Magento Go – Not Really Magento

by Ezwebdesigner on June 16, 2011

I’m back in the market for a new shopping cart. I was pleased to find out that Magento Commerce has offered a new version of Magento called Magento Go. I thought, great, my favorite ecommerce package with hosting and technical support, how can I go wrong. After a few emails with Magento Go Support, which is fairly slow with one email not returned, I was informed that you cannot use the API, custom purchased themes or any plugins, free or purchased. So is this really the Magento many of us have come to love? It kind of is but it’s stripped down for the layperson. I cannot blame them for offering such a service that can better compete with other carts like CoreCommerce. My clients are usually small businesses who cannot afford the Enterprise edition and while I like the community version, when something breaks, I have to depend on my host or the community and there’s no guarantee either one can help me fix my issue. One side note, if you’re looking for solid Magento hosting, check out Nexcess.net. They will provide some Magento technical support, core files only, not with themes or plugins.

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

Web Designer June 19, 2011 at 12:42 am: I recently inslled wpcheckout from tribilant software for a client. It wasn’t without its install problems, which casused a few grey hairs, but they were fairly responsive (support wise) and when all was said and done… It seems to be doing what I need and the client is happy.

BTW: Great blog!

Regards,
Troy
The Little Link Cufflinks August 10, 2011 at 12:50 pm: Though I have not used the Magento enterprise platform before, as a small business owner, I’ve got to say that my experience with Magento Go has been excellent. There are definitely limitations in the amount of customization I can do and the lack of plugins is a tad disappointing. However, it has provided an affordable, fuss-free way to deliver the most basic requirements needed – usability and functionality. And that is crucial for all small businesses who cannot afford an enterprise solutions in the start-up phase.
Ezwebdesigner August 10, 2011 at 1:31 pm: I’m glad you’ve had a good experience. If my client had a larger budget, I may have tried Magento Go. I almost went with CoreCommerce but had troubles even registering for a free trial, even with the assistance of their tech support team. I am using Nexcess and the community version of Magento with no issues to date.

Looked at your site, funny how your google adsense ad is showing a Volusion ad.