cases there is no need for anyone to be in the position where they have lost all of their data. Have a look at the online demo at EKM, view as shop owner, select settings, advanced settings, import export data. Most ecommerce systems allow data export, which then leaves the product images, which you should have already (since you uploaded them from your PC), or if necessary you could export (maintain backups of) those images from the website using other software like HTTrac (http://www.httrack.com/).

[Red Eye Media]

We also say that a client should keep their domain with a different host. I didn't think this sort of behavour still went on.
In EKM's defence, and as Paul said, you did have the ability to export your data so what went wrong? Why didn't you export your data?

[AntonyChesworth]

I decided that EKM was too expensive, so I migrated my shop to Merchantmoms (brilliant, great service and friendly staff). I still had a year before I needed to renew my domain, OCCASIONOLOGY, so I said we´ll go through that when the renewal date was due. They did not contact me, Nominet was asking for a silly high fee, so I ASKED EKM TO RENEW WHEN STILL ON TIME, BUT THEY DIDN´T, they simply freed my domain. As an expired one, I totally lost control of it. My domain was lost, all the products, photos, descriptions, prices and long hours I had put into it. Never a sorry, EKM even kept the keys that they were being sent and made even more difficult for me to get my shop and name back.


Hi Eva,

I'm sorry to hear your not happy with our services. I have looked into this issue for you and spoken to both our customer services staff and those at nominet about this.

You contacted us to let us know you were moving to another supplier and that you would also like to release your domain name to the new supplier as it was up for renewal in a few weeks (if you hadnt have moved it we would have had to charge for for another 12 months).

So our customer services department released the domain name and changed the IPS tag over. Unfortunately for some reason the new domain name holder did not renew the domain name and so it expired.

We called Nominet several times to try our best to help you, but obviously the domain wasnt on our tag anymore so we were unable to make any changes to the domain nor renew it for you.

If you like we can get a full audit log from Nominet to back this up. I can also provide you with all our call recordings and email logs between our customer support and yourself if you wish to have this.

I hope this helps clear up the issue.

[occasionology]

Hi Eva,

I'm sorry to hear your not happy with our services. I have looked into this issue for you and spoken to both our customer services staff and those at nominet about this.

You contacted us to let us know you were moving to another supplier (I moved about 1 and a half year ago!, not "were moving") and that you would also like to release your domain name to the new supplier as it was up for renewal in a few weeks (if you hadnt have moved it we would have had to charge for for another 12 months). LIE!!! I plainly asked you to renew it and send me the invoice because there was very little time, never asked you to free it. As you were the registrant you were the only one that could renew it using the 60 days grace period! (Proof in the emails in my next post, start reading from the end).

So our customer services department released the domain name (AGAINST MY INSTRUCTIONS, see my email of the 28th February) and changed the IPS tag over. Unfortunately for some reason the new domain name holder did not renew the domain name and so it expired. (You were the registrants and the only people who could have renewed the domain. Merchantmoms could not renew it because it was expired and you were the contact for PDR, who would not send us the key, only to you, so we were unable to do anything and you did not help by keeping the last keys they sent you)

We called Nominet several times to try our best to help you, but obviously the domain wasnt on our tag anymore so we were unable to make any changes to the domain nor renew it for you. (You actually told me not to contact you as you could do anything for me, but you were still being sent the key from PDR and didn´t forward it to me)

If you like we can get a full audit log from Nominet to back this up. (Nothing you have can back up the fact that I asked you to renew and you chose not to, damaging my shop). I can also provide you with all our call recordings and email logs between our customer support and yourself if you wish to have this. No need, I am posting them here so people can see what really happened.

I hope this helps clear up the issue.


PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO LOOK LIKE YOU DID NOT CREATE THIS MESS AND WERE LOOKING FOR MY BEST INTEREST AT ALL TIMES. I contacted you when we were still in time to renew my domain. Furthermore, you offered to renew it for a year, and seeing that it was so urgently I asked you to renew it, at the requested price. Do not place yourself as trying to save me the renewal fee, I asked you to renew, and later on I would look at transfer. The renewal was urgent.

YOU DIDN´T. You freed it instead, when you were perfectly capable to renew it. You created this mess, and for my messages to Nominet copying you in, you know that if I cannot stand something is the lack of responsibility, accepting your acts and apologising when something wrong is done that affects other people. If you do something wrong, first step is to recognise it, then apologise for it and then try to help to get things back to normal. You did none of these.

When I contacted Nominet and even here, you made it look like I asked you to free my domain. I NEVER DID THAT, I ASKED YOU TO RENEW IT AT THE PRICE YOU TOLD ME.

Please follow this thread, and tell me that you did as requested. It is very clear that EKM did not as requested and made me chase the hot potato with other 3 organisations and waste weeks with my shop closed without any need for all this mess. They only had to renew the domain as requested and agreed, but got me in all this mess.

Everything is clear in my email from the 28th of February, asking you to renew the domain, how to pay for it and sending me the invoice. Very simple, but you didn´t do it.

I´m copying and pasting all correspondence in my next post. After that, try to say that I asked you to free it!!!

[occasionology]

Proof that EKM acted against my instructions, and decided to free my domain instead of simply renewing it. Because of this, I wasted weeks chasing the hot potato, my shop had disappeared and I lost all contact as my emails were not working either.

URLs and email addresses deleted as I have less than 15 posts. Deleted EKM email signature. Those are all changes.

-------------------------------------------------------
:mad::mad::mad: Please start reading from the bottom upwards. :mad::mad::mad:
-------------------------------------------------------
-----Original Message To EKMSystems-----
From: DELETED
Sent: 19-Mar-2009 13:59
To: Ekm Systems Support
CC:
Subject: OCCASIONOLOGY - URGENT! -

Hi there,

Thanks for your help, but Merchantmoms don''t seem to know how to deal with an expired domain. I have checked with nominet and it seems that it can still be renewed by the register within 60 days after expiration before it becomes public domain.

Could you please renew it for a year and then hopefully they will be able to transfer it?

I cannot afford losing this domain, it''s the name of my registered company and have a lot of stationery printed with it.

Many thanks,
Eva

--- On Thu, 5/3/09, Ekm Systems Support wrote:

From: Ekm Systems Support
Subject: RE: ACK EKMSYSTEMS Domain release - [TASKEM-66060116-2009-2-27-9-44-00-X]
To: DELETED
Date: Thursday, 5 March, 2009, 10:53 AM

Hi,

Your domain name has now been released i would suggest calling this company and make sure you get them to renew it

Domain name:
occasionology

Registrant:
Eva Martinez

Registrant type:
UK Individual

Registrant''s address:
The registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have their
address omitted from the WHOIS service.

Registrar:
PublicDomainRegistry [Tag = PDR-IN]
URL:

Relevant dates:
Registered on: 28-Jan-2005
Renewal date: 28-Jan-2009
Last updated: 05-Mar-2009


Kind regards,
Ian Gibson



-----Original Message To EKMSystems-----
From: [
Sent: 5-Mar-2009 09:43
To:
CC:
Subject: ACK EKMSYSTEMS Domain release - UK NIC DNS Admin

Your message has been processed by the UK NIC automated DNS
delegation system. The required additions/changes have been
made to the database and will become visible in the zone file within
thirty minutes.

The delegation for occasionology has been updated successfully.
To check the current state of the entry for occasionology
in the database, use the following command

% whois -h whois nic uk occasionology

Regards

Nominet

1 Year Renewal - RE: Enquiry From Ekm Systems Website - [TASKEM-66060116-2009-2-27-9-44-00-X]

Saturday, 28 February, 2009 6:48 PM
From:
"Eva Martinez" DELETED
To:
"Ekm Systems Support"

Hi there,

Thanks for your email. Could you please renew it for a year? I haven´t had the time to check for anything, just got a letter from nominet this week and didn´t even know it was expired.

Please let me know how to pay for this and please send me an invoice for Occasionology Ltd.

Many thanks,
Eva

--- On Sat, 28/2/09, Ekm Systems Support wrote:
From: Ekm Systems Support
Subject: RE: Enquiry From Ekm Systems Website - [TASKEM-66060116-2009-2-27-9-44-00-X]
To: DELETED
Date: Saturday, 28 February, 2009, 10:28 AM

Hi Eva,

The domain is actually past the renewal date, so we'll have to be quick to get this up and running. Would you like us to renew the domain name for you? The cost is £24.99+VAT per year. Or we can transfer the domain away to another provider if you like, just let me know the IPS tag of the new provider and I'll get that released for you.

Kind regards,
Jason Rothwell


-----Original Message To EKMSystems-----
From: [DELETED
Sent: 27-Feb-2009 21:32
To: EKM
CC:
Subject: Enquiry From Ekm Systems Website -

Name: Eva Martinez
Email: DELETED
Telephone:
Message: Hello there, I used to have my shop hosted with you, but moved
maybe a couple of years ago. Could you please check the information on
my domain, OCCASIONOLOGY I think it''s time to renew it?
Please let me know of any action required. Thanks, Eva

[occasionology]

URLs and email addresses deleted as I have less than 15 posts. Deleted EKM email signature. Those are all changes.

-------------------------------------------------------
:mad::mad::mad: Please start reading from the bottom upwards. :mad::mad::mad:
-------------------------------------------------------

--- On Mon, 23/3/09, Eva Martinez wrote:
From: Eva Martinez
Subject: RE: TASKEM - [TASKEM-47558401-2009-3-19-2-05-41-X]
To: "Ekm Systems Support"
Date: Monday, 23 March, 2009, 1:58 PM

Hi Ian,

Complete mess. Merchant moms say that they cannot do anything as the domain is expired. Public Domain said that you are still the register contact.

Could you please renew it for a year at your end? In due course I will discuss a transfer with merchantmoms.

Please invoice me for one year renewal and let me know how to send payment.

Many thanks,
Eva



--- On Fri, 20/3/09, Ekm Systems Support wrote:
From: Ekm Systems Support
Subject: RE: TASKEM - [TASKEM-47558401-2009-3-19-2-05-41-X]
To: DELETED
Date: Friday, 20 March, 2009, 4:53 PM

Hi Eva,

The email we received this morning had in the following information. Plus we didn't ignore you we thought it would be better to renew the domain name with the company so we didn't have to charge you for the renewal before transferring away.

Dear Customer,
You have received this message because you are listed as the Registrant or Administrative Contact for the domain name occasionology


Please read the following important information about occasionology

We have received a notification from the .UK Registry regarding Transfer of this domain name to us.
Listed below is the Security Key associated with the domain name. It is advised that you store this in a secure place since you will need the same for completing the Transfer process - Security Key : DELETED
Please visit the website of your Service Provider and complete the Transfer process by providing the domain name and the above mentioned Security Key. You will be notified via email once the Transfer process has been completed.
If you have received multiple emails from usrelated to this domain name, the Security Key listed in the latest email needs to be used.
Best Regards,
Public Domain Registry (Tag:PDR-IN)


Kind regards,
Ian Gibson

RE: TASKEM - [TASKEM-47558401-2009-3-19-2-05-41-X]

Friday, 20 March, 2009 4:30 PM

From: DELETED


To:
"Ekm Systems Support"

Hello there.

I am aware that Public Domain Registry has sent you an email with the key as you still figure as a contact.

I would be grateful if you could give me the info that Merchantmom needs in order to renew my domain. If there are still any problems from their end I would ask you to renew it as I requested at the very begining and you chose to ignore instead.

Many thanks,
Eva

[occasionology]

URLs and email addresses deleted as I have less than 15 posts. Deleted EKM email signature. Those are all changes.

-------------------------------------------------------
:mad::mad::mad: Please start reading from the bottom upwards. :mad::mad::mad:
----------------------------------------------------------

(We never got that second key, PDR could not send the information to Merchantmoms and we had to wait for the "limbo" period to finish in order to be able to buy again my domain)

OCCASIONOLOGY !!!

Wednesday, 1 April, 2009 3:19 PM

From: DELETED
To:

"Ekm Systems Support"


Public Domain Registry has sent you again the key, tag or whatever it's called and Merchantmoms need it again. They have already contacted PDR and they know they are acting in my name.

I'm fed up with this, I directly asked you for my domain to be renewed and now for your gross negligence I am risking losing my business name. You didn't even contact me to tell me that is was about to expire!!!

Please deal directly with public domain registry and with merchantmoms in order to solve this for once and for all. I don't want to continue chasing the hot potato like this because in the best of the cases you made a mistake or because in the worst one you acted against your customer's instructions.

I have given merchantmoms your email and am directly instructing you to deal with them and sort out the mess you have created. I'm just tired of this.

Many thanks.


RE: TASKEM - [TASKEM-15240293-2009-3-24-4-29-51-X]

Tuesday, 24 March, 2009 5:10 PM


From:
"Ekm Systems Support"

To: DELETED


Hi

The Tag holder is

Registrar:
PublicDomainRegistry.Com [Tag = PDR-IN]
URL:

Kind regards,
Ian Gibson


RE: occasionology - [TASKEM-15240293-2009-3-24-4-29-51-X]


Tuesday, 24 March, 2009 5:01 PM


From:
"Eva Martinez"

To:
"Ekm Systems Support"

Perfect, please do not this again to anybody else, it's a total mess.

I'm totally lost and this has been going on for weeks when it could have been very simple to renew it and worry about transfers later on.

Who is the tag holder now?


RE: occasionology - [TASKEM-15240293-2009-3-24-4-29-51-X]

Tuesday, 24 March, 2009 4:41 PM
From:
"Ekm Systems Support"
To: DELETED

Hi Eva,

I have just got off the phone to Nominet and they have told me that because we are not the tag holder we can't renew this domain name for you. They have said that either the new tag holder renews the domain name direct with them or you contact Noiment and renew it with them.

They have also said because we are no longer the tag holders the new tag holder should have by now updated the admin and techincal details as we no longer have any control over this domain name.

So from the information provided by Nominet i'm sorry to tell you that there is nothing further i can do for you on this domain name matter.


Kind regards,
Ian Gibson


occasionology

Tuesday, 24 March, 2009 4:23 PM
From: DELETE
To: ekmsupport

Hi Ian,

Please let me know how are things going, as logically I am not receiving any email at the moment and my shop is gone.

Thanks,
Eva

[occasionology]

URLs and email addresses deleted as I have less than 15 posts. Deleted EKM email signature. Those are all changes.

-------------------------------------------------------
:mad::mad::mad: Please start reading from the bottom upwards. :mad::mad::mad:
-------------------------------------------------------




SOME CORRESPONDENCE WITH NOMINET AND PDR TRYING TO GET MY DOMAIN RENEWED AND SIMPLY GOING IN CIRCLES WITHOUT BEING ABLE TO DO ANYTHING. EKM STILL FIGURES AS MY REGISTRANT FOR PDR AND THEY ARE SENDING THEM THE KEY, MERCHANTMON CANNOT DO ANYTHING FOR ME AS PDR WOULD NOT RELEASE THE INFO. EKM NOT FORWARDING THE SECOND AND LATER KEYS.


RE: OCCASIONOLOGY.- [TASKEM-47558401-2009-3-19-2-05-41-X]

Thursday, 19 March, 2009 2:49 PM


From:
"Eva Martinez" DELETED


"Ekm Systems Support"


Ian,

You really are killing me, I actually asked you to renew it for a year and then I would see how to transfer it, but instead it seems that you simply got rid of it.

Nominet charges stupidly high rates, something like £90 per 2 years, when you were saying that you were going to renew it for something like 29.99 I think it was, which is still very expensive compared to buying a domain from scratch for something silly as £3.

You can see my original email, 28th February,
1 Year Renewal - RE: Enquiry From Ekm Systems Website - [TASKEM-66060116-2009-2-27-9-44-00-X]

I was asking for an invoice so that I could secure my domain for a year and then ask Merchantmoms to transfer it. Now they say that as it's actually expired they cannot do anything.

So what now, is my only option pay stupid money to nominet?

Please advice asap, I really cannot lose this domain.

Thank you,
Eva


--- On Thu, 19/3/09, Ekm Systems Support wrote:
From: Ekm Systems Support
Subject: RE: OCCASIONOLOGY - [TASKEM-47558401-2009-3-19-2-05-41-X]
To: DELETED
Date: Thursday, 19 March, 2009, 2:33 PM

Hi Eva,

I'm sorry to tell you that we can't renew this domain name it has nothing to do with us any more. Here are the whois records below. The only people who can renew this domain name for you is

Registrar:
PublicDomainRegistry.Com [Tag = PDR-IN]
URL:

I would suggest speaking to nominet again and ask them if they can renew the domain name direct with them say you are having problems with publicdomainregistry.com and you don't want to loose the domain.


Domain Whois record

Queried whois.nic.uk with "occasionology."...
Domain name: occasionology.co.uk Registrant: Eva Martinez Registrant type: UK Individual Registrant's address: The registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have their address omitted from the WHOIS service. Registrar: PublicDomainRegistry.Com [Tag = PDR-IN] URL: publicdomainregistry Relevant dates: Registered on: 28-Jan-2005 Renewal date: 28-Jan-2009 Last updated: 05-Mar-2009 Registration status: Renewal required. *** This registration has been SUSPENDED. *** Name servers: ns5.merchantmoms.com ns6.merchantmomsWHOIS lookup made at 14:27:0819-Mar-2009



Kind regards,
Ian Gibson


RE: TASKEM - [TASKEM-47558401-2009-3-19-2-05-41-X]

Thursday, 19 March, 20093:02 PM


From:
"Ekm Systems Support"
To: DELETED

You should contact publicdomainregistry


Kind regards,
Ian Gibson

[new2bus]

It is very hard to follow the chronology because the post is not in date order, but it does look like Jason Rothwell agreed to renew it for you if you wanted.

[occasionology]

It is very hard to follow the chronology because the post is not in date order, but it does look like Jason Rothwell agreed to renew it for you if you wanted.


Yes, on his email of the 28th of February, and on the same day I told him to renew it because the time was so tight, and leave any changes for later.

Instead, next thing I know is that EKM freed my domain and I lost all control over it. I had to wait for it to completely expire before I could recover it, and anybody could have bought it.

Sorry, it´s impossible to keep the order as there is a limit of characters.

How would you have felt in my place? I clearly told them to renew, and instead they got rid of it and put my domain in complete danger!

EKM, AND EVEN NOW YOU ARE LYING AND TRYING TO SAY THAT YOU ACTED IN MY BEST INTEREST!!!

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Anybody knows a Lawyer especialised in e-commerce???

[boho]

I would post a request on the Legal Forum part, theres bound to be someone.

Tbh the whole thing looks like a total nightmare and I'm only glad you managed to get everything back!

I would never ever advise anyone buys a domain or has their domain administered through their host for exactly this kind of reason, always maintain control yourself.

[new2bus]

If you like we can get a full audit log from Nominet to back this up. I can also provide you with all our call recordings and email logs between our customer support and yourself if you wish to have this.



Well I would take them up on this offer and see how it compares date wise with your experience.

[Jozo]

I have used 3 different hosting companies based in UK. All of them give me very disappointing service. The customer service was something that I just cannot to come to terms with.

We are now using severs in Eastern Europe and since doing this brave move we have had no problems whatsoever.

I am very happy with the their service, hosting package and most importantly the price.

I recommend you have a very good look at different hosting companies and find out as much as possible before you sign up.

[iworkfromhome]

Ive been using ekm for about 3 month now, it seems friendly enough, few niggly things tho, i am a little concerned about the fact my sales have drpped even tho i am getting the traffic, im wondering if the payment cart has issues, i use paypal through ekm, is there a better way, ?

[iworkfromhome]

Ive been using ekm for about 3 month now, it seems friendly enough, few niggly things tho, i am a little concerned about the fact my sales have drpped even tho i am getting the traffic throgh google ads.Which is even more of a worry due to cost, im wondering if the payment cart has issues, i use paypal through ekm, is there a better way, ?

[emerchant]

What is your site URL?

[movietub]

Ive been using ekm for about 3 month now, it seems friendly enough, few niggly things tho, i am a little concerned about the fact my sales have drpped even tho i am getting the traffic throgh google ads.Which is even more of a worry due to cost, im wondering if the payment cart has issues, i use paypal through ekm, is there a better way, ?

EKM cart is well tested and reliable ime. There is certainly a better way than just Paypal though. Most on here find that setting up a streamline account combined with Sagepay is pretty much the cheapest you will get. A lot cheaper than Paypal! Also quite relevant as I hear EKM have just fully integrated Sagepay - so no need for a re-direct away from your site. Much more professional.

On our old site we used Google checkout as a third option. We found that most would use sagepay (formerly protx) and saved us a fortune, but that a significant number would only trust paypal or google checkout.

Interestingly those that like paypal/G checkout often won't shop on sites without, whilst others avoid either of them and perfer a plain 'enter credit card details' straight after clicking pay.

But only use G checkout if your customer service is good - if not the negative feedback will kill you.

[iworkfromhome]

Thanks for the advice , much appreciated.Ill stick at it, im currenty trying to optimize each page fully so hopefully in time i wont have to use adwords,"costing a bomb" not working for me. I willl look at sagepay, maybe if i intergrated sagepay and paypal that would cover both sets of customers do you think?

[movietub]

Thanks for the advice , much appreciated.Ill stick at it, im currenty trying to optimize each page fully so hopefully in time i wont have to use adwords,"costing a bomb" not working for me. I willl look at sagepay, maybe if i intergrated sagepay and paypal that would cover both sets of customers do you think?

Paypal is a must, there are some customers that only want to use paypal. Sagepay is a must for you as its a lot cheaper than paypal!

Google checkout is steadily becoming similar to paypal in that some customers look for it - also newcomers to online shopping tend to trust the big G. I would recommend you use all three.

Are you using google base? If you use checkout your base listings will stand out more...

[Prettycool]

Ive been using ekm for about 3 month now, it seems friendly enough, few niggly things tho, i am a little concerned about the fact my sales have drpped even tho i am getting the traffic throgh google ads.Which is even more of a worry due to cost, im wondering if the payment cart has issues, i use paypal through ekm, is there a better way, ?
I think a lot of the sales drop is due to the post strike and credit crunch, our hits and sales have also dropped this week, but hang in there.

[iworkfromhome]

Hi, ive been using ekm since last september now and the site i would say has continued to grow with, as yet, no major hickups. I am acheiving page one rankings on some items and even no1. i find the seo easy to use and so i dont think their seo services are worth the money.I would suggest stick on the basic 24.99.There are lots of different skins and as a small business im happy with the 1600-2k per week its bringing in allowing me a wage .TOUGH OVER THE WORLD CUP THO. PRETTY SLOW INDEED. OUCH.. I have looked at the demo on tiger but these dont seem to have the choice of looks, i am about to launch another 2 sites and will use 2 separate systems and see what is best, as for the ekm tho, its not bad, if i got any bigger though i guess i would be looking for a better look. But i would recommend it at the money, but none of the add ons.:) Off to do a bit more on it now , every little helps, i hope.lol

[FKI]

There was certainly no arrogance intended, think you may have read my post wrongly.

Anthony was not being arrogant. Orrogance is not good for business.

fasar khan