Selz vs. Shopify: Which is Right For Your Business?

9 min read

Having the right ecommerce solution can make or break your online business. To help you make this major decision, we compared Selz vs. Shopify in this quick guide.

The wrong ecommerce option can be frustrating, for both sellers and buyers. Ideally, your customer won’t even think about the checkout process and just be delighted with their new purchase.

There are many good choices to consider, so it can be difficult to understand which one is right for your business.

Two leaders in the ecommerce world are Selz and Shopify. Both are popular options and would be decent choices. Both offer similar features and have solid reputations. However, it’s not always easy to understand what solution works best for you and your unique business.

This comparison will ask the following questions to help guide you to the best choice for your business:

• How easy is it to use?
• What can I sell?
• What types of selling options are there?
• What kinds of features does it offer?
• How much does it cost?

Let’s start with a basic understanding of Selz and Shopify.

Selz Overview

Established in 2013, Selz has offices in the United States and Australia to cover world time zones. Selz offers a simple selling solution for online stores, blogs, existing websites and social channels.

Business News Daily calls Selz the “best ecommerce software for digital downloads” and Best Company says that “Their straightforward and step-by-step build out process allows even the most inexperienced person to create stunning and functional online stores.”

Shopify Overview

Shopify is a publicly-traded Canadian company, founded in 2006, and quickly became the go-to option for startups. It offers a complete eCommerce platform to sell online, social media channels and also in stores. In their Shopify review, the blog A Better Lemonade Stand says Shopify is “one of our favorite ecommerce platforms to build your online store on”.

Selz vs. Shopify: How easy is it to use?

Not all entrepreneurs are created equal.

Some startups have IT departments and large tech budgets. Some new businesses had humble beginnings in garages, including Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. And some businesses start with a million-dollar idea and zero technical skills.

Regardless of your technical skills (or lack thereof), when you compare Selz vs. Shopify, both are easy to use and install. Neither requires special technical skills or coding, and both have easy to use dashboards, tutorials, and helpful guides.

The Selz dashboard

The Shopify dashboard

And if you ever need help, both Selz and Shopify have guides, tools, and support centers. Selz has a Help Center and an extensive blog for sellers with special sections dedicated to whatever you’re selling (including ebooks, videos, clothing, etc.), step-by-step articles, and interviews with ecommerce businesses. Shopify also has a Help Center and a blog with great resources, including trends, inspirations, and basic business guidance.

Selz’s Blog FounderU

Shopify’s Blog

The Bottom Line

There is no clear winner when it comes to how easy Selz and Shopify are to install and use. Both have simple tools, dashboards, support, and overall selling guidance. Either would be easy commerce options for your ecommerce business.

Selz vs. Shopify: What can I sell?

Not all ecommerce solutions offer the same options when it comes to what you can sell. For example, some only work for digital products and not physical products. Before you make any ecommerce decisions, you have to ensure that it works for whatever products you’ll be selling.

Both Selz and Shopify work for the following online products:

• Services (coaching, consulting, etc.)
• Physical products (clothing, equipment, etc.)
• Digital products (ebooks, videos, apps, etc.)

Shopify also offers point of sale (POS) options for offline businesses and use special technology to process sales:

The Bottom Line

This one’s easy. Shopify is great if you need both online and offline POS options. For digital products, Shopify requires an extra plug-in. Since Selz is an ecommerce solution and not an offline retail platform, you would need to have an additional sales option like Square to process offline sales. Otherwise, both Selz and Shopify work for digital, physical, and services sales.

Selz vs. Shopify: What types of selling options are there?

Perhaps when you decided to open your online store you thought you needed a website. And that was true in the old days, but ecommerce has evolved and now has many different ways to sell directly to consumers.

Here’s a quick rundown of your basic options:

Platform Sales Pages

An ecommerce platform allows sellers to create a shop using a pre-designed template. This means your shop is hosted by the platform, but each shop is independent and not connected to each other.

Blogs and Websites

A website is a long-term goal for many online stores. It’s a property that you own. You decide exactly how it’s run and what it looks like. You can do anything you want because you own it. And you can buy and sell it like the real estate that it actually is.

Social Selling

Sales options that are embedded in your favorite social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest.

Mcommerce

Gives consumers the ability to buy directly from their smartphones or tablets, one of the fastest-growing segments in ecommerce.

When comparing Selz vs. Shopify, both offer the same basic selling options. Depending on your business goals, you may want to start with a basic store page and then build your own website when you’re ready. Otherwise, you’ll need an ecommerce option that integrates with the website platform you’re already using.

Selz sales options

• Selz online store
• Sell from blog or website
  • Integrate entire Selz stores
  • Add buy now buttons anywhere on your site
  • Customize widgets or link directly to a Selz store page
• Social selling, including a free Facebook store
• Multichannel selling, including Google Shopping
• Mcommerce ready
• Compatible with WordPress, Blogger, Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, and Tumblr

Shopify sales options

• Shopify sales page
• Offline POS
• Sell from blog or website
  • Embed product, collection, or shopping cart
  • Add buy now buttons anywhere on your site
• Social selling, including Facebook and Pinterest
• Can integrate with Amazon
• Mcommerce ready
• Compatible with WordPress, Joomla!, Drupal, Tumblr, Wix, Weebly, Blogger, and Squarespace

The Bottom Line

This choice all depends on your overall business goals and what platforms you want to use. For example, Selz is the best option if you are only selling online. Again, Shopify is a better option if you need offline POS services, as Selz doesn’t offer that service.

Choose the option that best fits your current needs, is compatible with your existing website, and has sales options in the channels you want to build.

Selz vs. Shopify: What kinds of features does it offer?

When it comes to ecommerce, features can make all the difference. They are the tools that can take your online store to the next level with new and innovative features. Some come free with basic services, and some features are extra. This is where ecommerce solutions really shine and you can decide what tools would not only help you process sales but grow your overall business.

Here are a few Selz features that can help your business grow:

Professionally designed themes: you can choose from a wide variety of customizable templates

Web-based store builder: using a simple and intuitive store editor you can create and host your entire store online

Selz store extras: including custom domain name, the ability to create pages (about us, contact, etc.) and a blog

Multiple payment and currency options: including using Selz Pay or PayPal to process all major cards and PayPal payments, and charge in +100 different currencies and get paid in USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, CAD, and +15 other major currencies.

Abandoned cart recovery: a program designed to recapture any sales your customer left behind in a shopping cart (a must-have feature!)

Multiple images: show your customers every angle, every variant, and every glossy photo. Front and back, top and side

Digital products extras: including streaming video rentals, download limits, and automatic product updates

Analytics: including sales, referrals, and traffic reports

Build customer connections: build email lists, reward customers with discounts and coupons, and profiling and communication capabilities

Compatible apps: including MailChimp, AWeber, AWeber and Disqus Comments

And here are a few Shopify features that make growing your online business easier:

Web-based website builder: you can host your entire website on the Shopify platform

Professionally designed themes: 100+ professional and customizable themes

Full blogging platform: Publish and categorize articles, create lookbooks, encourage discussion, and moderate comments

Abandoned checkout recovery: one of the most important aspects of any online store

70 payment gateways: including bitcoin and iDEA

Multiple languages: comes in 50+ languages

Dropshipping options: integrates with apps like Ordoro, Inventory Source, and eCommHub

Gift cards: customers are able to purchase a gift card for someone from your store, or you can use gift cards as store credit

Analytics: including product reports, Google analytics, and traffic/referral reports

The Bottom Line

Maybe you’re not sure what kinds of features you need to make an ecommerce business grow – and that’s okay. You always have the option of starting small, with the basics, and add new ones as you grow.

Both Selz and Shopify have great basic features. So choose the option that has the most features for free, and has the tools that you need to make your specific business grow.

Selz vs. Shopify: How much does it cost?

Here’s the question that most business owners ask first – how much is this going to cost? This isn’t as clear-cut as comparing basic prices, as you also have to consider what features are free and what features you need to pay an additional fee for.

Selz Pricing

Here are Selz’s monthly pricing options (there are additional discounts with annual pricing):

And here are Shopify’s pricing options:

These are Selz’s basic features that come with any plan:

• Buy buttons and widgets
• Fully customizable online store
• Unlimited storage, bandwidth & customers
• Staff accounts
• Google Shopping
• Advanced analytics
• Customer management
• Facebook store
• Discounts codes
• Secure digital file delivery
• Global tax settings
• Real-time fraud protection
• Free SSL certificate
• Unlimited products
• Themes
• Pages & Blog
• Apps & Integrations
• Custom Domain
• PayPal
• Shopping Cart
• Worldwide Shipping
• Abandoned Cart

Here are Shopify’s basic features:

• Unlimited number of products
• Staff accounts
• Unlimited file storage
• Shipping label discount
• Fraud analysis
• Manual order creation
• Discount codes
• Website and blog
• Free SSL certificate
• Print shipping labels

These are some of Selz’s additional features that are only included in the Standard and Advanced plans:

• Tax Invoices
• Custom Receipts
• Custom Fields
• License Keys
• Real-time shipping rates
• Connect label providers

And here’s what Shopify features come with Shopify and Advanced Shopify:

• Gift cards
• Professional reports
• Advanced report builder
• Real-time carrier shipping

Selz vs. Shopify: The Bottom Line

When it comes to pricing, Selz wins by a mile. The top Shopify plans are more expensive per month than Selz’s Standard and Advanced options. Selz offers more features in its basic plan than Shopify’s cheapest version.

Remember, that price isn’t everything. If you need an offline POS to go along with your online ecommerce solution, Shopify is a great option.

But if your business needs a simple, easy and affordable option, Selz is the clear winner. Features really matter when it comes to growing your online business, so why pay more for the same basic tools? Plus, you need to choose an ecommerce solution that matches your business goals, including being an affordable startup option.

Overall, when you compare Selz to Shopify, Selz offers the same high-quality options as Shopify at a much lower price.