Ecwid Review 2022: Pros & Cons, Pricing And Features

Pros

• Easy learning curve
• Numerous features
• Free plan
• No transaction fees
• Excellent international options

Cons

• Limited features on the free plan
• Limited live support

Ecwid Overview

What if there were a way to make eCommerce easy? So easy that you don’t even need a full online store, just a simple element you can add to an existing website, your newsletter, blog, or social media posts to let interested shoppers buy from you?

It sounds almost too good to be true, but it’s not. The easy eCommerce solution you’re looking for could be Ecwid. It’s pronounced “ehk-wid,” and it’s a shopping cart widget you can plug into any web page, using just a few lines of code — that’s known as a widget. Of course, if you want an online store, Ecwid has you covered there, too. Anyone can use Ecwid to build a one-page online store or add online sales to any existing web page. Use Ecwid to sell across multiple platforms, social networks, and marketplaces, managing an expanding eCommerce operation with multiple storefronts from one easy-to-use admin panel. And Ecwid is available in more than 175 countries, so you can use it for eCommerce wherever you’re based.

If that sounds like a promising start, read on for a full Ecwid review, including an analysis of pricing, features, reputation, and design.

What is Ecwid?

Ecwid is an eCommerce platform aimed at small to medium-sized businesses. With a Forever Free plan in addition to three paid plans, Ecwid charges no transaction or setup fees and allows almost instant eCommerce on any existing website, on a standalone online store, and even in person.

Ecwid Pricing

Ecwid pricing is relatively straightforward, with a limited free plan that allows you to launch an online store, called Instant Site powered by Lightspeed, without a monthly payment in addition to three paid plans with increasing levels of features. Take note that some relatively basic features are not available on the free plan.

Here’s a breakdown of Ecwid’s plans:

Forever Free

Ecwid’s free plan costs $0/month and includes:

• Online store
• Up to 10 products
• Up to 2 categories
• Instant Site fully customizable online store
• Add a store to any website
• Free SSL certificate
• One-tap checkout with Apply Pay and Google Pay
• Add eCommerce to any website
• Unlimited bandwidth, storage, and customers
• Product options
• Real-time shipping rates
• Custom shipping rates
• Order pickup
• Custom taxes
• Import products
• Store design customization
• Javascript API
• Google Shopping ads and tracking
• Facebook Pixel
• Snap Pixel
• Pinterest tag
• Google Analytics report
• Email support
• Free live chat support for the first 30 days
• No transaction fees

Venture

Ecwid’s Venture plan costs $15/month and includes everything in the Free plan, plus these additional features:

• Up to 100 products
• Up to 10,000 categories
• Free SSL certificate
• Gift Cards (2% commission)
• Store management app for Android and iOS
• Tips and gratuity
• Handling fee
• Favorites
• Pay what you want pricing
• Product ribbons and subtitles
• Facebook store
• Instagram Shopping
• TikTok shopping
• 70+ payment methods
• Export store data
• Digital products (25GB per file)
• Automatic tax calculations
• Inventory tracking
• TikTok advertising
• Sale and promotional pricing
• Bulk discount pricing
• Automatic discounts
• Coupons
• Automatic sitemap for your Instant Site
• Advanced SEO tools
• Affiliates features
• Facebook Messenger live chat
• Ecwid REST API
• Access to App Market
• Custom domain
• Email notification templates
• TikTok Pixel
• Tracking orders
• Custom tracking code
• Live Chat support

Business

Ecwid’s Business plan costs $35/month and includes everything in the Venture plan, plus these additional features:

• Up to 2,500 products
• Gift Cards (1% commission)
• Multilingual catalog
• 2 staff accounts
• Recurring subscriptions
• Marketplaces (Amazon, eBay, Walmart)
• Vend POS
• Inventory tracking by product variations
• Order creation and editing
• Customer group discounts
• Product variations
• Product filters
• Customizable invoices
• Automated marketing emails
• Newsletters via Mailchimp
• Abandoned cart
• Phone support
• 2 hours of free customization service (if plan paid annually)

Unlimited

Ecwid’s Unlimited plan costs $99/month and includes everything in the Business plan, plus these additional features:

• Unlimited products
• Gift Cards (no commission)
• Unlimited staff accounts
• Square and Clover POS
• ShopApp available at no charge (if plan paid annually)
• 12 hours of customization service (if plan paid annually)

While Ecwid does not offer a free trial, you’ll automatically be enrolled in the free plan when you sign up, with no credit card required. It’s reasonable to use the free option as a test of Ecwid’s platform. Plans are billed monthly, with no contracts to sign.

If you decide to make a long-term commitment to Ecwid and pay for a full year in advance, you can save around 17%. It’s worth repeating that Ecwid charges no transaction fees on the sales you make, although you will have to pay fees to your payment gateway provider.

Also noteworthy: Ecwid offers six months free on the Venture plan to nonprofits.

Ecwid Features

Ecwid comes with a surprisingly expansive feature set straight out of the box, with more features always in development and added to your admin automatically. Keeping in mind that not all features are available on all plans, with the Free plan naturally coming in the lightest, here’s what you can expect to find with Ecwid:

Ecwid Themes

Because Ecwid was originally intended as an eCommerce add-on to an established website, you might expect it to lag in the theme department. Fortunately, this is one area where Ecwid has put some effort, with pleasing results. While you can still plug Ecwid into an existing website, if you don’t already have a site of your own you now can choose from 99+ Instant Site design options, and they’re all completely free. All the themes are fully customizable, so you can change text, fonts, button CTAs, images, color, and layout all from your Ecwid control panel. You can even add video, simply by copy/pasting a YouTube or Vimeo link.

Screenshot of Ecwid webpage, captured 2/4/2022

Types Of Payment Accepted With Ecwid

Ecwid accepts integrations with 70+ payment gateways out of the box. If you don’t see what you want to see on the full list of available Ecwid payment processors, you can access the Ecwid Payment API to develop a custom integration on your own or with a third-party professional. We like that Ecwid includes information for each processor that lets you know what countries it’s available in, with an impressive list of countries available.

Here’s a small sampling of some popular options that come pre-built with Ecwid:

• Stripe
• Square
• PayPal
• Afterpay
• American Express
• BitPay (crypto)
• Klarna
• One-tap checkout with Apple Pay and Google Pay
• Pay what you want options
• POS options including Square, Clover, and Vend (available only on  the Unlimited plan)

Remember that no matter what gateway(s) you choose, Ecwid does not charge transaction fees beyond the processing fees associated with your payment provider.

Ecwid also supports some nice payment options that include tips and gratuity, handling fees, and recurring subscriptions. These features are available on all plans except the Free plan.

Selling On Multiple Sales Channels With Ecwid

If we had to choose one area where Ecwid undeniably excels, its omnichannel capabilities definitely stand out. That’s because Ecwid originally was designed to bring eCommerce to absolutely any website, via the addition of a simple widget, or line of code. Ecwid has continued to develop its multichannel capabilities, integrating new social media channels like TikTok and adding new marketplaces. Note that your options be limited by your Ecwid plan level.

Keeping in mind that you can use Ecwid to add eCommerce to any web page, here’s a list of available sales channels:

• Facebook
• Instagram 
• TikTok
• Amazon
• eBay
• Walmart
• Snapchat

Does Ecwid Offer Buy Buttons?

Ecwid allows all users, even those on the free plan, to place a Buy Now button onto any website page or blog post to enable online sales. Just copy and paste a few lines of code, and Ecwid’s headless, cross-platform embeddable product card and checkout works with almost any website builder or CMS.

Use the buy button and you automatically unlock Ecwid’s full range of eCommerce features, including tax calculators, payment processing, and shipping information. The button automatically adapts to your site’s colors and styles.

Selling Internationally

Ecwid has robust capabilities to facilitate international sales. You can set up a store in any country, though you may need a paid subscription to do so. You may need more than one Ecwid store if you plan to sell in multiple countries, and if you want several languages in your store you may not be able to use the free Instant Site store option; you may need a website builder that supports multilingual functionality like WordPress or Wix.

Ecwid will automatically translate navigation elements, interface texts, invoices, and email notifications. You will need to translate any text you enter yourself, including product names, descriptions, categories, and so on. Ecwid supports all official currencies, and while you can set only one currency per store, you can add a currency converter app from the Ecwid app store to convert prices automatically. Customers will be charged in your store currency. Ecwid also works with international shipping carriers. See the full list in the Shipping section of the Shipping & Pickup page of your Ecwid admin, keeping in mind that you can create a custom integration using Ecwid’s shipping API.

The Business and Unlimited plans support multilingual catalogs.

Ecwid Marketing Features

Ecwid provides a suite of eCommerce marketing tools that you can manage from a single dashboard. Here’s a sampling:

• Social media integrations
• Marketplace integrations
• Discounts, sales, and promotional pricing
• Bulk discount pricing
• Automatic discounts
• Affiliate marketing programs
• Automated emails
• Newsletter via Mailchimp
• Advertising on Google, Facebook, Pinterest, and TikTok
• Abandoned cart tools
• Email notification templates
• Google Ads tracking
• Tracking orders

Note: If you’re interested in using Ecwid for your dropshipping business, you can add an integration to support that goal. Ecwid offers integrations to Printful, Wholesale2B, Sprocket, Syncee, Alibaba, and NextsChain. If you want to work with a different dropshipping partner, you can add their products to your Ecwid store and notify the supplier when customers order from you.

Ecwid Product Limits

Ecwid’s plans include limits on products, with the exception of the aptly named Unlimited plan. The Free plan allows just 10 products, while Venture bumps that number to 100 and Business allows 2,500. The Free plan also limits users to just two product categories, while the other three plans allow up to 10,000 categories.

Ecwid allows sales of both physical and digital products. Just specify that your digital products don’t require shipping.

Inventory Management With Ecwid

Ecwid offers relatively robust inventory management tools, including these:

• Stock Tracking: Specify a quantity for every product in your Ecwid store, and that total will automatically be reduced with each sale.
• Low-Stock Notifications: You can choose to receive an email notification when stock quantity gets low for an item, so you can restock it.
• Out Of Stock notices: When a product level hits zero, Ecwid automatically assigns a “sold out” label. If you so choose, unavailable items will be hidden so they can’t be ordered.
• Display Stock Status: Display in-stock status and actual in-stock quantity on product pages. Allow customers to select how many units they want to add to their carts.
• Bulk Editing: Use the built-in import tool to update stock quantity of products and product variations using a simple CSV file with two data types: SKU and quantity.

Ecwid Shipping Tools

Ecwid supports customer accounts, although customers can check out at guests. Your store comes with an automatic tax calculator and a real-time shipping calculator built in. Ecwid uses customers’ IP addresses to calculate shipping costs with major mail carriers, including UPS, USPS, FedEx, Australia Post, and Canada Post.

You can create personalized shipping tables, flat-rate shipping, and minimum orders to qualify for free shipping. Print shipping labels for USPS domestic delivery from your Ecwid admin or add a third-party app to print out labels.

Ecwid also supports local delivery, curbside pickup, and order pickup.

Ecwid SEO Tools

Ecwid offers a few built-in SEO tools, including an automatically generated sitemap for Instant Site stores as well as automatically generated robots.txt files and ALT-tags for images. Products have clean URLs.

Add custom meta tags to product pages and Instant Site pages. Collect product reviews, ratings, and comments to increase your store’s rankings. Add categories and sorting or filtering options to help visitors navigate your site. Add a favicon to boost brand visibility. Register a custom domain name if you prefer. Verify your domain with Google Search Console and submit a sitemap to Google, then use a free version of Google Analytics to track your SEO efforts.

Blogging

Although Ecwid does not offer built-in blogging functionality, it’s incredibly easy to use Ecwid to add an eCommerce element to an existing blog.

Ecwid Discounts & Coupons

Coupons and discounts are available on all paid Ecwid plans.

In-Person Selling Tools

Users on Ecwid’s Unlimited plan have access to their choice of three POS systems:

• Square POS
• Clover POS
• Vend POS (also available on the Business plan)

Mobile App For Customers

Ecwid offers a unique feature called ShopApp that’s available on the Venture plan and above for $590. (Users on the Unlimited plan who pay annually can use ShopApp for free.) Available for both iOS and Android, ShopApp turns your Ecwid store into a mobile app that your customers can install on their devices, giving them easy and ongoing access to your products.

It’s a native mobile app that works perfectly on your customers’ phones and tablets, with all the technical details taken care of for you by Ecwid. Your full catalog will sync with your Ecwid store, and your ShopApp will contain information about your business, including links to your website and social accounts and your merchant contact information. When your customers use ShopApp, they’ll be redirected seamlessly to your Ecwid store, where they can access inventory, shopping and payment options, and checkout.

Is Ecwid Easy To Use?

Ecwid scores major points on ease of use. The control panel is simple to navigate and implement. If you have experience with WordPress or any other CMS, you should be able to pick it up quickly. When you sign up for the free plan, you’ll be directed to your admin. A setup wizard takes you through the first few steps of getting your store up and running.

Adding products is straightforward. Tabs across the top let you list attributes and options, upload additional images, adjust tax and shipping information, and write meta descriptions for advanced SEO (with paid plans only).

I like how you can pop out a quick preview of each product without visiting the full storefront preview. I couldn’t explore the ease of use of some features (e.g., discounts, creating orders) due to limitations of the free plan, but I did toy with shipping zones and methods, which worked nicely. It was also super easy to plug my store into a WordPress site. Once I installed the Ecwid plugin from my WordPress account, my full Ecwid easy-to-navigate dashboard popped right inside the WordPress dashboard. Simple!

Customer Service & Support

Ecwid offers varying options for customer support, depending on your payment plan. Let’s take a look at Ecwid’s support options:

• Phone: Phone support is available to users on the Business and Unlimited plans. Rather than live operators standing by for your call, you will need to request a scheduled call-back (Monday-Friday only) from within your control panel. Phone support is available in English only.
• Email: Email support is available to all users. Support is available all day Monday-Friday. You’ll need to fill out a contact form with your question and submit it through the Ecwid Help Center.
• Live Chat: Live chat support is available to all users on paid plans, 24 hours a day, Monday to Friday. Live chat support is available on the Free plan for the first 30 days.
• Help Center: The searchable Ecwid Help Center includes articles with both text and images that guide you through using the software, setting up your store, increasing sales, and growing your store. The Help Center is easy to use, and the support articles are up to date.
• Guides: Ecwid offers comprehensive downloadable guides that you can access to gain an in-depth look at a range of topics, from Ecwid tips and tricks to general eCommerce education and even vertical-specific handbooks, e.g.: selling food, art, clothing, or music online.
• Ecwid Academy: Take a crash course in eCommerce with free webinars and other comprehensive training tools on evergreen eCommerce topics as well as timely needs such as holiday selling.
• Videos: Ecwid has an extensive video library. Visit YouTube to view videos on setting up nearly every aspect of your online store.
• Custom Development: Users on the Business plan (on the annual subscription) get access to two hours of custom development, while users on the Unlimited plan (on the annual subscription) gain access to 12 hours of custom development. This can include custom feature development, third-party integration assistance, and design changes. If you are not on one of these plans or you need more support, you can pay to access additional custom development.
• Blog: The Ecwid blog features product news and articles about the industry.
• Podcasts: Listen on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Stitcher, or YouTube, and you’ll hear information you can use to build and grow your online business.
• Social Media: Ecwid has active accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Ecwid Integrations & Add-Ons

Ecwid hosts an app marketplace that includes around 40+ free and “freemium” applications and dozens more available for purchase. You must have a paid Ecwid subscription to add any integration to your Ecwid shop. A number of the apps feature customer reviews, so you can easily compare the quality of different applications. Search for apps by name, or view what’s available in nine categories: marketing, store design, dropshipping, catalog & order management, accounting, shipping, analytics, customer support & rewards, and tools. Under marketing, for example, you’ll see about 20 possibilities, including notables like Easyship, ShipStation, ShippingEasy, and Fulfillrite:

Screenshot of Ecwid webpage, captured 2/4/2022

Without listing every available integration, a few apps of note include Zapier, Hubspot, Quickbooks, Klaviyo, and WhatsApp. If you’re not able to find what you need, there’s API documentation available, so developers can build a custom connection for you. You’ll also see an invitation to submit a request for apps or features you think Ecwid is lacking.

Ecwid Reviews

Overall, Ecwid reviews are generally more positive than negative, with an average rating of 4.6/5 across three top review sites. We noticed that Ecwid has quite a few recent reviews, unlike some other platforms we’ve looked into. That lets us know that not only is Ecwid still gaining new users but also that it’s still meeting their needs. Let’s take a quick tour through some of the more common kudos and complaints.

Negative Reviews & Complaints

Ecwid users generally don’t have a lot to complain about, but the negative reviews I’ve found tend to focus on the following:

• Design Limitations: This was the most common complaint I saw on each review site I checked. Even while acknowledging that Ecwid is a cost-effective eCommerce tool, users bemoan the lack of customization options for their stores, proving once again that eCommerce requires a balancing act between price and features.
• Inconsistent Customer Service: Personal customer support via phone and live chat is available only with paid plans, and the wait for replies to inquiries can be longer than customers would like. Even when connecting with support reps, the experience was not satisfactory for all users.
• Limitations On The Free Plan: There’s a reason the free plan is free. You won’t have access to discount creation, inventory management, and other fairly basic features. The free plan also limits you to 10 products. Fortunately, Ecwid’s paid plans are competitively priced, and they include many more desired features.

Positive Reviews & Testimonials

Ecwid scores well on overall customer satisfaction on many user review sites. Here’s what users say they like about Ecwid:

• Low Price: Compared with other shopping carts, Ecwid is reasonably priced. The fact that you can start selling without investing a cent is a major positive, even for people who acknowledge limitations in customization and design potential. At the same time, some users point out that even Ecwid’s lower-priced plans come with a satisfying array of features.
• Mobile App: Though not every user agrees, Ecwid’s ShopApp has enthusiastic fans.
• Ongoing Improvements: Some users say that Ecwid is responsive to users’ needs and continues to add features to improve the platform.
• Easy To Use: With a startup wizard and an intuitive dashboard, it’s easy to start selling quickly without feeling overwhelmed. It’s especially easy to use Ecwid to embed a payment button on a blog, on social media posts, or on a website.
• Social Media Integrations: Merchants love being able to connect multiple content management systems and social media sites, with automatic inventory syncing across platforms.
• Multi-Lingual Capabilities: Don’t let a language barrier cost you a sale. Ecwid’s language capabilities (which are available even with the free plan) surpass those of many other shopping carts, even those with higher-cost plans. A surprising number of user reviews seem to come from international sellers.

Ecwid FAQs

Final Verdict of Ecwid

Although Ecwid may not be not suitable for very large companies, it can be just right for small and mid-sized businesses. Subscriptions are quite affordable, and the learning curve is low. You can start with the aptly named “Instant Site” for free if you have 10 or fewer products to sell. And you always have the option to keep the Instant Site setup forever and simply upgrade Ecwid plans as you require more features and apps. Meanwhile, even the free Ecwid plan allows you to plug your Ecwid store into as many other websites as you like.

For users who have a robust website with a large following and simply want to begin selling products, Ecwid is definitely worth a look, especially when compared to starting from scratch with an all-in-one eCommerce website. Start by exploring what your current site builder offers in terms of features and add-ons and look for overlap with Ecwid’s offerings.

What if you’ve decided Ecwid isn’t right for you? If you’re looking for the best free eCommerce platforms, you’ve got some other great choices to consider. And whether you choose Ecwid or another online shopping cart, I wish you great success in all your eCommerce ventures!

The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆

Ecwid	Visit Site

After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Ecwid for yourself.

The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆

Ecwid	Visit Site

After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Ecwid for yourself.

Sources

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