5 Ecommerce Website Builder Plugins Reviewed

WordPress is the perfect ecommerce website builder, making it possible for anyone with absolutely no experience of creating a website to get their products on sale online in just a matter of minutes.  Selling products through your blog or website is one of the best ways to boost your income stream, whether it’s eBooks or photographs, vintage clothes or expert advice. 

All you’ll need to make your site a commercial success is one of the ecommerce website builder plugins.  These handy pieces of software have been downloaded by thousands of people to make the job of selling online a breeze.  But which one should you choose?  To save you the hassle of searching through the hundreds of ecommerce plugins, here’s a review of five of the best.

1.  WP e-commerce:  The Complete Commercial Website Package In One

This plugin is designed with both functionality and aesthetics in mind, giving you an elegant ecommerce site with full shopping cart software.  It’s ideal for selling your products, services or subscription fees online.  Over half a million people have now downloaded this plugin and its success is probably due to the fact it’s a complete website builder package ideal for ecommerce.  It’s packed with features, including:

  • Easy to use design templates you can customize to suit your needs
  • Ability to run promotions, newsletters and add coupon codes
  • Automatic online marketing tools – such as built in search engine optimization, shopping search engines, Google Base and Facebook Marketplace submission

WP e-commerce works with all WordPress themes, or you have the option to choose one of the WP e-commerce themes.  There are also premium upgrades you can purchase from as little as $10, such as the MP3 Audio Player or the Next Gen Gallery Buy Now Buttons, which turn your gallery into a shopping cart.

2.  eShop:  Sell Your Expertise Online

Another free plugin which allows you to create products from your pages and posts, which is ideal if you’re an expert in your field with knowledge that people will pay for.  It gives you a wide variety of payment options, has various methods for listing products, a variety of shopping options and automatic email after a successful purchase.  This plugin is compatible with WordPress 2.9 and above.

3.  WP Live-Shopping:  Highlight Your Latest Promotions

Keep your readers up to date with all your current shopping offers and latest promotions with one simple widget that goes on your sidebar.  You can customize the appearance of the widget to suit your site’s style, allowing it to blend seamlessly with your ecommerce website. 

This is a really useful piece of software to promote your products.  All you’ll need to do before you use it is set up a Live account, which is free and easy to do.

4.  Quick Shop:  Make Shopping a Breeze For Your Website Customers

If you have sidebar widgets installed in your website builder for ecommerce, this plugin is the perfect addition to enhance your customers’ shopping experience.  It places a widget on the sidebar to show buyers what they have in their cart, which they can change at any time.

It also makes the job of building an ecommerce website much simpler by adding a TinyMCE button to use for quickly and easily adding products to any page or post on your site. You can also create various product options in a drop down menu and it comes with a checkout page to complement the shopping cart.

5.  WP Auctions:  Make Buying from Your Website an Interactive and Fun Experience

Bring the commercial side of your website to life with this auctions plugin for WordPress.  It costs just $35 and allows you to host auctions on your blog for anything you wish to sell.  There are no auction fees or commissions to pay, just a one off fee for the plugin.

The software presents your auctions in an elegant pop up or you can have them featured within a page or post.  Payment can be made through PayPal and you can also offer items for “Buy Now.”  If you want an innovative way to sell your goods, that makes your customers’ experience more fun and interactive, then this is the plugin for you.

Don’t forget that all these plugins are available to download from our resources and plugins page.  The sooner you get building your ecommerce site, the quicker you can start making money from your products and building a profitable website business.

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About the Author

Melanie Citron

Melanie Citron is a freelance writer and self proclaimed “techie” who lives in Denver with her husband, Glenn, and their three dogs Ralph, Sam and Billy. Melanie has become the “go to person” for creating online businesses for her friends and family. “I do it every day so I may as well write about it” Her knowledge has appeared on websites, in local newspapers and in person as a public speaker. In her spare time Melanie loves the outdoors and hikes and cross country skis.