The eShop WordPress plugin is a good way to start selling online. It works best for small businesses and, unlike other plugins, it can be used with any WordPress themes because it is very well integrated in WordPress.
The admin section is easy to manage, it shows the customer order page, pending payments and you can add comments, which is very convenient during the transaction process.
eShop WordPress has appropriate documentation and the user finds the required help when installing and customizing it. It is simple to use and has screencasts over some functions, although it doesn’t cover everything in full detail. The user can also find solutions participating in a forum for the plugin and it is very helpful.
With eShop WordPress you can create your products either using posts or pages, although with the latter you can only assign a product to one category. You can always build product categories, which eShop calls departments. In the latest edition you can customize your store layout and show colors and fonts similar to your website or blog.
When adding products, you must check your stock as available in the product’s admin panel or your customers won’t find the add-to-cart button, even if the product is in stock. Anyway, you can use widgets to set up the shop: cart, product search, and that’s helpful because you don’t need any coding knowledge. Before adding products, you have to set your currency, tax rates and the product options that you want to make visible on your product page.
In eShop WordPress, the cart displays all the information we would expect to find in a cart. Such as the quantity of given items left, or delete products from the cart, and go to checkout. However there is a downside and it is that eShop can’t print an invoice for the customer or offer refunds if a customer decides to cancel. In this case, you will have to delete the order and start again.
The default currency is dollars, but it can be changed with a bit of code, although it can be a nuisance for less savvy users. You can choose different payment gateways at the checkout. Pay Pal, Payson, iDeal lite, eProcessing Network, WebToPay, Authorize.net and Ogone. The amount of tax depends on shipping zones and is only added to the purchase at the checkout. Its display is a bit confusing for customers because zones are called bands and the information displayed is not very clear for customers.
eShop checkout page is quite complete. As a customer you can leave your address and choose shipping payment method. Fields remember the last entered text, so if the form validation finds errors and the page reloads you don’t have to write everything again. You cannot add new fields to the checkout form, you can only hide existing ones. This point may be very important for users outside the US where additional information may be required on the invoice, such as company info.
If you know a bit of coding, you can add some extra plugin and add as many fields as desired. eShop WordPress is a good cart for your online shopping business. It is quite complete, simple and reliable. If you know a little of coding you’ll have more options when customizing it. If you are a small or medium-sized business owner, you can count on eShop WordPress.