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Shopify is today one of the biggest Ecommerce store development platforms in the world. There is no doubt that it is also one of the best ecommerce platforms available. However, there are some dirty little Shopify secrets its developers don’t want you to know. However, we would like you to know that by no means we intend to discourage you from using the platform.
Purpose of this article is to partially highlight the need for professional Shopify store development experts. More often than not, people try to build stores with no skills and end up with more problems than solutions. Also, some features and Shopify secrets are lesser known by most. Here are some secrets that Shopify’s developers don’t want you to know:
Too High Uncompromised Transaction Fees
Although not quite hidden, there are many costs in Shopify that are easy to overlook. When stores begin to make money, so does Shopify off of them. This Shopify secret often gets missed by many store owners from all business industries.
Basic Shopify Going for $29 a Month
In addition to that, there will be payment processed rate of 2.9% and additional 30¢ per transaction made as well. In person credit card processing rate of 2.7& also applies with additional 2% fee of using payment provider other than Shopify too.
Shopify Going for $79 a Month
The regular Shopify account that is going for $79 a month has slightly lower 2.6% payment processing rate. 30¢ transaction fee applies with in person credit card process rate of 2.5% too. Also, using any other payment provider than Shopify will cost another 1%.
Advanced Shopify for $299 a Month
Shopify advanced account reduces the payment processing fee to 2.4% and keeps the 30¢ per transaction fee. You will also pay in-person credit card processing rate of 2.4% with lower 0.5% additional other payment provider service usage.
Shopify Plus Provides Sales-Based Monthly Fee
Starting from $2,000 a month and going up to $40,000 a month, the Shopify plus is for big businesses. What you pay is calculated on how much you sell. At the core, 1.6$ payment processing with $.35¢ per transaction also apply. In person credit car processing rate of 2.4% with any other payment provider fee of 0.15% also applies.
Also, with the Shopify Basic account, a new seller selling $1,000 worth of products over 6 transactions will pay $29 with $1.80 in flat processing fees. This equates to $30.80 per $1,000. These charges escalate when you starting selling more. When you move up to $100,000 in sales over 1,100 transaction, you will pay Shopify $2,400 in percentages with $330 flat processing fees. This translates to $2,370 in total. Compare this $2,370 with $279 if the Advanced Shopify.
Other ecommerce platforms like Magento provides much cheaper rates for payment processors. Shopify secrets that many people don’t know include the fact that the platform discourages you to do so. There is even a penalty fee for using other payment provider than Shopify payments.
Data Migration Is a Nightmare Even for Experts
Shopify migration usually scare the ghost out of many developers. This is actually the main reason many people don’t encourage the platform. The reason is in it not being open-source. Shopify is proprietary, which means, all your data is contained in private databases. And these databases make it hell of a job to transfer between eCommerce platforms.
When it comes to Shopify secrets, this is one of the best guarded ones. At the core, you won’t even own your own data as you will not store it. There is no easy way to get it as well from Shopify in case you want to switch platforms. All servers are also cloud based, so, you’ll need to fulfil many requirements in order to access your data.
Rebuilding your website from the ground up will be required if you ever want to switch. Shopify makes it easy to switch to it but not from it. Shopify secrets don’t get better than this. The sheer amount of work you have to do in order to migrate away from it is insane. Other open-source platforms like Magento, use standardized databases that are accessible easily for migration. Migration from Shopify best be handled by absolute experts who know what they are doing in order to avoid data losses.
No Multiple Store Support with One Shopify Account
Paying so much just to get on Shopify, you’d think, they would at least allow multiple store support. Well, that is not the case. At least not with one Shopify account dashboard. Every store on Shopify needs a different account and dashboard. Shopify doesn’t allow owners to combine multiple stores into one platform. Something readily available on other platforms.
There is only one store per username allowed. You will have to log in for each one separately as well for maintenance and support. Third-party apps do allow for such multiple store support but for even additional costs. Magento allows for easy multiple store management. You can also operate different stores under the same brand on Magento and other ecommerce platforms. Shopify secrets that you didn’t know included this one as well. Or maybe you knew about this one. Either way, busted.
Not Much Out of the Box Functionality on Shopify
Another one of lesser known Shopify secrets is the fact that the platform doesn’t allow for many regular features. There are few that get supported including:
- Sitemaps
- Canonical URLs
- txt
- Titles and Meta Descriptions
- Alt Tags for Images
This is where it just about stops. Any other required SEO functionality will have to be gotten with additional SEO tools. And they will cost you a pretty penny as well. Moz, SEMRush and any other extensions for SEO will have to be additional costs.
Other ecommerce platforms including Magento offer a more robust selection of SEO tools out of the box. Shopify built on closed, proprietary platform, will not allow other open-source SEO tools. This is where these dark Shopify secrets take a turn for the worst.
Limited Customizations for the Pros
Shopify is made to be easy to use and for the starters. Of course, this is also the main selling point of the ecommerce platform. For Shopify secrets, customization is really limited once you start opening up your business. Changing your theme, making basic modifications and adding small stuff here and there is all good and well. Higher level deeper customizations will simply not be available.
For example, if you want to start selling B2B products, overhauling your theme, and also making deeper level changes, you will be stuck. On Shopify, you will have to trade flexibility for simplicity. This becomes a problem for future large growth. Open-source platforms like Magento will allow you deeper more flexible customizations. Modify what you need and implement what is required just easily.
Shopify Experts and Professionals Can Help
When you need to setup large ecommerce stores, Shopify experts and professionals will help. Small startup stores can be built and managed by new storeowners. Larger stores with more functionality will have to depend on professional expert support.
Also, these Shopify secrets are aimed to provide useful information in making your decision. When so many people are going with Shopify, there aren’t many things that will go wrong. You just have to trust the Shopify way, which in fact works for many.
