Many people do not understand the differences between Yahoo! Store and a self-hosted e-commerce solution such as Prestashop. Both solution has its own advantages and disadvantages. Some customers ask us whether they need a self-hosted e-commerce solution or not. I always tell them that it really depends on what their needs are. In general, if our customers are unsure of their sales target and just want to open a store, I would recommend them to first use a simplier solution such as Yahoo! Store to test the market. Otherwise, I believe a self-hosted e-commerce solution will save more money in the long run. Here is a simple comparison of the two solutions.
| Feature | Yahoo! Store | Self-hosted e-commerce solution |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Yahoo! Store costs around $400 HKD for the initial setup fee. In addition, for its starter package, it has a monthly fee of around $320 HKD and a 1.5% transaction fee (does not include credit card payment or Paypal payment fees). For its professional package, it costs around $2400 HKD monthly and a 0.75% transaction fee. | A self-hosted e-commerce solution has a one time setup fee (which includes web site design and programming fee) which is significantly higher than the Yahoo! store (depending on the functionality). In addition, there is a server cost to host the solution. There are no hidden fees. |
| Design | Somewhat customizable, but it requires a programmer and graphics designer to do it (cost depends on the rate of the design team). | Fully customizable, and the cost is already included in the solution package. |
| Reliability | Depends on Yahoo!’s server uptime | Depends on the hosted server uptime (you must ask yoru server provider what is its guarantee uptime) |
| Functionality | Limited to what Yahoo! offers to its customers (cannot add new functionalities) | Fully customizable (for example, you can integrate the shop’s user account system to an existing user database) |
| Ownership | The shop is hosted on Yahoo and it belongs to Yahoo. You cannot easily move your shop to another provider. | The shop belongs to you, you can open the shop on several different web sites without paying anything extra (except for server fee). |
| Performance | Depends on the performance of Yahoo! | Depends on the hosted server (you can choose the location of the server. For example, if your shop is opened in HK, then you can get a server in Hong Kong to get optimum speed) |