Anyone heard or used solidcommerce.com?

Closed

www.SolidCommerce.com/

Seems to promise a lot but just no mention or reviews anywhere! Might be to do with the $199 minimum monthly fees but if ChannelAdvisor and eSellerPro is reviewed, I don't see why this isn't.



I'm wary as they're website seems slick and they promise a lot.

Hi tkop,

Solid Commerce is now scheduled for addition to the directory, let's see if it gets some reviews.

I'm so glad I can find reviews before I make my decisions.
I didn't see the $199 min until you mentioned it.
Looks like this is in direct competition (format, pricing, features & website design) with Vendio.
Except for the min, it's about half the price of Vendio - with no store front.
It works with Volusion.

I just recently switched over to SolidCommerce (after a huge mistake in trying out Kyozou - recently posted a review about this here). Anyway, I have not used it enough yet to give a proper review, but so far they are great. Just like any of the other marketplace management solutions (ChannelAdvisor, Kyozou, Infopia, Vendio, etc), SolidCommerce does have their strengths & weaknesses.

#1 for strength is their support. My account manager has been great & will actually contact me to check in. Many times with customer support, you have to jump through many hoops (automated phone systems, search FAQs prior to getting contact info, etc)...not so here.

Depending on your expertise at working with excel spreadsheets, Solid Commerce may or may not be for you. They do have a web interface for entering product data, but it is very limited. To use their system effectively, you really need to enter your data through an excel spreadsheet (which is uploaded via their excel add-in, so you must have excel...not something excel compatible such as openoffice)

They also do not include a website with their package, but do offer integration to other websites (Volusion being the one they advertise). I've noticed other websites within solidcommerce admin, but I'm not sure how well they are integrated. I actually started a Volusion store & I've been happy with it thus far. To integrate with solidcommerce, you need the Volusion Gold package which is currently $99/mo.

If you have any other questions about solid commerce, post here & I will do my best to answer.

Which website interfaces do they work with?
I think that Volusion is quite expensive....
So was your opinion of the pricing good? You have to pay fees up front....
The Vendio pricing structure is attractive...

I did have a $750 setup fee, but that was for eBay, Amazon, & website. Unless their setup fees have changed, price will be less if you don't want all 3 (I was quoted $500 setup fee for just eBay & Amazon). They do have a 30-day money back guarantee on this setup fee though.

For their monthly pricing, there is a $199/mo minimum, but not an issue for me. If your monthly sales on eBay & Amazon are over $16,500, you will be at that minimum. I say eBay & Amazon, since they don't charge a commission on website sales. They charge a per order fee starting at $0.20, but that is only if you use their shipping solution to process the website orders. If you use your own shipping solution, then you are basically getting the website integration for free. See pricing here:
www.solidcommerce.com - pricing

I took a quick look at Vendio (and even requested a demo) when I was initially searching for a solution, but they never got back to me. Plus, with my level of sales, there's not really much price difference. Vendio has only just recently added Amazon & Website integration, so I wouldn't expect a lot of features from them. Plus, from what I saw on the Vendio website, it seemed to be lacking.

ljeanbeans wrote:

Which website interfaces do they work with?

I logged into my account & checked this one for you. Here is the list of the 4 options they provide for 3rd Party Store:

Volusion
3DCart
Order Motion
Instant Web

I really don't know if any of those beyond Volusion is truly integrated with their system. It may just be something they are working on.

Thanks Platinum for all your help!

Yes, Thank you Platinum.
Using excel is what I want to do. The tools seem to be good ones. Thank you for checking that. I'm interested to see how to rate SolidCommerce.
I agree that the websites through Volusion are superior to Vendios.
Clearly, you have been doing plenty of sales already, and had the capital to invest in the up-front cost. The cost of this solution might actually beat Vendio's pricing if you have the volume sales.
This solution doesn't seem like a good one for a seller that is in the process of honing their niche, does it?
What about eBay market research? Vendio has their own app...for extra $.
And SolidCommerce says "Cross Marketplaces Pricing
Set your eBay Store prices based on other marketplaces such as Amazon or your own online store to stay up-to-date and competitive." This seems silly.
I image that you have been using market research for some time.

SolidCommerce may not be the best choice for a small seller. I've actually done fine for the past 7 years just using Auction Tamer for my eBay listings & manually managing inventory between eBay, Amazon, & my website. If you have the time, you may want to just do the same for a while (the less you pay others, the more you can pocket). The problem is that eventually you come to a point that sales are such that you don't have the time to manage everything & have to consider hiring someone - or looking into software such as Solid Commerce that can do some of the work for you.

Another tip that I've just recently figured out is learn to build a Database for your products. I've built an Access Database (which actually links to all of the Auction Tamer Data I already had) & you can generate spreadsheets from the database to any software or site that can do bulk data uploads. If your not quite ready for a solution like Solid Commerce yet, this would allow you to use a less expensive option & then allow you to switch at a later date without too much effort.

As far as market research goes, I just use eBay's search. First, check to see what others are currently selling your item on eBay. Then you can do an advanced search on eBay to see sold items. Really no need to pay extra for that. Plus I find than many times it is just easier to buy a small quantity of product, list it & see how it does.

Thank you, platinum, that's plenty of information, enough to make a good decision.
Well, there is one more question I have on my mind....
that is, if you use one multi-channel solution and want to change to another, how easy is it to do this?
You said that you used Auction Tamer...how easy was it switch? How easy do you think it would be to switch from Solid Commerce.
Reviews on Vendio said that it was somewhat difficult to switch from it.
Obviously, if you're using excel to manage your inventory and backups, and your software depends on that it wouldn't be so difficult. Depending upon the website administration format etc....this is the next big question.
BTW, I'm really impressed with how much work you have done. I have over 1000 products in my inventory, currently. I wonder how many you have.

I would say switching to another solution could range from almost impossible to very easy...depending on how you have your data & how they store theirs. That's why I suggested that you create a product database. My Auction Tamer data was already in a database, so I was actually able to link to it & reuse all that data. Once you have that in place, switching to another solution is really just a matter of creating a new query on your database...then with a few clicks you can have an excel, csv (or whatever you need) to import into your new solution. The question for Vendio would be do they allow bulk import of data.

It may surprise you, but I don't have a lot of active SKUs. (Although I stock tens to hundreds of each SKU) I sell many, many items from creating a single product ad/listing. However, as I continually add more SKUs it becomes more difficult to manage & that's why I've started with SolidCommerce. Hopefully, it works out for me...so far it's looking good.

Good Deal! Yes, I've started out by building a database because I can easily upload bulk into eBay and Amazon myself this way. That's great to know, I'll use that information if I decide to go with Vendio or Auction Tamer, for now, until I can build up some capital.
I've been rewriting my supplier's titles to make more search results, but I see now that eBay market research software provides these suggestions.
So many options out there, and this website and forums are great.
Still interested in what star rating you give Solid Commerce, but this seems to be the most high-quality multi-market solution. Next, I will research Volusion, but that ecommerce solution seems to have very very high ratings.
I'm hooked up with Thrive Learning Institute, and the information I get from them is very thorough - so I'm following the steps and doing the research in advance. I've deviated from their benchmark steps so far, and found out a lot of the information on my own that I could've just taken their word on - they teach the truth. I would've just been wasting time - but, Luckily, I've found some additional tools on my own - such as this website.
Thanks very much, and success to you!!!!

I went to the school of hard knox - figured everything out for myself. I've found that most of these programs are all full of hot air & a waste of time. If Thrive Learning Institute is working out for you & providing you with help...great. However, I suggest you check out this link which was the 2nd result on Google after a searching "Thrive Learning Institute"

scam.com/showthread.php?t=43826

Well, sure. The School is not a scam, but they might have over-reached with their claims and business goals. They need to work to improve their services, too, and they do try. I joined them 1 week after losing my 2 1/2 stint job with a Real Estate Broker in Oct 2008. The price tag was high, and this is a business loss if I don't use it. It is a rigorous set of course materials, and I've only gotten through about 25% of that I was given. I'm slowly working through a couple of bench marks right now - eBay Market Research and Dropshipping Assessing the Competition. I'm still honing my niche. I have found so many suppliers with organic searches, however, that I wouldn't need to subscribe to a supplier list. My courses are eBay, Dropshipping, Affiliate & Marketing 101. There is information here that I hadn't quite noticed or boiled down in my own personal research. The information in the course materials is accurate and up-to-date. They have revamped their course materials a few time since I joined them to account for changes in venues and markets. They respond to my emails and chats. I have lifetime access. They ask for feedback and advice. The information is very useful and provides competitive edge, so that the info shouldn't be free. I know I couldn't have figured it all out on my own. I'M NOT SELLING THIS COMPANY but I haven't seen one out there that isn't a scam or MLM. Maybe there is another like them out there. I don't think you'd learn this at an accredited school, they teach students to work for established companies.
One blogger I subscribe to swears by purchasing pre-owned domains, but this (not licensed) school teaches SEO and linkback (just one little bit of what they offer). Thrive doesn't tell you which tools are best, mostly because that depends on the products or services you're selling.
Mostly I, and everyone else, needs to do proper research in advance and plenty of work. ;-) It's really easy to miss something.
You needed to automate your business at a certain point, I'm looking to do the same. I've already spent countless hours typing! LOL! Gotta get crackin' Take Care!