Being into online selling, you might already know about Shopify and Squarespace! It is not easy to decide the best for selling on Squarespace vs Shopify.
The initial idea behind Shopify as a website builder tool is to help the users form an online store with ease. Further, there was more addition of content creation tools. On the other side, the initial idea behind the start of Squarespace is to build and maintain content-based websites. Later, there were additions to more eCommerce features to it.
We should have the right idea about the key features and the difference between each platform. These tools work the same to create a website without the need for any coding and designing skills to create a web store. You can use anyone among them to sell products online or only to form a content-driven website.
A seller needs to decide well whether to use the online store or a website for Dropshipping. Here a website includes all the information about the business like photos, brochures, news, product details, and a blog. However, an online store is a platform that serves only the purpose of selling items.
Shopify vs Squarespace for eCommerce: A Comparison
Let us check the details about the main factors related to Shopify vs Squarespace's cost of selling. Dropshippers should consider these while choosing the best website building tool;
(a) Transaction/Credit-Card Fees
A Dropshipper should not neglect the payment processing fees before choosing a platform to build their online store. These are mainly Credit card fees and Transaction fees. Credit card fees are also known as Payment Gateway.
It is some percentage rate of the fee per sale of a seller imposed by the chosen credit card company against processing related payments. Transaction fees are some percentage rate of the total sales will charge by the e-commerce platform as commission.
If we consider the Shopify platform, it possesses its in-built payment processor. Plus, one can either use a payment gateway or any third-party tool. One can avoid giving transaction fees in Shopify by using its default payment method. Credit card fees are chargeable whenever applicable.
You might still want to use any 3rd party payment gateway for processing the credit card transfers. So as per the plan, you need to pay a transaction fee + a percentage of the transaction value. It should be in a range of 0.5% to 2% to Shopify. So depending on the country of selling, you can opt for the best options that save you more for profits.
Squarespace charges about 3% transaction fees for the users of its business plan. The rate of credit card fees is totally upon the Paypal or Stripe responsible for handling such payments.
(b) Payment Gateways
There are 100+ options of third-party processors for credit card transactions, which act as payment gateways. One can use Shopify from any country and deal with any currency. It offers many flexible options to accept payment transactions!
On the other hand, only Stripe and Paypal have the right to handle the payment processing on the Squarespace. However, there are still different terms and conditions regarding what will work and what not!
Thus, considering all together, we can say Shopify is more convenient for businesses to process their payments.
(c) Squarespace vs Shopify Pricing and Services
If we compare both, then a match between them is that you can avail free trials of both platforms for 14 days!
(i) Squarespace
There are four pricing plans, Advanced Commerce ($65), Basic Commerce ($36), Business ($33), and Personal ($19). All the rates are in monthly rentals! The discounts would be applicable for annual subscriptions with upfront costs for each plan.
An Enterprise plan is there that one can tailor as per the need of a business. Hence, one can adjust the price accordingly. It offers extra support levels such as security, SEO, and design.
A seller cannot sell everything with a Personal plan. Neither has it allowed any editing in the code (JavaScript and CSS). So to get many helpful features for Dropshippers, an expensive plan is a must.
The business plan will allow you to sell with 3% of transaction fees per sold item, without the credit card processing fees. The complete analytics of e-commerce is enabled only for Advanced-commerce and Basic-commerce plans. They offer one year of free subscription to Google Workspace for the user of any above Business-plan.
By the way, both the Commerce and Business plans include highly sophisticated tools. The purpose is to make announcement bars and pop-up messages. They offer a custom domain for free. It is possible by paying an upfront cost of a year subscription on any plan!
(ii) Shopify
You can find five monthly subscription plans. It includes Advanced Shopify ($79), Basic ($29), and Lite ($9). The last one is the Shopify Plus which usually costs around $2k for a month. But, one can cut it down as per the need. A user can opt for a one or two-year plan with an upfront payment to get a 10-20% discount on the monthly prices.
You cannot create a standalone web store with the Shopify Lite pricing plan. However, a Dropshipper can use its features to sell on a Facebook page or an existing website. Shopify and higher plans are for the Dropshippers who want advanced tools to manage their business.
There is a limit on the number of users to link with an account as per the plan. You will get the "abandoned cart saving" feature on all the Shopify plans. The functionality is for online sellers to boost their sales.
It is possible by sending automatic emails to the visitors who left the cart mid-way without making the payment. To get the same feature in Squarespace, a seller needs to buy its most expensive plan or Commerce-Advanced.
Doing Ecommerce Squarespace vs Shopify pricing: How a Seller can choose the Best?
Sometimes features matter the most than just pricing. Here are some highlights of the comparison;
- Squarespace has a collection of beautiful templates like photography portfolios than Shopify.
- The user interface of Squarespace is easier to use than that of Shopify.
- There are many better Shopify templates available free of cost.
- One can add video backgrounds on a page in Squarespace, either by using a compatible video URL or a file upload.
- You can preview and switch templates in Shopify for a nice visual change.
The main features related to eCommerce are pretty stronger in Shopify than the Squarespace. A dropshipper can benefit from using multilingual selling. One can also enjoy more options of e-commerce apps and payment gateways.
Case-1:
Suppose you want to build a purely informational website. In this case, Squarespace can get more marks for content management tools and features. Squarespace has a user-friendly CMS (Content management system) and templates. Besides, one can also benefit from the blogging, displaying tools, and photo editing features.
However, it is a bit difficult to add third-party apps. Plus, a user cannot get complete access to customize the website code. Squarespace is a reliable platform with easy-to-make typefaces and tweaking of the colors.
You can quickly make a professional-looking website with different options. One can display content via images and blog articles. Considering Shopify, its new version features a drag and drop editor and a new theme format.
Case-2:
If you want to create an online store, the eCommerce feature set of Shopify is way more than those of Squarespace. One can also enjoy using well-developed selling tools for Dropshipping business on Shopify. A seller can take payments in different currencies. It is easy to extend the overall functionality of a web store by using a variety of third-party apps.
It offers helpful inventory management options and extensive reselling options. In addition, one can benefit from the facility of many payment gateway options. It also provides comprehensive functionality of tax calculations and modern point-of-sale features.
So, if the budget allows, the seller can opt for a Basic Shopify plan or a Business plan of Squarespace. Dropshippers should focus on eCommerce features! The aim is to find better value plans either from Shopify or Squarespace!
Bonus Tip
You could choose anyone between Shopify vs Squarespace eCommerce. There is an extra tip to help ease your reselling business! You can take the help of SaleYee. Dropshippers can join SaleYee as a reliable wholesaler yet dropshipping platform. They deal with thousands of quality products from different categories at discounted prices.
Resellers can also market such items worldwide with fast and free delivery services. It does not matter if you are new to it or do not have much idea about how to proceed. The experts of SaleYee can also help one launch and uplift their online dropshipping business.
There is much helpful stuff on SaleYee for the Dropshippers;
- One can get an idea about the basics of reselling business.
- A seller can find all the necessary information and tips about Dropshipping on SaleYee's official site in the help section.
- They provide sellers help in Order Management, Payments, Shipping, and After-Sales services.
- Their offerings also include Membership! Automation and VAT systems are to ease the task of the resellers.
- There are many self-service tools available for sellers to organize their business.
- Sellers can enjoy many Video Tutorials and other Dropshipping Resources on their platform.
- Members can get updated about the new arrivals, hot picks, seasonal sales, and much more directly from their service.
- There is an option for after-sales services. It includes Shipping Issues, Product Issues, Broken Items, Returns, and Replacements.
- To better encourage the sellers, they list the Monthly best sellers and Platform top sellers.
More details are available on their official website!
