Shopify.com: A Web2.0 Hosted Commerce Site

WebKnowHow
Friday, June 9, 2006; 03:34 AM

Shopify.com is out of beta and live.  The website, created with Ruby on Rails and Ajax, is a hosted e-commerce solution that helps small business and individuals to sell online. Its creators at Canada-based company Jaded Pixel describe it as"a Web 2.0 product that focuses on providing buyers and sellers with the features essential to completing e-commerce transactions."

Shopify is free to use. There are no signup and monthly fees. The site charges a 3% commission on successful product sales. If a user sells more than $10,000, all further sales for a month are automatically reduced to 2% commission.

Everyone can select a unique look for his online shop by using the available templates or by creating his own design.  No installation of software other than a web browser is required.  After establishting a shop, the user can easily track orders and organize inventories via the snazzy online interface.

In order to support credit card payments users need a merchant account. Shopify also allows Paypal payments.