| Website design and initial setup |
- Most carts offer pre-made, limited customizable templates of all prices and complexity.
- Many other carts will not personally customize your website, convert from an existing website, or create a brand new look just for you.
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- Cirkuit Commerce has free modern pre-made templates with limited customization. These templates are mobile ready and responsive to load quickly and look sharp on all devices.
- Convert an existing responsive website - typically $500 to $1000 depending on website complexity (quote provided upon request).
- Create a brand new website - typically $800 - $2000 and up depending on website complexity (quote provided upon request). We work with you one-on-one until you're happy with the result.
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| Future website updates when your store is already online |
- Some carts outsource these updates to unaffiliated developers. This can be highly unreliable in the long-term and pose security risks.
- Some other shopping carts charge $200/hourly with a 2 hour minimum. Even a small, simple update could cost $200! Make sure you know this ahead of time.
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- Free support - we will show you how to do the update yourself, if possible, for no cost.
- For custom website maintenance updates (HTML & CSS), we charge $100/hour. Custom programming (PHP, Javascript, Etc.) is $150/hour. We always provide quotes and get your approval before doing any custom work.
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| Software usage, updates, and support |
- Some carts limit features based on plan and charge you extra for priority support.
- Some carts charge you to update to their latest version.
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- All features are included in all Cirkuit plans. And our support team is readily available to help you if you have an issue, regardless of which plan you fall under.
- We update our software regularly. You will always be using the latest version our software.
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| Website hosting, backups, and security |
- Some carts require you to have your own servers and handle updates, security, and backups yourself.
- Some carts outsource their hosting to other companies. Not only will you be relying on yet another company to run your business, but more people will then have direct access to you and your customers' personal data.
- Some carts will host your site for an extra fee.
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- Cirkuit is a fully-hosted, in-house solution. You don't have to pay anything extra for web hosting. This limits the amount of people with access to your data and helps provide seamless support across all services.
- Personal hosting, backups, security, support, live monitoring, and unlimited software updates are included with all plans.
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| Extra data storage |
- Some carts do offer "unlimited" storage. We think it's a bit of a marketing ploy, as a vast majority of websites don't use much storage space. Plus, most carts do not host email, so your email hosting will be with a 3rd party such as Gmail or Microsoft Office 365. Cirkuit Commerce does host email, which is why we do not offer unlimited storage space with our Cirkuit Commerce plans.
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- Our average client has just over 1000 products and uses about 1 GB of data storage. If you do require more storage space, we offer fair pricing for additional disk space.
- We offer additional disk space for $1/month per Gigabyte, with bulk pricing discounts available on a case-by-case basis.
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| Website domain name |
- Most carts let you use your own domain or let you buy one through them. Domains are cheap (usually $10-30 per year).
- Some carts use a free "shared" domain for your website. You don't have to pay for it, but it's also not truly your domain and you could lose it at any time. You are also sharing the same SSL certificate which could pose as a security risk.
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- If you already own a domain name, you can use it with your Cirkuit Commerce account by changing your nameservers to the ones we provide you.
- If you'd rather not deal with purchasing, configuring, and renewing your domain every year, we can do it for you for $20/year.
- We consciously choose to not offer a free shared domain option. We believe it's insecure and unprofessional, and your customers will notice.
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| SSL Certificate - Required security to accept credit cards on your website |
- Some carts make you buy your own SSL, and make you set it up on your own.
- Some carts funnel all shopping cart checkout pages through a single SSL certificate on a shared domain.
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- We will manage your SSL for you and renew it each year for $99/year. And we are currently offering 50% off SSL certificates for the first year!
- You can purchase your own SSL certificate, but you will have to remember to renew it yearly and upload your SSL files to Cirkuit Commerce.
- Each Cirkuit Commerce account comes with a 2048-bit SSL security on their own live domain name. We consciously choose to not offer a shared SSL through a single shopping cart checkout URL.
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| Payment processing fees |
- Some carts have your store's checkout process on another website. This looks highly unprofessional to your customers and they may wonder if they are being scammed, leading to potential cart abandonment.
- Some carts make you use their internal payment processing system. You are locked into whatever rates they offer, and they get a percentage of every order placed on your website.
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- Cirkuit Commerce works with a wide range of payment processing gateways, letting you choose which is best for you. Some gateways have no monthly fees and only charge you by the transaction. Some give you a credit card swiper that plugs in to your computer or phone. Talk to us about it.
- We do not charge you any transaction fees for orders from your customers.
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