Yahoo Merchant Review: Overview

Since you are on this page, you are probably looking for a way to build your own online store for yourself or a client. This Yahoo Merchant review will go over some basic information about their shopping cart and will give you an idea if it will be the best choice for your online store. Do not get me wrong, Yahoo is still a very popular company, but is their merchant solution right for your business?

Primary Features Overview

When looking for a shopping cart for your business, features are the first thing that you should look at. If the software is missing key features, it is probably not a choice you should consider. Luckily, Yahoo Merchant does a pretty good job in terms of features.

• Designing Your Store – Yahoo allows you to use a bunch of different tools to design your store including their wizard and editor. You can also any HTML tool with editing capabilities to design your store including several Adobe programs. They also allow you to hire a developer to design and build your online store. 
• Managing Inventory – Their simple wizard tool or spreadsheet allows you to easily create up to 50,000 products and add them to your store. Add product options to your items including SKUs, color,size, and more. You have inventory tracking tools that notify you when your inventory is low.
• Checkout Process and Format – Single or multi-page checkout with full control over colors and buttons. Show customers the order total before they pay and the cart automatically calculates taxes, shipping rates, and discounts. Allow customers to use guest checkout and/or have them create a store account. Their checkout process allows you to add tracking codes to confirmation pages to track conversion rates and other data.
• Payment Options – Their shopping cart allows you to accept credit cards, checks, and money orders. Alternatively, PayPal and Bank of America Merchant Services are platforms that you can use to accept payments. You may also use any other payment gateway that is compatible with FDMS Nashville platform.
• Shipping Options – Yahoo gives you several options when it comes to setting up your shipping methods and rates. You can set up FedEx, USPS, and UPS shipping options on your store. Their shipping tools allow you to add custom shipping rates by weight, order value or simply provide your customers with free shipping.
• Order Management – Manage all aspects of your orders (fulfillment, returns, exchanges, and refunds) directly on your account dashboard. You can even print packing slips and notify customers of any changes in their order status.
• Marketing and Merchandising Tools – Yahoo allows you to use all of their marketing tools to increase your stores sales.  Some of their tools include cross-selling, coupons, gift certificates, and new site search. Enable social sharing buttons on your product pages and enjoy a 20% discount on Yahoo Shopping.
• Search Engine Optimization Tools – Since Yahoo is a search engine; you can expect great SEO tools for your online store.  Your store is automatically indexed on Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Optimize your store by creating friendly URLs and keywords. Create 301 redirects to retain search engine ranking for updated or deleted pages.
• Tracking and Reporting Tools – Yahoo reporting tools allow you to track site traffic and sales. Their Yahoo Web Analytics allows you to get more advanced reports.
• Hosting and Security – Since Yahoo Merchant is a hosted shopping cart, hosting is included with every one of their plans. Their web hosting gives you unlimited bandwidth and storage. Your store is protected using multiple security layering.

Template Selection: When it comes to store templates, Yahoo needs some serious updating. Basically, all of their templates are just too plain and do not have a pleasant look. However, if you are looking for a simple store and do not care much about the appearance, then ignore this part.

Yahoo Merchant Solutions Plans and Pricing

Yahoo Merchant has three plans ranging from $29.95 to $224.95 per month (or get a 25% discount if you prepay for the entire year). All of their plans allow you to list up to 50,000 products. For a limited time, they are waiving the $50 setup fee. However, there is no free trail on any of the plans.

1. Starter Plan – This plan costs $29.95 per month and entitles you to unlimited bandwidth, storage, and $75 in advertising credits. This plan is recommended for stores that are racking in less than $12,000 in monthly sales. You are charged 1.5% in transaction fees. Some features are limited such as gift certificates and cross-selling.
2. Standard Plan – This plan costs $74.96 per month and entitles you to unlimited bandwidth, storage, and $75 in advertising credits. This plan is recommended for stores that are racking in up to $80,000 in monthly sales. You are charged 1.0% in transaction fees.
3. Professional Plan – This plan costs $224.96 per month and entitles you to unlimited bandwidth, storage, and $75 in advertising credits. This plan is recommended for stores that are racking in more than $80,000 in monthly sales. You are charged .75% in transaction fees.

Search Engine Optimization Tools

Since Yahoo owns a search engine, you can pretty much expect to have a decent line of SEO tools. They allow you to take advantage of their fully customizable URLs and keywords. You can even set up 301 redirects. As mentioned above, Yahoo Merchant automatically submits your store to Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Overall, their search engine optimization tools are decent and could use some additional features.

Marketing and Promotion Tools

In terms of marketing, Yahoo has several options to boost your sales and attract new customers. They offer cross-selling, volume discounts, and coupons; all these are a great way to increase your conversion rates. Yahoo Merchant allows you to enable social sharing buttons and your customers will be able to use their new site search to look for products on your store. However, there is no affiliate program and you would have to purchase their email marketing service to enable email marketing. We also noticed that they do not offer any type of product feeds for any comparison shopping sites.

Ease of Use

Yahoo Merchant makes it easy for anyone to use their ecommerce platform. They have a setup wizard that guides you through the creation of your online store. Creating pages, adding products, and updating your store information can all be done from their account dashboard page.

Help and Support

Help and support is available 24/7 via phone and email. Yahoo Merchant allows you to browse through their online help center for instructions, tutorials, and more. To make their support more convenient and keep up with the competition, Yahoo should definitely enable some kind of support via live chat. Although, most of their representatives are experts in the ecommerce field.

Pros

• All plans entitle you to unlimited bandwidth and storage
• All plans allow you to list up to 50,000 products

Cons

• Transaction fees anywhere between 0.75 to 1.50 percent
• Yahoo does not have any kind of affiliate system
• Does not integrate with some of the popular applications

Yahoo Merchant Review: Summary

Yahoo Merchant is a great way to start your online store. No matter if you are an experience store owner or a beginner, Yahoo Merchant makes it easy for anyone to start an online store. With a variety of marketing tools, attracting customers will be easy as 1-2-3.

Their plans range from $29.96 to $224.96 per month with the ability to save up to 25% for annual prepayments. The only downside to using Yahoo Merchant are their pesky transaction fees. Most other ecommerce solutions allow you to waive transaction fees by signing up for one of their higher priced plans. However, Yahoo Merchant does not give you that option.

Have you had any experience using Yahoo Merchant? Feel free to leave us a comment below. Your input is vital to individuals looking to use their service.