E-commerce solutions - Are free online shops really free?

Open source online shop e-commerce solutions that are offered for free present a rich set of ready-made online shopping cart functionalities. These features allow store owners to setup, run, and maintain online shops with minimum effort and with no costs, fees, or limitations involved. Theoretically this is absolutely true.

But if you add in the cost of knowledge (html, css, php/mysql, java script, etc) required by some free online shops and the technical support, your free online shop may not really be free at all. And on top of that add the value of your own labor and the supporting services needed as well.

The happier case
Let’s say you already have the skills and the programs to run it, meaning that you will be your own technical support, and then you may be able to run a free online store. But even in this case the cost is close to free. You still have to: host it yourself, customize it and doing your own web graphics, and other additional stuff.

The worse case
In most of the cases, whoever wants to develop their own online shop based on existing free e-commerce solutions have to pay for: software and customization, template or custom web design, domain names, web hosting, technical support, payments processor, security, your own training, your own labor and the list can go on. Let’s not forget search engine optimization, marketing strategies or advertising campaigns. Of course, some of the above elements are necessary to start an online business, such as domain name, hosting and security.

If you analyze the full costs of a free online shop, only well trained people can run an online shop that is truly free. Of course, some programming skills are required as well.
But most of the people need to be realistic about the full cost of a professional online shop solution.

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About Braincache
Braincache is a Cyprus web design company based in Limassol. Established in 2006, we specialize in providing high quality services. Our services include efficient web site design, search engine optimization (SEO), print & graphic designs, branding and online advertising.