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--- ecommerce:shopping_for_ecommerce_solutions [2021/10/18 20:43] – [Square Online/Weebly] mithat
+++ ecommerce:shopping_for_ecommerce_solutions [2021/10/30 00:24] – [Conclusions] mithat
@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 **TL;DR:** [[https://woocommerce.com/|WordPress+WooCommerce]] has a lot of potential. More research is needed to evaluate fulfillment features. The plugin-based architecture could create maintenance issues. The reliance on third-party stuff diminishes the FOSS-appeal.
-A couple years ago, I set up a trial [[https://woocommerce.com/|WordPress+WooCommerce]] shop  partially to learn its in and outs for client work and partially to see if it would eventually work as a solution for my own shop. This should come as little surprise to those who know what a supporter of FOSS I am.
+A couple years ago, I set up a [[https://woocommerce.com/|WordPress+WooCommerce]] shop both to learn its ins and outs for client work and to see if it would eventually work as a solution for my own shop. This should come as little surprise to those who know what a supporter of FOSS I am.
-What I found is that while it’s possible to build a shop with WordPress+WooCommerce, to make it useful you’ll need to add some third-party plugins, some by WooCommerce, some not, FOSS, some not. This arguably turns the open-source platform into a distributed proprietary one. Apart form the compromise in computing ecology this represents, it introduces two additional issues of concern: (1) There’s no guarantee that a third-party plugin you’re relying on will be maintained in the future, and (2) there’s no guarantee that the pricing model for a third party plugin you’re relying on won’t change. It also introduces a couple usability issues for the shop maintainer: the management of features tends to get a little spidery, and updating plugins can be chaotic if done automatically; if done manually a lot of diligence is required. Not a deal-killer, but a bit of a papercut.
+What I found is that while it’s possible to build a shop with WordPress+WooCommerce, to make it useful you’ll need to add some third-party plugins, some by WooCommerce, some not, some FOSS, some not. This arguably turns the open-source platform into a distributed proprietary one. Apart form the compromise in computing ecology this represents, it introduces two additional issues of concern: (1) There’s no guarantee that a third-party plugin you’re relying on will be maintained in the future, and (2) there’s no guarantee that the pricing model for a third party plugin you’re relying on won’t change. It also introduces a couple usability issues for the shop maintainer: the management of features tends to get a little spidery, and updating plugins can be chaotic if done automatically; if done manually a lot of diligence is required. Not a deal-killer, but a bit of a papercut.
 As far as how well WordPress+WooCommerce lines up with my three desired features:
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   * It can be very low cost to run — free in fact if you don’t count webhosting that you already have. However, running it for “free” will limit the plugins you can use.
   * WooCommerce’s own tax calculation plugin promises to do what I need, and initial testing suggests that it works. Other options exist but get very costly very quickly.
-  * The [[https://woocommerce.com/products/woocommerce-amazon-fulfillment/|plugin for Fulfillment by Amazon]] is a bit costly. We aren’t talking about Amazon’s service fees here, we’re talking about having plunk down $129 a year on top of those. It looks other fulfillment integrations may be possible. This needs some research.
+  * The [[https://woocommerce.com/products/woocommerce-amazon-fulfillment/|plugin for Fulfillment by Amazon]] is a bit costly. We aren’t talking about Amazon’s service fees here, we’re talking about having plunk down $129 a year on top of those. However, other fulfillment integrations appear to be possible. This needs some research.
+Other pros and cons include:
+  * Because it's so popular, there are a //lot// of plugins. This means if you want to add something to your store (e.g., on-demand printing of swag) you'll probably have a decent range of service providers to pick from.
 ===== Shop 0.0.2 =====
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 Other pros and cons:
-  * No plugins (i.e., apps in Squarespeak) are required and only a few plugins available, so much less anxiety of plugin abandonware.
+  * No plugins ("apps" in Squarespeak) are required and there aren't that many plugins available, so there's not much less anxiety of plugins becoming abandonware.
   * It's easy to use, though not nearly as easy as they would have you think.
-  * Running under your own domain will require a paid tier. But the ''%%<subdomain>.square.site%%'' URL they give you is decent, and the ''%%<subdomain>%%'' is easy to change.
+  * Running under your own domain requires a paid tier. But the ''%%<subdomain>.square.site%%'' URL they give you is decent, and the ''%%<subdomain>%%'' is easy to change.
   * The retail template is functional, but they only offer one, along with a number of styling (font and color) options.
   * Supports print on demand sales with a [[https://squareup.com/us/en/app-marketplace/app/printful|Printful plugin]].
+  * I've been getting a //lot// of emails from Square now, some trying to upsell.
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 ===== Conclusions =====
-Assuming Square Online passes testing, it's going to be a fight between it and WooCommerce.
+Assuming Square Online passes sales tax testing, it's going to be a close fight between Square Online and WordPress+WooCommerce.
 Stay tuned.