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A bit long in the tooth, but still a solid option.
Updated December 15, 2014

A bit long in the tooth, but still a solid option.

Eric Karkovack | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

5.5

Overall Satisfaction with Miva Merchant

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.
  • The ability to use commercially available modules is a big plus for MIVA Merchant. It has helped me create websites that have more advanced features such as rewards programs, custom shipping settings and checkout fields.
  • MIVA Merchant has been around for a long time and it has a very helpful community.
  • The software is very stable - I've run into very few problems with upgrades.
  • The user interface (UI) of the admin area is quite antiquated. There have been some slight improvements in recent years, but this really looks like an app that has been around since the 1990s.
  • While designing a website to use MIVA Merchant isn't terribly difficult for an experienced designer, it has been surpassed by just about everything else out there. It doesn't have a clean, standards-compliant theme engine like WordPress, etc.
  • MIVA has moved hosting for their software to their own service, which isn't cheap. And their hosting accounts come with very little disk space (although it is PCI compliant).
  • This is not a content management system (CMS). For anything that a client wants to update, I usually try to pair MIVA Merchant with a WordPress powered main site. Editing page content in MIVA is a very old-school task. It doesn't even come with a WYSIWYG editor, though you can buy one from their module store.
  • Doesn't appear that too many new modules are coming out these days.
  • For the clients I've created a MIVA Merchant site, they have been pretty happy with it. They have been able to use the software to create very successful storefronts.
  • Clients generally have a very good Return on Investment with MIVA. Although the hosting costs are generally more expensive than with some other services, larger sites will make up for that rather quickly.
  • I wouldn't say that MIVA has increased the level customer service for any of my clients. From the front-end user perspective, though, it certainly hasn't caused many support issues in my experience.
All of these products are nice in their own way. MIVA's big advantage is their selection of modules, although I have to say WooCommerce is starting to catch up in that area. While MIVA has begun to show its age, it's still a solid way to manage a store that contains a lot of products. Some of the other platforms out there just don't have that well-seasoned maturity yet.
I think it's quite good at what it does. For clients who don't necessarily need to take advantage of a full-blown content management system (CMS), MIVA is still a good option. MIVA takes security quite seriously and that is another important factor for myself and my clients.
I think MIVA Merchant is best for large, standalone stores. It allows for more tweaking of code than a lot of ecommerce software that I have used. Even though the interface isn't the gold standard, there still something to be said for the number of options it has and the number of modules available.

However, I think it's probably not the best solution if you just need a small, simple store. There are other software packages out there that can do the job a little more efficiently and cheaply.