Sure seems like a lot of $ for a lot of work...

[RodG]

I am trying to justify using zen cart when I can use shopify or amazon webstore for practically the same cost! The only difference is the 1 to 2% processing fee that they charge.

For many people, that is all the justification that is needed.

And for a small seller like me that doesn't really matter.

Personally I don't see any difference between a 'small seller' and a 'large seller'. In either case if the profit margins are only 1% (unlikely, I know) this processing fee makes the difference between a profit and a loss.

So you have on one hand an instant store with all the hosting and SSL taken care of with some flexibility in design but not completely.

It is the 'not completely' part that matters to most. With ZenCart you have complete flexibility, not only in the design, but also the functionality. Want to add a feature that isn't currently supported? With ZenCart you can. With shopify/amazon you are limited to the features and function they provide.

Or you have months of work and hassle just to save pocket change per month....

I'm not sure where the 'months of work' comes from. A person can have a fully functional ZenCart store in less than an hour, and that includes installing a new template files and a few products.

It's funny that I have my site completely built and ready to go but the SSL and hosting is what has stopped me dead.

You do realise that SSL isn't needed for ZenCart functionality don't you? Yes, I know you'll find 1000's of people tell you that it is 'essential for security', but few people actually know what SSL and what it does, and why in many cases it can actually be *detrimental* to both the site security and peoples unwillingness to purchase from a poorly configured SSL site (of which there are too many to mention).

I am so close to subscribing to shopify and saying eff it all, even after all this hard work.

It wasn't work, it was a training/educational experience. The question now is, what are you going to do with all this training and knowledge that you've gained?

I am just venting...

No problem with that, but why *now*? I could appreciate this if you'd spent all that time and you are still having problems with no end in sight, but it seems to me that you are ready for the eCommerce 'race', but you are considering changing horses at the starting gate. What happened?

I do have a question though! Is the potential for search engines to find my store greater with zen cart? I hear search engine results for amazon webstore are terrible, but I am not familiar with shopify.

You'll probably never find any definitive answer to this, but what I/we can tell you is that ZenCart itself is *very* search engine friendly (straight 'out of the box').

The 'success' in the various search engines is predominately directly related to site content, so all else being equal, the eCommerce software being used is somewhat a non issue. Of more serious concern is where the sites are hosted and any restrictions placed on those sites in regards to how/when/if the site is allowed to be indexed/crawled.

Just my 10cents worth.

Cheers
Rod