FreeMerchant Gold Reviewer's Comments
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FreeMerchant Gold by Digital River Inc, is a very good shopping cart. FreeMerchant Gold is server-based software, which means that you don't need to download or install anything in order to create or manage your store. FreeMerchant will host your site for you. However, FreeMerchant lacks many of the features that Shopsite and Merchandizer have and it's almost the same price. Another drawback is that it has very limited reports.
Feature Set:
FreeMerchant Gold gives you the use of the automated eBay Submission tool to get your products listed for sale in the most powerful auction site. Another great feature is the "New Product" graphical button. They also offer banner exchange that will allow you to exchange banners with other websites. Another nice tool is customer management. You can view a list of all customers and rate those customers based on your experience with them; Good, Bad, or Fraud. You can also save notes for the future and keep track of messages you have sent to a customer.
FreeMerchant has a few limitations. Your online store must be designed with their store builder. You can add your own graphics and backgrounds, but you cannot upload sites or pages created in other programs. One of the other downsides is the limited functionality of the variants. For example, when you have multiple options for a specific product (i.e., color, size, metal type), the pull-down menus can only designate one price. Options with different prices must be created as separate products.
Ease of Use:
FreeMerchant is very simple to use. They have a tutorial that will take you step by step through the process of setting up your store. Building your website was made very easy with a helpful toolbar that lets you add your categories and products right from the website builder.
Ease of Installation:
FreeMerchant Gold is a web-based program. This means no installation for you. Simply select a template and within minutes you will have your site up and running.
Help/Documentation:
The Help is great. They have an informative tutorial-style walkthrough that takes you step-by-step. There are also FAQs and toll-free phone support.
True E-Commerce Solution:
Is FreeMerchant Gold an E-commerce solution? Yes. You can host your website, maintain it, process credit cards (optional add-on), and build your storefront with flexible options such as variable shipping methods.
Summary:
FreeMerchant Gold is a good product and receives our sixth highest ranking of all the products reviewed. Overall it is very easy to use and has many features that will help.
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