Thought I would be with Miva Merchant for Life
Rick,
I started out with Miva way back in the early 2000's. At that time was was a web developer building ecommerce stores for others, strictly using Miva Merchant. I really pushed it, even when it didn't work well. A few years ago I slowing worked my way out of the Web design business. In 2010 I decided to try selling nutritional supplements online and built a Miva store for myself. Sales grew but I was never going to get rich at it because I am in a very low margin industry. In most cases, I am l make about 12% - 18% on the items that I sell.
When I got your email on Thursday, I was completely shocked it just doesn't didn't make sense for my small business that grosses a bit over $130,000 including shipping and sales tax on my Miva Store.
In January of this year, I decided to put together a second store but I decided to try Volusion. The store was easy to put together, had all the bells and whistles that I needed without having to purchase additional modules, support either on the phone or through their support desk has been just as good as Miva's. I also have a one page checkout, a responsive mobile design, automatic tax rate, a mobile app, abandoned cart reports, multiple admins can be on the site at the same time, reward points and I'm sure that I am forgetting a bunch more. My store with them is about $75.00 per month. I get 10 GB of storage, up to 10,000 products (I only have 250) so why should I pay Miva $175 more per month more?
Because as you say Miva has spent millions on building the Miva Merchant platform. Volusion I'm sure has had the same development costs over the years that Miva has. It's all about gouging the customers that Miva has. Just watch as a very large number leave and no one is knocking down the door to get a new Miva Store.
So Monday, I will be making my final decision. I know that you I'll get stuck having to pay a month or so at $249.00 to Miva, but I will probably be saving myself another Miva price increase when you find that the amount of money that you thought that you would generate turns out to be less than your current income.
Sincerely,
Steve
I started out with Miva way back in the early 2000's. At that time was was a web developer building ecommerce stores for others, strictly using Miva Merchant. I really pushed it, even when it didn't work well. A few years ago I slowing worked my way out of the Web design business. In 2010 I decided to try selling nutritional supplements online and built a Miva store for myself. Sales grew but I was never going to get rich at it because I am in a very low margin industry. In most cases, I am l make about 12% - 18% on the items that I sell.
When I got your email on Thursday, I was completely shocked it just doesn't didn't make sense for my small business that grosses a bit over $130,000 including shipping and sales tax on my Miva Store.
In January of this year, I decided to put together a second store but I decided to try Volusion. The store was easy to put together, had all the bells and whistles that I needed without having to purchase additional modules, support either on the phone or through their support desk has been just as good as Miva's. I also have a one page checkout, a responsive mobile design, automatic tax rate, a mobile app, abandoned cart reports, multiple admins can be on the site at the same time, reward points and I'm sure that I am forgetting a bunch more. My store with them is about $75.00 per month. I get 10 GB of storage, up to 10,000 products (I only have 250) so why should I pay Miva $175 more per month more?
Because as you say Miva has spent millions on building the Miva Merchant platform. Volusion I'm sure has had the same development costs over the years that Miva has. It's all about gouging the customers that Miva has. Just watch as a very large number leave and no one is knocking down the door to get a new Miva Store.
So Monday, I will be making my final decision. I know that you I'll get stuck having to pay a month or so at $249.00 to Miva, but I will probably be saving myself another Miva price increase when you find that the amount of money that you thought that you would generate turns out to be less than your current income.
Sincerely,
Steve
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