Plimus Ecommerce - An Initial Review

(this article is part of a series)

We recently switched ecommerce operations for the SpamButcher junk mail filter from Regsoft over to Plimus.

It had become somewhat apparent in the last several years that Regsoft was being relegated to the status of "just another revenue source" for Digital River. When I recently hit some technical issues - I decided it was time to look at the alternatives. Initial research indicated Plimus might be a good choice.

I'm not knocking Regsoft - they have been generally good to me. If someone is considering Regsoft as an ecommerce provider - I would not try to talk them out of it.

However, my experience with Plimus so far has been really quite good. I've been with them for about two months now - and I feel I have enough experience with them to write an initial review.

Pros:
After signing up with Plimus - I was contacted by a real-live-human-being via phone. I was able to ask them some questions. When I had some minor issues getting things going - I was able to easily contact them.

Plimus offers exceptional customizability. If you want, you can make your purchase page look like it is part of your website. You can edit almost all of the HTML on the checkout pages.

They don't force you to offer customers things like "download insurance" or a "Shareware CD ROM Special Offer." I have always felt these things gave potential customers a bad impression.

Recently Regsoft has been placing a "$10 cash back" offer on the final check-out page which really borderlines on a scam (they charge the victim's credit card $14.95 a month). This left me feeling dirty.

I won't get into the full rate structure - but it's better than what Regsoft and most other competitors offer. They generally charge 10% - but it starts dropping after $50 and goes all the way down to 4.5% for orders over $280. This is a major advantage for bulk purchases. Their fees for smaller orders are also more competitive.

Plimus doesn't put a 60-day hold on receiving funds from new accounts like some competitors do.

Like Regsoft, they allow users to purchase via Paypal, phone or mail-order.

Cons:
The extreme customizability can make initial setup a little more time consuming and a bit more confusing.

They manually verify the first half-dozen or so orders for new accounts via phone. While this causes delays in order processing for a short period, it is understandable considering they don't hold your funds for 60 days.

Conclusion:
If you're a shareware author Plimus is definitely worth considering for your ecommerce needs.

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