What’s the best SaaS ecommerce platform? Well, first,
how do you define ecommerce as a niche and as a form of functionality? Because that actually could affect what the answer to this question is going to be for you. But at the same time, it also depends on what you need.
So, I can’t recommend the one best SaaS ecommerce platform out there, because that would require me to see it from every point of view simultaneously, while having all of these views unanimously reconcile in a conclusion. I can’t do that.
That said, here are two ecommerce platforms that constitute what I think are the best based on two disparate definitions of what ecommerce even is, and what you need out of it (which is itself determined by a billion factors and so forth).
I know this seems like a cop out answer to the question, but hey, give me a break here.
#1 – PayPal
Ok, most people think that PayPal, or services that serve its same purpose and have the same array of capabilities, define what ecommerce systems are. And, that’s one of two correct ways to define it. But, what exactly is eBay?
Well, it’s a combination of a prepaid checking account, and a money wiring/online debit service allowing you to store money either uploaded or received as payment, and to pay for things with the money stored and acquired.
It’s almost a bank, but not quite, as banks have account interest, loans, and a whole host of other sinister yet seductive tactics to cause all kinds of disarray, along with this.
And that is one of two reasons why PayPal is the best of the matches for this ecommerce definition. The other reason is a bit less … inspiring, alas. You see, PayPal is the only one of its kind that every pay out and mercantile site in the world works with by default, meaning it’s a monopoly by popular support. This has led to less than admirable, cocky behavior on their parts in the past but … It is what it is right now.
#2 – Cheddar Getter
This is what businesses think of when they define ecommerce. A payment gateway is a framework that tracks transactions made to the company from a host of channels including but not limited to the kind of thing PayPal is. They also take bank transactions, money orders, wired funds and any other accepted standard transaction, and they balance them all as one unified format and type of transaction for management.
These will steal PayPal’s monopoly by empowering PayPal’s competition by being compatible with all of them effortlessly. CheddarGetter is the best because it exemplifies this, already trying to accomplish the early onset goals of making this happen by touting compatibility with other payment systems and carriers alongside PayPal.
Of honorable mention is that some view mercantile services as ecommerce, which would mean I would have to choose from, say, eBay, Amazon and the online storefronts of a trillion businesses. I’m not even going to try that one.
This is the most useful answer to the best SaaS ecommerce platform, and I know it’s not singular enough to be considered an actual answer but it is what it is, right?