I have been working on this question for several years now. I am a Wordpress fan boy, but I can’t say that I have found a solid ecommerce solution for Wordpress. 

Let me clarify what I define as a “solid solution.” I am wanting a shopping cart that I can utilize in my own wordpress theme. All my themes are custom themes and I don’t want to have to use someone else’s notion of what they feel my store should look like. 

I have used WP e-Commerce since 2007, and to be honest I hate it. Every time they update their software it breaks my store. However, every other shopping cart solution I have tried has been a lot worse. The main pain points are: adding multiple products; integrating with paypal; and flexible shipping options. 

I know for many the answer is to not use Wordpress, and they may be right. Yet, I have a hard time believing in this amazing digital world that something hasn’t been developed which can fulfill these needs!

Any thoughts? 

@kristi-hines Your suggestion is definitely an option. I use Wordpress as a CMS and it would be nice to have it in one visual. However, I am wondering if this solution for wp exists. I am hoping that maybe someone in SME might have found something I haven’t seen yet.

@dakotalocal I have tried woothemes before and do like their work. However, I haven’t tried woocommerce. Mainly because I use my own custom themes. I have found that the people who are most satisfied with wordpress commerce are using an out of box commerce theme. I have also heard rave reviews over markettheme.com. Yet, again I would really like to find a solution that allows me to add a store into my own theme. Maybe I am just too picky. 

@dakotalocal I wasn’t aware that you could apply woocommerce to other themes. I will definitely give check it out and let you know. Thanks!

@blogsbyheather Your solution is a viable option, but having a plugin as a solution normally allows you to keep a record in wordpress of products/sales/customers. 

Also, this solution is only viable for paypal, and not other methods of payment. Obviously, paypal is the dominate payment on the Internet, but when you have a website that tends to have a less computer savvy crowd (such as herbal) your conversions go down with a paypal only solution. 

Another lesson I learned by using your solution is that once you have more than 10 products you spend a lot more time adding products, than if you could do a batch upload that is commonly part of a “plug and play” ecommerce solution. 

Yet, I do appreciate you throwing out this strategy, because I believe it works for 90% of the blog stores out there. 

@blogsbyheather I haven’t heard of Cartville, and looking at it I have to agree that it is on the expensive side. Yet, maybe having the autoresponder packaged with the shopping cart provides a significant benefit that it off set the cost, but I would be surprised.

I also like some elements with ejunkie, particularly from an affiliate marketer’s standpoint. However, your Mals-e.com recommendation looks extremely interesting. I like it when a shopping cart offers a free solution to help grow before you pay. Their paid solution of $8 a monthly is also extremely doable.

One thing I don’t understand though is their “Number orders per day” restriction. On the free it is 50 and on the paid it is 150. Maybe I am not understanding completely what they are restricting, but from the looks of it they are capping how much you sell in a given day.

Do you have much experience with Mals-e? Is this the case and if so, I am curious to why?