internetretailer.biz: would it suit me?

Eleanor · May 4, 2008

Hi all.

I have just been reading the MrSite topic and thought I would check out internetretailer and see if it would meet my needs.

I currently have a flash site, and after hearing of other peoples complaints about flash and how it takes far too long to load I wanted to swap to html anyway. Now having looked at internetreailer I was wondering if it would meet my needs.

I make bespoke womens wear, so obviously I'm not making mass-produced items, all garments are designed and made by myself only so this obviously takes up a lot of my time as it is.

If I was to have an internetretailer site would it work well? Or would people think my clothing was just some cheap alternative to other designers work?

Also, at the moment I'm kind of living hand-to-mouth with my income, because sometimes a garment can take up to a week to complete, so having an e-commerce store like this means that I at least get paid immediately, rather than after I have completed the garment. My customers are abusing my current method of payment, so this could help sove some money issues.

Please can I have feedback on whether internet retailer are worth the set up and monthly fees and if you think it would work for my business.

Dwebs-Ltd · May 4, 2008

There are different ecommerce solutions available, shop around

In the about us section explain how the products are made etc, higher quality than retail products.

Eleanor · May 4, 2008

Thanks for this.

I need to get some stock together before I take the leap but I think it is defiantely the way to go.

It would be great to see some more examples of the ecommerce sites you have had a handle in as well as anyone who has made an internetretailer site, so I can see what kind of features I can have etc.

May 4, 2008

Eleanor
Personally I am an internet retailer customer and as I make and sell bespoke and handmade jewellery I can appreciate the desire to get payment up front before pieces are made, same is true for my handmade chess sets as these are all made to order and are custom colours.

I can highly recommend them to anyone wanting a starting foothold in ecommerce they are very skilled and experienced having run several online businesses themselves in the past so they understand the pitfalls of such a business and can provide sound and genuine advice.

I have not exeperienced any problems in my 3 years with them and I have a feature rich site, I am page one of google for my keywords and have a very busy little site.

If you want to pm me regarding any specific features you're looking for then please feel free - I can't see any reason why they wouldn't more than suit your needs though

Eleanor · May 4, 2008

boho said:
I can't see any reason why they wouldn't more than suit your needs though

Thank you so much Boho, I will check out your site and PM you with any questions!

I really appreciate this feedback!

Fergus · May 5, 2008

Hi Eleanor - after much research chose I Internetretailer and am very glad I did as it has been very easy to set up and use.The cusomer support has also been most helpfull and friendly. Good luck with whatever you choose anyhow

Eleanor · May 5, 2008

Thank You Fergus. I was this to a fmaily member. I have so much to do and prepare before I dive in but I am desperate to just get on with it.

steve23 · May 5, 2008

Hi Eleanor,

I have two sites with internet retailer and am very happy!

In fact, when i look back at the hosts i almost went for i thank my lucky stars i made one of my rare good decisions on this one!

Site features are good and customer support superb.

All the best

Steve

Eleanor · May 6, 2008

Thanks for the feedback Steve, they certainly do keep their customers happy!

Does Internet retailer only use PAYPAL as a cart/money receiving system?

I heard that PayPal has limitations on how much it will take and can sometimes freeze accounts. I would like to be able to also accept cheques and would like to use anotehr cart method, like google or cubacart (which I obviously will be using if I go with Dwebs LTD).

Fergus · May 6, 2008

Eleanor said:
Does Internet retailer only use PAYPAL as a cart/money receiving system?

.

You can pretty much intergrate any of the payment providers ,I started with Paypal but have now got Protx/Streamline as well ..So people can pay with paypal account if they so wish but if paying by card they use protx .

Eleanor · May 7, 2008

Thank you Fergus.

I'm getting all excited now about my potential of getting alittle larger and little more successful! Hurrah for home businesses!

May 21, 2008

Eleanor said:
Thanks for the feedback Steve, they certainly do keep their customers happy!

Does Internet retailer only use PAYPAL as a cart/money receiving system?

I heard that PayPal has limitations on how much it will take and can sometimes freeze accounts. I would like to be able to also accept cheques and would like to use anotehr cart method, like google or cubacart (which I obviously will be using if I go with Dwebs LTD).

Yep Dave can integrate pretty much any payment provider you want and if its not already one thats in use by one of us then I'm sure he would look to see if it was feasible to integrate it for you. I use Worldpay myself and Paypal, but I know Protx, Google checkout and Nochex for example are also available. I also offer my customers the option to make postal payments by cheque which is great for the more wary, plus I have Payoffline available for customers who want to make payment by card or cash and dont feel comfortable using a debit/credit card online.

Eleanor · May 21, 2008

Thanks Boho. I have already been nagging Dave via PM about all of my questions. I now know I want to go with Ir.biz and I can't wait. I'm hopinh to get everything together by June 1st, but it all depends on my samples and suppliers. I'm struggling to get a regular supply of a certain fabric and it is stressful. Lol.

I can't wait to get started with Internet Retailer. I'm so excited!

GreatSEO · May 21, 2008

Good luck with it

Regards

Dave

May 21, 2008

Eleanor said:
Thanks Boho. I have already been nagging Dave via PM about all of my questions. I now know I want to go with Ir.biz and I can't wait. I'm hopinh to get everything together by June 1st, but it all depends on my samples and suppliers. I'm struggling to get a regular supply of a certain fabric and it is stressful. Lol.

I can't wait to get started with Internet Retailer. I'm so excited!

Excellent! Look forward to seeing you get online soon then

Don't know if the fabrics you are after can be provided by this person but there was a fabric consultant on my newsletter from Fashion Capital today, details are:

Karen Levy - F abric Consultant

I am representing a UK silk manufacturer selling wonderful silks at very competitive prices. They carry a large amount of beautiful rich colours that are in stock. The minimums are small and you do not need to purchase large quantities.

The fabrics we are running are crepe back satin which is £8.48 a meter at 137cms wide, chiffon at £4.90 a meter, georgette at £5.82 a meter and organza, crepe de chine, silk jersey, habotai and taffeta.

This should not be missed if you use silk fabrics!'

For more information please email Karen at [email protected] or call on 020 7101 9448 / 07966 206475

green mum · May 21, 2008

Hi Eleanor

I'm also with internet retailer. I would highly recommend them. Dave goes all out to answer any questions that I have - this kind of support does not seem to be offered with the other options I looked into, which was why I went with them. You have so much flexibility to do whatever you like with the site really.

I just went for the basic design but hope to get them to do the ' fully customized' design when finances permit.

Good luck, it is very exciting!

MH1 · May 21, 2008

at the moment I'm kind of living hand-to-mouth with my income, because sometimes a garment can take up to a week to complete, so having an e-commerce store like this means that I at least get paid immediately, rather than after I have completed the garment. My customers are abusing my current method of payment, so this could help sove some money issues.

You should tackle your big problem, many business owners worry about losing sales with changing terms, in reality you have little choice.

I was helping an old friend start a sign business a while back with some ideas, and he was complaining a client had ordered one off designs and then not paid him on delivery. He was convinced his target market would refuse to give a deposit on orders so we had a competition.

He went out for two hours selling as normal, I went out for two hours selling with a deposit or full payment up front. I ended up with 70% more business, no deposits, all payment for specials up front, reducing his risk to zero.

Now I'm a reasonable saleman, but I'm not that good

He changed to 100% of money with all orders on specials and never noticed any drop in sales.

Eleanor · May 22, 2008

green mum said:
Hi Eleanor

I'm also with internet retailer. I would highly recommend them. Dave goes all out to answer any questions that I have - this kind of support does not seem to be offered with the other options I looked into, which was why I went with them. You have so much flexibility to do whatever you like with the site really.

I just went for the basic design but hope to get them to do the ' fully customized' design when finances permit.

Good luck, it is very exciting!

It is so exciting I can't stay still! I just burst out laughing every so often because my dreams are finally materialising into a great idea! I am so very grateful for all the help Dave has already given me by spending time answering my daft questions and for all of the help you and other people have given through this thread.

Eleanor · May 23, 2008

I just want to let you all know that I bought my IR ecommerce site today.

I want to say thank you to those of you who offered me other ecommerce solutions but I felt that IR had the best options for me.

I'll keep you all updated

Birmingham · May 24, 2008

hi eleanor, if you think it's worth it then it's worth it. only you know your own profitability.

based on the appearance of their own site - internetretailer.com - i would say it's a bad choice, but if your budget is short and this option is cheap...

quikshop · May 24, 2008

Welcome on board Eleanor, we'll do our best to make sure your time with us is an enjoyable and hopefully profitable one as well

Birmingham, you might want to look at the correct website before posting, you can follow the link at the bottom of this post

Constructive criticism is always welcome.

sysops · May 24, 2008

Birmingham said:
based on the appearance of their own site - internetretailer.com - i would say it's a bad choice, but if your budget is short and this option is cheap...

While it's rare for me to stick up for IR, I just can't help it on this occasion.

Birmingham - pot - kettle - glass houses - stones??

crackers · May 24, 2008

I'm against these online ready made options costing x amount a month. They are very expensive IMO. You can get zencart, oscommerce and cubecart for free with most hosting accounts. And hosting is available for £5 a month.

I tried out all 3 and ended up choosing CubeCart. I started with the free version v3 and then upgraded to v4 which has everything I need. I think it cost me £80 and it's mine for life. No monthly fees and I'm not tied into a another company.

I liked CubeCart's SEO url's too. It's got me on the front page of Google for 15 keywords and position 1 for 5 keywords and the CubeCart site has only been live since November last year.

I'm not convinced I would have had the same results with something like IR.biz. Too many = ? characters in the internal urls for my liking.

But the £20 a month option obviously works for a lot of people and if you are selling your products that's all the matters. My site costs me £5 a month with Clook hosting and it works for me too!

Dwebs-Ltd · May 24, 2008

crackers said:
I'm against these online ready made options costing x amount a month. They are very expensive IMO. You can get zencart, oscommerce and cubecart for free with most hosting accounts. And hosting is available for £5 a month.

I tried out all 3 and ended up choosing CubeCart. I started with the free version v3 and then upgraded to v4 which has everything I need. I think it cost me £80 and it's mine for life. No monthly fees and I'm not tied into a another company.

I liked CubeCart's SEO url's too. It's got me on the front page of Google for 15 keywords and position 1 for 5 keywords and the CubeCart site has only been live since November last year.

I'm not convinced I would have had the same results with something like IR.biz. Too many = ? characters in the internal urls for my liking.

But the £20 a month option obviously works for a lot of people and if you are selling your products that's all the matters. My site costs me £5 a month with Clook hosting and it works for me too!

We charge £14.99 per month for our CubeCart v4 hosting at the end of the 12 Months the CubeCart license belongs to the customer they can then either switch down to one of our business packages or one of our standard packages at £39.99 per year. Basically we are allowing the client to spread the cost of CubeCart and the Hosting over 12 Months.

Like you said your not tied to one particular provider you can move where you want without any major issues.

So its cheaper than IR and you actually end up owning the software! Plus we chuck in an SSL Certificate FREE of charge

The UKBF users that have signed up seem to like it and we haven't had any complaints

sysops · May 24, 2008

crackers said:
I'm not convinced I would have had the same results with something like IR.biz. Too many = ? characters in the internal urls for my liking.

People harp on about urls without having the most basic clue as to what difference they make.

The only proven benefit from having keywords in your url is the human recognition angle. Not one experiment has managed to demonstrate that G places any weight on keywords in urls.

(blimey, anyone would think I've just joined the IR fanclub...)

quikshop · May 24, 2008

sysops said:
(blimey, anyone would think I've just joined the IR fanclub...)

Who are you? Bring back the real Sysops

There are thousands of eCommerce solutions to choose from, some are cheaper, some are free(!) and some are considerably more expensive.

If price was all that mattered then we'd only ever shop online at eBay.

When making comparisons you should take into account the full package of inclusive services such as successful examples of optimising for search engines, unlimited telephone support and help sourcing suppliers for the products you want to sell.

If Internet Retailer was ideal for every retail business then I'd be typing this from a Villa in Ibiza (slips off into daydream...), but it seems to be doing the job for the shop owners that use it

crackers · May 24, 2008

sysops said:
People harp on about urls without having the most basic clue as to what difference they make.

The only proven benefit from having keywords in your url is the human recognition angle. Not one experiment has managed to demonstrate that G places any weight on keywords in urls.

(blimey, anyone would think I've just joined the IR fanclub...)

I know exactly what the difference is. As for it being 'proven' to benefit human recognition is amusing. Who proved it? I don't think anyone takes a blind bit of notice whether the url of a product they are looking at is seo friendly or dynamically written. No one cares. Me, I just look at a picture to recognize what the page is about, not the url.

The only reason to take seo friendly url's is for search engines. I believe a search engine will determine that 'silver-necklace.html' is about a silver necklace rather than 12345?=cprodt5.html is. There will be many other factors involved in ranking the page and it's content. SEO url's just help, if it's only a little it's better than nothing.

Hey, if people are happy to pay £20 a month forever on a package with = & ? characters in long urls, fine. If they get visitors to their sites and they sell products, great!

It's not people harping on about it. It's Google's Matt Cutt's. For those who don't know who Matt Cutts is, he's a senior programmer at Google working on their algorithum.

He says to use - rather than _
He says dynamic and staic urls are taken the same way for page rank (hey you were right!). BUT advises to use mod-rewrite (seo friendly) over long dynamic url's (but I was right too!).
and the last video interesting talks about a network of sites owned by one guy that got pulled on Google and Yahoo because they had a lot of duplicate content. Let's hope these monthly shops don't have too many client sites selling the same products!

I can't post links until I've made 15 posts! So I couldn't post the links to Matt Cutts' videos talking about this. But if you go to Google and search using this text: dynamic urls site:mattcuttsdotcom replace dot with . You will find the video around result 7 of the first page.

Get it from the horses mouth so to speak

sysops · May 24, 2008

crackers said:
I know exactly what the difference is. As for it being 'proven' to benefit human recognition is amusing. Who proved it? I don't think anyone takes a blind bit of notice whether the url of a product they are looking at is seo friendly or dynamically written. No one cares. Me, I just look at a picture to recognize what the page is about, not the url.

You are quite clueless. Here's a hint - it stands out in the search results, in bold green.

crackers said:
The only reason to take seo friendly url's is for search engines. I believe a search engine will determine that 'silver-necklace.html' is about a silver necklace rather than 12345?=cprodt5.html is.

I believe that an ancient Martian civilisation seeded life on Earth - it doesn't make it true.

crackers said:
It's not people harping on about it. It's Google's Matt Cutt's. For those who don't know who Matt Cutts is, he's a senior programmer at Google working on their algorithum.

Here we go with the misunderstood MC quote...

Not only are you very wrong, but you're really boring with it.

Eleanor · May 24, 2008

Well, I certainly caused a stir! I hope you are all still this excited once I'm selling things!

I went with IR.BIZ in the end because of the amazing feedback I have had via PM and in this thread (and other threads- for that matter).

I was PM-ing Dave like crazy and he was more than happy to answer all of my questions. I am completely new to running an online store. I have a website and since I've maintained it myself it hasnt done very well at all. Plus its flash, something I've been trying to get away from. It's very clear that a store with IR will be very easy to update regularly, which is what I need.

Dwebs-LTD was also very helpful, I just felt IR suited my needs better.

Money-wise, there were cheaper options, but I didn't feel I would be getting the same kind of quality, and I certainly wanted something that was easy to understand.

I spent a lot of time thinking about this and think I made the right choice.

Hope you're all having a lovely saturday!

crackers · May 24, 2008

sysops said:
You are quite clueless. Here's a hint - it stands out in the search results, in bold green.

I believe that an ancient Martian civilisation seeded life on Earth - it doesn't make it true.

Here we go with the misunderstood MC quote...

Not only are you very wrong, but you're really boring with it.

You may think I'm wrong. I think you are wrong. You've not put across any evidence to prove your points other than to be rude to me because I don't agree with you and have a different view. We could go on arguing back and forth all day long. You'll never convince me and I'll never convince you.

People will decide for themselves. I'm not going to rise to your insults. I've just joined this forum and I'm not interested in trading insults with you.

Have a great day

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