Ecwid by Lightspeed vs. PayPal Zettle

Ecwid is absolutely perfect for any business that is looking to start out with online sales and mobile point-of-sale. Many times, business owners may have limited experience in setting up a website or point-of-sale. Having to spend on this expertise with a limited budget can be frustrating. Ecwid allows you to have great results even if you are a novice.

Incentivized

I recommend PayPal Zettle quite a bit, actually. Its flexibility is easy enough to use for people who are not used to technology. Square has good traits, too, but since so many people already have PayPal accounts, it makes it much easier to use. It is perfect for everyday use of bot large and small transactions.

Incentivized

• Clarity - there has been very little confusion and need to reach out to Customer Support for help
• Consistency - no big, crazy updates or changes have been made to the format of Ecwid during my time using it, so I know when I log in to preform my business tasks I can always locate what I need and accomplish what is at hand easily
• Simplicity - everything is so clear and straightforward. It's like e-commerce for dummies.

• The PayPal Here hardware connection is very effective, my mobile device recognizes it immediately and the PayPal Here application to receive payments also recognizes it immediately. I don't have to wait a long time like some other POS.
• Transactions are made instantly, you just have to pass the NFC chip inside the PayPal Here system, and in a second the transaction will be carried out and it will be shown in the history of the PayPal account registered in the POS.
• It is very easy to provide a receipt to the customer when they use their card within our PayPal Here POS system, as it allows us to digitally send a ticket to the customer and also allows us to send the invoice by email.

Incentivized

• Recurring billing - ability to bill subscription customers without having to go to my payment gateway
• Robust order management - very limited in managing orders, therefore I had to subscribe to a different software
• Expensive customization - if you want to customize anything, it is very expensive

• While swiped payments are easy, manual entry of payment information often fails. This is a major roadblock when you are in the service industry because not everyone who is making payment is on site.
• In almost every instance of accepting a payment, we have to call in and reverify every piece of information about our business before we are successful.
• Whatever system they use to determine how high risk your business is can limit your usage if they get it wrong.
• Customer service is inconsistent at best. Sometimes issues are handled quickly and easily, other time you have to jump through hoops.

Incentivized

The value given by Ecwid is unmatched. When combined with the ease of use of the product, it is a no-brainer to continue to use the product. The only thing that could cause us to switch is if some feature we needed which is not available which is unlikely based on the feature list we reviewed when making the decision to go with them.

Incentivized

There are no monthly costs, the only expense is the card processing fee which is lower than nearly everyone else out there.

Incentivized

I gave a 9 instead of a 10 only because I haven't figured out a function or two. I believe it has less to do with Ecwid's overall usability and more to do with my own understanding and skill level, but regardless, it may also have something to do with the limits of Ecwid's functions.

Very easy to use for both the business owner and the customer. We feel confident using it because we know that our customers information and payments are protected. And our customers know that if anything happens with their orders or they need protection for their purchases it is going to be there with PayPal Zettle. We tried several less remembered names, and it just didn't garner orders like when we switched to PayPal Zettle.

Incentivized

Always available. Very reliable

Adding skus was down for 1hr one day, otherwise have never experienced an outage.

Incentivized

Good overall performance both in desktop and mobile

Everything is very fast. Adding products, selling products, processing cards, and receiving funds.

Incentivized

I have always received the support I need in a timely manner. I enjoy receiving emails every week on trending business topics and new suggestions. They often serve as a reminder for me to include new e-commerce tools into our strategy. And I've always had great experiences with reaching out to the support team with specific questions.

Support hasn't been needed in the 2 years of using PayPal but I have received calls from the company in the past asking about my experience with the device that was sent to me and they were pretty helpful with advice. Support is all over the internet if needed but for emergencies, so it is best to contact them during business hours.

Incentivized

Fast and simple implementation of Ecwid's solutions. Easy to learn and navigate

It went very smoothly.

Incentivized

We sell a product that requires certain controls to sell and most of the companies we researched had specific policies preventing us from selling on their platform. We aren't selling anything dangerous, they are parts of ammunition (the shell casings) and not entire ammunition rounds. Most other vendors restrict the sales of firearms and ammunition, but even when just selling a part used to create ammunition, we were still restricted. I'm not really sure why they restrict sales of products like ours from different vendors. Ecwid had no such restrictions and were happy to confirm that for us.

Incentivized

The main selection criteria were ease of use and the presence of a plugin for WooCommerce. However, in practice it turned out that an important factor is also the availability of the product for purchase in a small batch and at an affordable price. I chose PayPal Zettle because I was able to easily and simply purchase it in my country.

Incentivized

There is no contract, there is no monthly cost. The only cost is the upfront purchase of the equipment and the swipe fees, which are quite low.

Incentivized

Good scalability. I use the second plan and there are 2 more plans that I could use if I needed other features or services

Have not run into any limitations as of yet, with 500 SKUs entered and counting.

Incentivized

Everything about this solution is great, I really can't think of a single complaint. There is even a Phone App so you can check in on your sales remotely.

Incentivized

• We have not been able to measure the ROI as of yet, as we cannot get out of the gate with customization required.
• It can be implemented quickly for basic online stores.
• Once the system is configured, ROI will dramatically go up.

Incentivized

• PayPal Here has allowed us to have a retail presence when we are away from our home location.
• We have sold literally millions of dollars in merchandise at events over the last several years that we otherwise would not have been able to.
• The only negative about PayPal Here is that we did not implement it sooner.

Incentivized