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Miva is a versatile eCommerce engine that caters to both B2B operations and businesses of all sizes. Users appreciate the platform's high …
Overview
What is Miva?
Miva Merchant is a point-and-click, online store development and management system that allows merchants to build their online store through a web browser, and lets developers provide aftermarket enhancements for the online store.
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- Order processing (6)7.777%
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What is Miva?
Miva Merchant is a point-and-click, online store development and management system that allows merchants to build their online store through a web browser, and lets developers provide aftermarket enhancements for the online store.
Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://www.miva.com/miva-ecommerce…
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- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Alternatives Pricing
What is Shopify?
Shopify is a commerce platform designed for both online stores and retail locations. Shopify offers a professional online storefront, a payment solution to accept credit cards, and the Shopify POS application to power retail sales.
What is Wix?
Wix is a free, hosted website builder, designed to be user-friendly and customizable without requiring coding from the user. It is well-known for its eCommerce solution, which allows users to build an online store.
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- Competitors
- Tech Details
- Downloadables
- FAQs
What is Miva?
Miva is an ecommerce platform which provides businesses with a flexible website and fully-customizable catalog and checkout system with control over the look, content, and functionality of their online store.
Miva is invested in its core competency as an ecommerce platform provider, continuously developing solutions to modern merchants’ most pressing needs. The vendor states Miva excels at supporting businesses whose complex product catalogs or specialized industry requirements have proved too challenging for other ecommerce platforms to handle. With over two decades of experience serving businesses that sell everything from aftermarket parts and fresh-caught seafood to custom diamond rings and swimming pools, Miva invites sellers to bring them the problems other platforms can’t handle.
How Miva Supports a Ecommerce System:
- Interface provides web management for non-technical users
- Platform designed to enable B2B and DTC sales on a single website
- Extensive native functionality minimizes the need for third-party apps and plugins
- Unlimited product variations for high SKU count (from thousands to millions) catalogs and dependent SKUs
- Managed ERP integrations with Miva Connect
- Back-office integrations through Miva’s JSON API
- Built-in subscriptions and reordering for frictionless repeat purchasing
- Online sales quotes help sales teams automate their sales processes
- Custom product builders help customers bundle products into kits and custom orders
- Advanced shipping logic supports complex shipping and compliance requirements
- Smart pricing options for customer and rule-based pricing
Miva Features
Online Storefront Features
- Supported: Product catalog & listings
- Supported: Product management
- Supported: Bulk product upload
- Supported: Branding
- Supported: Search & filter
- Supported: Mobile storefront
- Supported: Product variations
- Supported: Website integration
- Supported: Visual customization
- Supported: CMS
- Supported: Customer service tools
Online Shopping Cart Features
- Supported: Abandoned cart recovery
- Supported: Tax calculator
- Supported: Shipping calculator
- Supported: Checkout user experience
Online Payment System Features
- Supported: PayPal integration
- Supported: Returns & refunds
- Supported: Single-click checkout
- Supported: eCommerce security
- Supported: B2B features
eCommerce Marketing Features
- Supported: Promotions & discounts
- Supported: Personalized recommendations
- Supported: SEO
- Supported: Product reviews
- Supported: Customer registration
eCommerce Business Management Features
- Supported: Multi-site management
- Supported: Order processing
- Supported: Inventory management
- Supported: Accounting
- Supported: Shipping
- Supported: Custom functionality
Additional Features
- Supported: Online Sales Quotes
Miva Video
Lotus Sculpture outgrew Yahoo Stores and moved to Miva to keep his business on track.
Miva Integrations
- Mailchimp
- Avalara
- QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
- QuickBooks Desktop Premier
- QuickBooks Desktop Pro
- PowerReviews
- Authorize.net
- Visa Acceptance Solutions (CyberSource)
- ShipWorks
- PayPal Payments Pro
- Endicia
- ShipStation
- Affirm
- Chase Paymentech
- PayPal Express Checkout
- PayFlow
- UPS
- FedEx
- USPS
- Canada Post
- StoneEdge
- 4psite
- King Webmaster
- FirstData Global Gateway
- Intuit Merchant Services
- AccurateTax
- eBridge Connections
Miva Competitors
- Shopify
- Volusion
- WooCommerce
- BigCommerce
- Magento Commerce Cloud (formerly Magento)
Miva Technical Details
| Deployment Types | On-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Windows, Linux, Mac |
| Mobile Application | No |
| Supported Countries | All |
| Supported Languages | English |
Miva Downloadables
- Marketview Liquor was struggling using a custom in house shopping cart that hindered their business. They chose Miva to unlock their online sales potential.
- Crown Automotive is a Business to Business specialist selling Jeep parts, they needed to expand online and only Miva could handle all of their unique requirements.
- Coolest Shoes in California ran into lots of problems with open source PrestaShop and switched to Miva to streamline their operational issues and keep them focused on their business.
Frequently Asked Questions
Miva Merchant is a point-and-click, online store development and management system that allows merchants to build their online store through a web browser, and lets developers provide aftermarket enhancements for the online store.
Reviewers rate Order processing highest, with a score of 7.7.
The most common users of Miva are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
Miva Customer Size Distribution
| Consumers | 0% |
|---|---|
| Small Businesses (1-50 employees) | 90% |
| Mid-Size Companies (51-500 employees) | 8% |
| Enterprises (more than 500 employees) | 2% |
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(29)
Community Insights
TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!
- Business Problems Solved
- Pros
- Cons
- Recommendations
Miva is a versatile eCommerce engine that caters to both B2B operations and businesses of all sizes. Users appreciate the platform's high level of customization, allowing them to tailor the customer experience and backend connections to their specific needs. This flexibility extends to design and code adjustments, making it easy for users to optimize their sites for SEO and Google snippets. Miva prioritizes security by ensuring compliance with PCI/PDA-SS requirements, giving customers peace of mind when it comes to protecting their data. The platform also seamlessly integrates with popular third-party services like PayPal, Power Reviews, Shipworks, and Authorize.net.
Miva Merchant goes beyond being an online cart and offers a robust templating system and powerful customization capabilities using Miva Script. Customers find it to be a cost-effective choice for comprehensive e-commerce systems that provide all the necessary functionalities at an affordable price point. The platform has gained popularity among developers for its ongoing development, responsive support, and active community. One of its standout features is its user-friendliness, even for non-tech-savvy individuals, thanks to its intuitive interface and excellent customer service available 24/7. With Miva, users can create functional and user-friendly websites that remain under their control while striking a balance between ease of use and customization options.
The platform's configurability allows businesses to overcome security and SEO challenges effortlessly, while its ability to handle high traffic loads without issues ensures seamless operations even during peak periods. Miva serves as a reliable backend sales platform, providing modern front-end interfaces for retail and wholesale customers while offering integrations to automate various processes. Users value Miva's exceptional customer support, with knowledgeable staff delivering timely and insightful responses. Many online companies rely on Miva Merchant for merchandising and content management, particularly those offering a wide range of products.
However, some users have encountered challenges such as MAP pricing implementation, inventory management with POS systems, and integrating live data feeds. Despite these hurdles, Miva Merchant has been successfully utilized to create and launch ecommerce websites, providing wireframe design, strategy, implementation, and ongoing support. Users appreciate the platform's powerful and customizable nature when building online storefronts for clients. They have managed over 1000 products seamlessly through Miva Merchant, allowing customers to place orders, track shipments, and create accounts. The flexibility and customization options of Miva Merchant have received praise for facilitating unique online store designs and streamlined workflows. Its extensive community of developers enables the creation of custom templates, giving stores a unique look and feel. In addition to the built-in scripting language and modules, users have found that Miva Merchant offers further customization options to meet their specific needs.
The exceptional assistance provided by Miva's support staff, online documentation, and user community has been commended by users. This level of support is particularly valuable for users who may be new to the platform or facing technical challenges. Miva Merchant has proven to be a cost-effective and flexible choice for many businesses seeking an ecommerce solution.
However, it is worth noting that some users have experienced reliability issues with hosting, as well as a lack of critical management features and delayed updates when compared to other ecommerce platforms. As a result, some users have chosen to migrate from Miva Merchant to alternative platforms like Shopify and Big Commerce, citing cost and feature considerations as key factors in their decision.
Despite these challenges, Miva Merchant continues to come recommended by service providers due to its flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and feature set. The platform remains popular among developers and businesses alike for its ability to create and manage online catalogs and ecommerce projects effectively. With its customizable design options, secure infrastructure, powerful integrations, and ongoing development support, Miva proves to be a trusted solution for those seeking full-featured ecommerce systems.
Limitless Customization Options: Users appreciate the platform's limitless customization options, with several reviewers stating that they can fully customize their store design and functionality to accommodate any design elements. They find it convenient to use external API options via XML and JSON, which adds even more flexibility to their customization capabilities.
Easy to Learn and Use: Many users find the platform easy to learn and program, specifically mentioning PHP, JQuery, and other programming languages. Some reviewers have praised its user-friendly interface and intuitive features, making it effortless for them to navigate and utilize the platform effectively.
Solid Architecture and Reliable Performance: The solid architecture of the platform is highly appreciated by users who find it reliable. Several users have mentioned that they trust the platform's performance as the company invests in its future development, ensuring a stable and dependable experience for their businesses.
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User-Friendly Admin Area: Some users have found the Miva admin area to be not very user-friendly and outdated in terms of its user interface UI. They have expressed frustration with navigating and using the admin area, which can make managing their online store more challenging.
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Limited Theme Engine: Several users have mentioned that the current Miva Merchant lacks a clean and standards-compliant theme engine like WordPress, making it less desirable compared to other options. This limitation restricts their ability to customize the look and feel of their online store according to modern design trends.
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Cumbersome Page Content Editing: Users have pointed out that editing page content in MIVA is a cumbersome and old-school task, lacking a WYSIWYG editor. This means they need to rely on manual HTML coding or use external tools for editing content, which adds complexity and time-consuming steps to their workflow.
Based on user reviews, the most common recommendations for Miva are to consider its power, affordability, and functionality. Users highly recommend it for businesses with unique needs and coding knowledge. They suggest investing in support and customization, including hiring expert programmers or development teams. Users also emphasize the importance of attending Mivacon conferences, engaging with documentation and forums, and taking advantage of Miva's robust support services. Additionally, reviewers advise evaluating the size of the business and desired level of control before choosing a platform. They recommend comparing features, exploring hosting options, and considering costs to ensure Miva's flexibility meets specific business requirements.
Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(1-22 of 22)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Miva is the backend sales platform for our websites. They provide a very modern front end for our retail and wholesale customers as well as many integrations to automate our processes. One of their key strengths is customer support, so I've had a great experience working with them and our outside development team addressing our specific needs and functions. If they don't already have a module you can add on, they can either build it, or there are many outside development teams who can tackle the problem for you. The support staff at Miva are incredibly knowledgeable and US based, so an answer is always delivered in a timely manner, and probably with deeper insight than you'd ever expect! Miva works with their customers at such a personal level that I feel comfortable reaching out to any number of people at their company from the CEO all the way down and can expect a human response!
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Miva to drive our eCommerce engine for our B2B operations. We have used it to bring our ERP system to our customers in a way they can interact with that is familiar and comfortable. Miva has been a groundbreaking change to how we are able to do business. We have many business units, each working with distributors or agencies in different ways, on top of a large support staff that manages orders. Since we have so many locations and different workflows, we needed something that was flexible. We evaluated many solutions when looking for a platform that could scale with us, and Miva was the clear choice and winner. One of the main drivers of that was the ultimate ability to customize the platform to work for our business and scale. You can adjust and edit all facets of the customer experience and a large number of the backend connections that just wasn't an option in many other platforms. Offering customized products to a different customer base was another headache that we were able to solve easily with Miva. Miva supplied us with the necessary toolset to create great websites.
July 26, 2022
Easy for Beginners to Use, Powerful Enough for Larger Businesses, Flexible Enough to Meet Specialized Needs
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I'm a software engineer, not a merchant. I've been working with Miva for more than 20 years. My specialty is writing plug-in modules that customize the store's behavior. Miva Merchant is extremely versatile and flexible. It's quite powerful and easy to use out of the box, but modules can do anything you can imagine to enhance your site and streamline your workflow. A module can change the way your products are displayed, provide special fees or discounts, and modify shipping costs. It can connect to other servers to upload or download data, so you don't have to do it by hand. I'm not aware of any other e-commerce package that can beat Miva in this. The company is big enough to be stable and reliable, but small enough that they treat customers like real human beings. They have some very smart people in charge, and the top executives even answer my emails personally (although I'm careful not to abuse the privilege). There's also an active user community, and a set of Web forums where experienced users answer questions for newbies. The company also participates in these.
June 04, 2022
Review from a "non-tech" business owner
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I'm not your typical "tech-savvy" online retailer, so you're going to want to read this review. I'm the target audience for Wix and Shopify, and I have chosen not to use them. This is why: Our company has used Miva Merchant for our online retail presence for over 20 years. It's easy to use, especially considering my degrees are in psychology and absolutely nothing to do with tech. Their tech support is insanely good compared to other companies. They answer all of my questions, even the dumb ones. And there a lot of dumb ones. I need the versatility of Miva Merchant for the look and feel of the website almost daily. I have a very rudimentary "web" background from the 90's-early 2000s when my parents owned the company. Since I've only recently re-entered this company when my parents retired, I'm way behind the curve on what I can do (but I am constantly learning). This is where Miva Merchant really shines for me. I want to be more independent with caring for the upkeep of the website. Miva Merchant has tons of guides on using their platform, but the engineers and techs at Miva Merchant are willing to help and have made my experience jumping back into online retail a breeze. To be honest, I've looked at other platforms like Shopify Plus and Wix. It's just not what we need. We have so many product lines and recently added a wholesale line. I need a platform that's tailor-made for retail and this works for our small business. We're about to completely overhaul the look and feel of the website and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else when this happens. If I had to pinpoint one aspect of why I have chosen to stay with Miva Merchant, it's customer service. They don't farm it out. I can call or email 24/7 and I get immediate service. I never call them and get a foreign company with impersonal, handbook-driven customer service. I will emphasize that point especially if you are 1) new to online retail or 2) upsizing your online presence.
June 03, 2022
Innovative Company
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Miva Merchant gave us the possibility to have a functional website, a website that is under our control, and a user-friendly website. All those were problems that now are in the past.
May 30, 2022
Powerful Built-in Features & Extensibility
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We have been using Miva for 10+ years. We run a company that sells building and maintenance supplies to the self-storage industry nationwide. Miva was initially recommended to us by a developer who did custom programming. It took us a while to get our footing and the product seemed complex at first because of our specialized needs. Over the years a few things happened: We became more comfortable with the product, Miva continuously rolled out refinements and we came to appreciate that a lot of what seemed like complexity was really a very robust and capable system that allows for significant customization. We looked at leaving Miva early on, but are glad we stayed. Most stores will find Miva just what they need right out of the box. Others, like us, may use Miva's built-in scripting language, pay for some custom development, or use one of the many free or paid modules to customize the product further. We have found the forums, support staff, online documentation, and Miva's own and 3rd party developers to be exceptional. Some people gripe about the price - we did too- but after reviewing many of the other options in our case we would pay the same or more, for a lot less.
October 11, 2021
Why Linentablecloth.com left Miva Merchant
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We left Miva for Shopify in September 2021. We used Miva for almost four years. But it became too costly compared to alternatives like Big Commerce and Shopify, and they've really fallen behind as a platform. Shopify has many more features, is much easier to use, and costs us 1/3rd the monthly rate we were paying Miva.
January 18, 2016
Miva Merchant Review
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Miva Merchant ecommerce design and development is at the core of our organization. We try to solve any ecommerce pain points our clients may experience. The Miva Merchant platform is extremely flexible and open to customization without the ability of the end-user breaking pertinent functionality.
December 23, 2015
One of the best ecommerce shopping carts available
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I use Miva Merchant as an ecommerce solution for my clients. Miva Merchant is easily capable of handling everything from smaller stores/individual sales to large and enterprise level businesses. The design is fully customizable in Miva, so I can implement my own or others' custom designs into a store and also adjust the code for SEO, google snippets, etc. Miva is extremely secure and passes all PCI/PDA-SS requirements which is extremely important. Miva is fully compatible with a number of popular third-party services like PayPal, Power Reviews, Shipworks, Authorize.net, etc and can be easily integrated with others.
April 29, 2015
MIVA Merchant. Almost Perfect.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use MIVA Merchant as our platform of choice for developing both online catalog and eCommerce project for clients. While we might consider WordPress for clients with a very small inventory, MIVA is the only other platform we use. The ongoing development of the platform, responsive MIVA support and the active community of developers make this a very good choice for us.
April 08, 2015
Miva Merchant Review
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We used Miva Merchant to build e-commerce websites for clients. We worked with small businesses and individuals on their e-commerce needs. The manager of our company had decided that Miva Merchant would be the best, most secure, e-commerce site to use.
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Established retail company launched an online store with Miva Merchant over 5 years ago. Early on it was a very suitable platform and met our needs well, particularly its somewhat unique versatility. However, things have been in steady decline for some time. Their hosting was incredibly unreliable and lacked critical management features for no good reason. What you get initially with Miva is really only the shell of a proper online store. Things have gradually gotten better in regard to the features included, but companies who've been on the platform for years and paid for third-party modules and specialized development work receive no benefit. They're consistently about three years behind the pack compared to other major eCommerce platforms and have recently resorted to questionable tactics to increase the revenue they derive from people who use their system. I do feel some online merchants with highly specialized needs could find the customization options offered by Miva compelling, but the start up and ongoing costs for a real storefront are quite severe and lack many useful features compared to other more popular store systems.
February 04, 2015
Miva Merchant, a solid and affordable platform for e-commerce
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We are an independent Miva Merchant support organization that helps clients leverage the power of the Miva Merchant e-commerce platform. Our own Web site uses the Miva Merchant system as it's shopping cart system so we are drinking our own kool-aide as well. Ten years in this community we have seen Miva Corporation and the Merchant product and selection of features and service grow substantially. Most of our clients are looking for full featured e-commerce systems that are more open than something like IBM WebSphere Commerce Server and at a greatly redued cost. Miva Corporation's Merchant application fits our clients functional requirements at a very affordable price point.
December 15, 2014
A bit long in the tooth, but still a solid option.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Over the years, I have created several websites for clients using MIVA Merchant. It has been used to create an online storefront. The software is quite powerful and includes many options. I like to use it for clients who need more than just a basic online storefront.
December 09, 2014
Miva Merchant - in it for the long haul
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
As we are a Miva Merchant Partner, we provide workflow and add-on tools for the Miva Merchant platform. In addition, we run our fulfillment, licensing, and CRM systems on Miva Merchant as well. We are able to keep all our systems 'in-house' without excessive use of third-party SAAS and clunky PHP.
While Miva Merchant can be used as an online cart, it is much more - especially since it is customizable on two different levels - a fairly simple high-level templating system that allows for reasonable customization, and a lower level compiled language (Miva Script) that allows for extremely powerful customization.
Of course, you get what you pay for. If you expect champagne at beer prices, look elsewhere (and please let me know when you find it).
December 04, 2014
A Shopping Cart Solution for Online Businesses of Any Size
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I currently offer E-Commerce consulting, marketing, and management services for a broad range of online companies most of which are using Miva Merchant as their shopping cart platform. The online stores I work with are offering anywhere from 20 to 180,000 products online. The shopping cart is primarily used to merchandise products and as a CMS system.Some of the more challenging issues my clients face are work arounds for MAP Pricing (Minimum Advertised Pricing), integrating in-house POS systems with Miva to manage inventory, and integrating live LTL freight rates directly into the shopping cart. All of these feats can be achieve but may require you to think outside of the box. The good thing about Miva is that you are only limited by your imagination as far as what you can do with the platform.
December 01, 2014
Why We Pick Miva Merchant
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We don’t actually use MIVA Merchant at our organization but recommend it to our clients. Miva Merchant is a good choice because of its flexibility, cost effectiveness and its other features. Manufacturing Solutions Center is a service provider for the small to medium manufacturers. We work to help solve problems and test products. Ecommerce is one of the services we provide.
March 28, 2014
Miva Merchant - A developer's point of view.
We use Miva Merchant for ourselves and use it for our clients. The only drawback as a reseller is the cost is prohibitive to host outside of Miva Merchant's own hosting solution.
March 21, 2014
Miva Merchant makes sense for our business
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Many of our customers use Miva Merchant. We develop software that integrates with the shopping cart, and we also implement websites who use Miva, either for the entire site or in conjunction with other packages. Miva provides a great balance between ease of use and ability to customize.
March 20, 2014
Miva Merchant - Superb.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Miva Merchant on all of our sites (4-5 at any time). Miva Merchant is highly configurable and easy to use. There has never been an issue we could not overcome - from security to SEO. Additionally, we have put it to the load test - having been featured on the Dr. Oz show twice, it handled all traffic with no issues whatsoever. We also installed it on a cloud setup with multiple load balancers and virtual servers - and no hiccup whatsoever.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Prior to using Miva Merchant, the organization was lacking an ecommerce website. Miva aided with wireframe design, strategy, implementation, launch and support.
March 18, 2014
eCommerce and Hosting with Miva Merchant
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Miva Merchant is a complete, powerful, and fully featured eCommerce platform. Using Miva, we built a unique online store and managed over 1000 products. Customers could place orders along with gifting and shipping instructions. They could create accounts, and track the orders. Miva integrated nicely with our order management and inventory system (Stone Edge Order Management)
Miva 5.5 (the current version) comes with a number of standard templates, or you can create your own. Because Miva has been so widely used for so long (it was one of the very first eCommerce platforms) there is a large community of developers who can create custom templates to give your store a unique look and feel.
Miva 5.5 (the current version) comes with a number of standard templates, or you can create your own. Because Miva has been so widely used for so long (it was one of the very first eCommerce platforms) there is a large community of developers who can create custom templates to give your store a unique look and feel.