What is up with the super-expensive modifications?

[blakekr]

I was just about all set to go with shopsite when I saw what was involved with the modifications. A handful of companies that won't even divulge their prices unless you host with them? I can tell right away that I don't want to be doing business with that type of vendor.

If I go by the shopsite site itself, there are no providers selling dropshipping or order status mods (etc.) at an openly-stated and reasonable price. Before I give up on shopsite, though, I thought I would check here to see if there are other suppliers of good stable mods that just aren't listed on the site for some reason. Appreciate your insight.

[Barney Stone]

ShopSite is not really designed for 3rd-party modules. We took a different approach. The Stone Edge Order Manager (ww.StoneEdge.com/OrderManager.htm) is a back-end program that imports orders from ShopSite (and about 30 other systems), then gives you the tools to manager your customers, orders, inventory, purchasing, etc. It should be able to handle all of your drop-shipping needs. There is also a powerful Order Status System (http://www.stoneedge.com/track_your_order.htm) that you can integrate into your Website. Our prices are posted clearly at http://www.stoneedge.com/ompricing.htm. Since no changes are made to ShopSite, there are no hosting issues with the Order Manager. Feel free to give us a call during the week at 215-641-1837 if you would like to discuss how the Stone Edge Order Manager can help solve your problems.

[blakekr]

Thanks, appreciate the information!

[BFChris]

Lexiconn (www.lexiconn.com) also offers a variety of Shopsite add-ons, including an Order Status module, at very reasonable prices.

They are also great with tech support and customer service and they know Shopsite inside and out.

Barefoot Chris
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BarefootChris.net Web Design
www.barefootchris.net
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[Jeff]

After a long search, we selected Shopsite largely because of the wide variety of add-ons available for it. That was one of the first things we looked at. We've done ecommerce successfully since 1998 and we had a pretty good idea what to look for in a new cart and hosting company.

It's not that our business required add-ons. But an abundance of third party products demonstrates how big the SS user base is and how much faith savvy outside programmers/firms have in the product. Our previous cart offered almost no add-ons; and that company is essentially out of business now.

The only really necessary add-on is a cheap (or free) stats program like Urchin. I doubt many carts have anything comparable built in.

Stoneedge is pretty costly but it's not marketed toward low volume sellers. We don't use it although we probably should to make things easier during busy times. Stoneedge works with something like 30 of the most popular carts including Yah** Stores. Clearly there is a broad need for such a back-end among users of many carts.