So you want to run your own ecommerce website, but you also want access to the convenience and simplicity of the WordPress platform? Never fear, because there's a plugin for that.
Well, actually, there are a lot of plugins for that, but here are 10 of the best WordPress ecommerce plugins to help you get started making your fortune selling junk online in no time at all.
Probably because of its easy-to-search-for name, WP Ecommerce is among the most popular ecommerce shopping cart plugins for WordPress. Although, I'm sure it doesn't hurt that it's simple to install and works with any WordPress theme. Users can customize the shopping experience for their customers with product widgets, free shipping options and quantity discounts. The plugin even offers search engine-friendly URLs and a feature that allows for product-specific sales.
This free, robust shopping cart plugin (a portmanteau of "ecommerce" and "widget") is easy to install and maintain and is totally customizable, so users can adjust the appearance to match the look and feel of their sites. Ecwid also comes with seamless upgrades, meaning you don't have to wait around or update it every time new features are added; they'll just show up one day.
Despite its "lite" modifier, Cart66 is still a very powerful ecommerce plugin. It comes with multiple shipping and currency options for transacting international business, custom product fields and inventory tracking. However, the coolest thing about Cart66 is its Amazon S3 integration, which allows users to sell digital products in addition to traditional physical products.
This plugin from WordPress theme publisher WooThemes includes local and international delivery options, extensions for creating personalized products, Google Product Feed, inventory management, thorough shipping and tax options, marketing tools and reporting features. Moreover, it focuses on a clean, beautiful design to compound its robust functionality with startling elegance.
Arguably the best auction plugin for WordPress, WP Auctions comes with three different bidding engines, as well as features for registered only users and reserved prices. Users can use their WordPress blog or website to host auctions (as many as they'd like) and sell anything without any fees. It's incredibly easy for users to edit, end or delete their auctions. You can even use PayPal to accept payments. And speaking of PayPal...
In less than five minutes, users can start accepting PayPal payments on their WordPress-based ecommerce site with this plugin. Then, they can view all of their transactions and sort their transaction list as needed. It will even send the purchaser and merchant automatic notifications during the purchasing process. This particular premium WordPress plugin costs $12.
However, if you don't want to pay for PayPal functionality, then maybe you should consider this plugin. It allows users to put an "Add to Cart" button and display the shopping cart on any of their blog posts or site pages. This will show customers what items they currently have in their carts (and remove it, if they want). Users will get access to the PayPal sandbox to do testing, as well.
This free full service shopping cart option provides a simple administration area that makes it super easy to add products, review products and check site statistics. It's also highly customizable, so you can definitely make it reflect the tone of your brand. Mostly, this solution is ideal if you want customers to create a profile to make purchases on your site.
Merchants can use this open source shopping cart plugin to create products from pages or blog posts, so that the post ID becomes the product code. YAK handles different kinds of products through categorization, and includes a basic XML feed. It also offers a variety of customizable purchasing options, including checks or deposits, credit cards, Google Checkout, PayPal and PayPal Payments Pro and Authorize.net, as well as a configurable shipping address feature.
Shopp is an excellent, albeit somewhat pricey (starting at $55), premium ecommerce shopping cart plugin for WordPress. Easy to install and begin using, Shopp provides a clean user interface with strong customer support, including a user forum on its official site. After buying the initial single license for the software, users can build upon the Shopp platform by purchasing additional plugins like payment gateways, shipping modules and priority customer support.
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