Having worked for an eCommerce company in Tokyo, I understand how frustrating it can be for sellers to get online. All you want is a simple, low maintenance-cost solution that lets you sell your stuff and doesn’t rip you off. Well, how does free sound for upkeep costs?

I first found out about Magento while it was still in Beta back in early 2008. Even then it looked really promising, but I wasn’t prepared to delve into its core until I could actually use it professionally. Having seen it emerge out of the Beta stage some time later, I was delighted when Stephen and Katrina from Ubergoodness approached us with the desire to create an online grocery and health food store. They (like many others) had a bad experience with a paid eCommerce solution and really wanted to get a fresh start. I sat down with them and talked them through the benefits of choosing Magento and they were very interested, but what really made their jaws drop was when they realized they’d be getting all this functionality for free. That’s right, the Magento platform itself is totally free. Remember OSCommerce and its horrible 1996 style markup? Well you can forget it now because with its highly customizable front and back ends, excellent templating via XML and in-built content management system, Magento truly blows it, and many other paid shopping carts, right out of the water.

After we completed the custom design and development of the store, Stephen and Katrina were able to easily upload all their products and run it themselves with only basic HTML knowledge. The only ongoing costs they pay are for hosting, and Ubergoodness chugs along as smooth as a serving of warm organic butter. Sounds nice right?