Sorry if I’m not getting you, why must an eCommerce platform not be hosted? Ecwid is hosted through Amazon, so it doesn’t drain or slow your site loading, and is used by plenty of businesses. I’ve used it to help coffee vendors sell coffee, restaurant owners take orders, and I use it to sell download ebooks and take payments for services and I have a PI client who uses it. It’s encrypted through Amazon, so I know it has some bugs, but even the beloved Woo Commerce does, too. I must be missing something in the desired elements somewhere…but I don’t see why a business could not use it. And, yes, if you Google (or DuckDuckGo) the term, I’m sure there are many other eCommerce platforms WP doesn’t put on their repository that could work just as well. Just trying to help the conversation.
Hosted versions mean an account needs to be created with a third-party, which would be frustrating for business users.
A better option is to have everything built-in to the platform (self-hosted) because 1) you control the data, and 2) you aren’t tied to another company. Too many times, even large companies, have had issues ensuring uptime (even Zoho has had issues) and an “official” ecommerce solution shouldn’t have this risk.
Hosted versions are easy to implement, but shouldn’t be the “official” solution, in my opinion anyways.
@wadestriebel sees my point @voltaire.
What if ecwid “dies”? And also SAFETY. A third party connection is a vulnerability.
It’s an option, but we need a self hosted solution also.
If there is something better and more secure, of course that’s better.
I think almost all eCommerce platforms will have issues potentially, just as I never expected WP to switch over to a new editor as a mandatory part of core that set back design standards and workflow a decade or get 1 star reviews and still be seen as great. So my point is any company can make a poor decision or go under at any time. So, toward that end, I think 2-3 eCommerce platforms that can work fine with CP would be preferable over solely one “to rule them all.”
For now, I’ll use ecwid and paypal “hacks” and keep watching what might be decided upon.
I second Ecwid - I’ve used it for a few clients as well. It’s worked well, it’s stable, and it’s more intuitive than Woo Commerce.
PremiumPress Dev Mark Fail has an independent open source cart script that is used in his shop theme. (bootstrap) It has a new version and it’s attractive in many ways. He is a small Dev business it would be a thought to get him to share his thoughts about joining ClassicPress He’s low on human resources, but highly innovative.
People prefer what is known to them and advertised most heavily in general terms. I get the value of self-hosted eCommerce. I do. But for most small business owners, who don’t understand what eCommerce is or how it works and don’t care, and just want results, Ecwid works fine. If the client wants more control over data, they can pay for higher level of security and encryption (not necessary, since not too much is going to better than Amazon) - most companies outsource eCommerce and security.
We can use ClassicPress and Ecwid and build a eComm sites to charge for services, hair salons, lawyers taking payments, selling clothes, selling downloads, whatever. I think it’s a good choice. It may not be top level for self-hosted eComm but again, I don’t see most small business owners knowing or caring and enterprise level businesses would like outsourcing and using other levels of third party integration for shipping and receiving and sending out text messages and so on.
I don’t agree with this. Control over data comes down to who has possession of it. When a 3rd party has your data, perhaps they have only good intentions. Great. However, what will become of the data if they are sold? How do they protect the data from thieves? How can you know employees aren’t thumb-driving data to work on the weekends at home? How long will it be before they notify in the event of a breach? These types of things are the most important, to me, in terms of controlling our own data with a self-hosted solution.
I’m just thinking… why do we even need CP (or WP) to use ecwid? It’s a hosted service…
I also like the thought of waiting GB to fall and see what happen…
In theory you don’t.You just need some place to put the code.
If that works for you, that’s fine. I have client sites I have to take care of now, with many of them trying to edit their own sites or wanting to update themselves without any knowledge of even what Gutenberg is. So that’s not an option for me. Plus I want to keep working.
A lawyer should be very cautious about taking payments using Ecwid. It would depend on jurisdiction, of course, but it could lead to all sorts of ethics problems and possible disbarment.
Lawyers need to be able to verify what is happening to client information, and I doubt they would be able to get what they need from Ecwid. Many lawyers also need to be able to differentiate between two entirely different forms of payments (i.e. current accounts versus trust accounts), and there is simply no way that Ecwid would be able to do this because it’s designed for e-commerce and not for the legal profession.
I appreciate your thoughts, Tim. As a former mediator, I worked with several lawyers and smaller firms and never ran into any issues. They were all oblivious to technology for the most part, so I told them how things worked and asked if they had issues. None came up. Ecwid processes payment through Amazon, and ultimately Amazon is no more secure than most banks and other businesses - all are getting hacked daily. And their account book keeping…their banking…is entirely up to them. They’re the lawyer, so I always act as the person integrating the solutions. For most lawyers, I’d use Clio, which is very established and vetted, that I have an affiliate account with. I also have a list of translators and accountants I work with to help small law firms capitalize on digital marketing. We have thorough discussions on taking payments online, and I understand the potential issues. I have a private investigator client who has been using ecwid for years now to take payments for background investigation packages and divorce proceedings without issue.
I agree that most lawyers don’t have a clue, but that doesn’t mean that what they do is the right way to do it. Comingling funds is the surest way to get disbarred in most English-speaking jurisdictions.
The American Bar Association, for example, and several state bars in the US, have very clear rules on things like this. ClassicPress should be encouraging users to do things the right way.
Clio would indeed be fine, but then that’s dedicated law practice management software with built-in integration with LawPay.
Investigators are a totally different group.
First of all, Tim, I don’t represent or speak for CP. They do.
Secondly, your points are all valid and understood. There is no denigrating your points with my own, only more being added. In most cases when building law firm sites with payment systems integrated, I partner with Clio. I build the site, set up the SEO, set up the content marketing arm, help them utilize Clio as a sub-contractor, help them market to local networks (which they don’t do). And as you said, PIs are a different group altogether, which is why Ecwid works great for her and she’s been using it for almost a decade now without issue.
For the typical small business owner that is not a lawyer or doctor or dentist concerned with HIPPA, Ecwid works fine and is a suitable solution. When it would come to doctors or lawyers, there are other fair considerations to note, but they’re not insurmountable at all. One Red Bull and a few hours of research and problem solved every time.
Thanks for your thoughts.
It’s not about point-scoring, @voltaire. And I’m on the ClassicPress Committee. It’s more about making sure that anyone who reads this, who either is a lawyer or who manages a site for a lawyer, has some idea of what is involved and why they can’t be treated just like e-commerce.
It’s also important for the ClassicPress brand that we put out the right messages.
Agreed… Ohh and by the way, this is beginning out of topic…
