3dcart Review

3dcart is an online store builder and hosted eCommerce platform that you can use to build a web store even without any eCommerce or programming experience. 3dcart offers PCI compliant managed eCommerce web hosting and a complex suite of design, marketing, inventory, and SEO tools making it a reliable choice for eCommerce.

3dcart Overview

3dcart is not as widely known in the eCommerce world despite its fairly long-standing presence in the industry. The company was founded in 2001 by Gonzalo Gil, it’s based in Tamarac, Florida, USA, hosts over 17,000 online stores, and has processed $4 billion in online transactions. Throughout the years, 3dcart has grown into a robust platform that can handle the needs of both small and large merchants.

Our 3dcart review will focus on the features that make up this shopping cart software, the types of plans they offer, and analyze whether 3dcart is a strong enough candidate for building an online store.

Features of 3dcart

3dcart claims to be a complete web store solution, and indeed, its multitude of features do meet a wide range of eCommerce needs:

• Level 1 PCI hosting, which is the same level used by banks and financial institutions;
• 15-day free trial;
• 94% uptime and 24/7 monitoring;
• Daily backups in case you delete or overwrite something;
• Secure shopping cart with 256-bit SSL Encryption;
• Over 100 pre-integrated payment solutions (no additional transaction fees);
• Secure Tokenization technology;
• Abandoned Cart Saver to recover potentially lost customers;
• Multiple shipping options: real-time shipping rates, order specific rates, free shipping, drop shipping support;
• Tax rates and charges: Location based tax setup, product tax rules, customer based rules, VAT support and third-party tax solution integration;
• 100s of built-in shopping cart tools: wish list, gift registry, iPad POS app, saved carts, etc.;
• Responsive, mobile-ready and social media friendly online store;
• 100s of conversion optimized themes;
• Built-in store customization tools: QuickView, Quick Cart, single page checkout, Recently Viewed Items, etc.;
• Built-in blog to build your brand and improve SEO;
• Order processing tools, built-in CRM, QuickBooks integration;
• Product management tools: multiple images per product, dynamic zoom, video integration, unlimited categories, smartCategories (for “on sale”, “free shipping” product showcasing), product reviews, product Q&A, digital product selling, product inventory;
• Marketing and SEO tools: targeted email marketing, email drip campaign messages, promotions & coupons, gift cards, refer a friend, point-based reward program, gift registry, advanced SEO tools, advanced store statistics, etc.

As you can see, 3dcart comes with plenty of eCommerce features out-of-the-box, but should you need even more functionality, 3dcart’s REST API and Webhooks allow you to augment the functionality of your online store.

3dcart Interface

The 3dcart dashboard is quite similar to what you might be accustomed to if you’ve used WordPress or Shopify before. Despite having tutorial videos and tasks outlined in the dashboard, some customers have reported finding the interface a bit confusing, especially when it comes to certain features of the price and discounts editor. Other users, however, have reported no problems with getting up to speed with the different tabs and features of the interface.

3dcart Plans & Pricing

3dcart does not offer a free plan, but it allows you to test the platform with their 15-day trial without requiring your credit card upon signing up. Paid-for plans are available in several price points. Except for the Start-Up plan, all plans include unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited number of products, and no transaction fees.

Start-Up Plan: The Start-Up plan is suitable for online businesses with yearly sells up to $10k, 500 products, and 1 staff user. This plan costs $19/month.

Basic: The monthly cost for the Basic plan is $29, which drops to $26.10/month if you choose the yearly plan. This plan includes all the essential features of 3dcart, and it permits two staff users.

Plus: This plan sells at $79/month or $71.10/month with yearly billing. It’s suitable for home businesses and startups, and allows 5 staff users on the platform.

Pro: Growing businesses should opt for the full-featured Pro plan, which costs $229/month or $206.10/month with yearly billing and allows 5 staff users.

Enterprise: Online businesses selling over $400k/year can choose a tailor-made solution by opting for the Enterprise plan, which features unlimited staff users and other unlimited features like email marketing newsletters, email accounts, daily deals, group deals, and auto-responder campaigns. The plan also comes with a Technical Account Manager and custom programming.

Customer Service at 3dcart

In the past, 3dcart’s customer support team has received a lot of criticism. Since then, however, 3dcart has restructured their support channels improving response times and availability. Thus, a customer can pursue any of the following avenues to find or ask for help:

• Phone support;
• Live chat support;
• Ticketing system;
• Email support;
• Social media;
• Free 3dcart webinars;
• Knowledge Base.

Customer support is available 24/7. 3dcart even lets you connect with third-party designers and 3dcart experts if you want help with building your brand or adding custom solutions to the platform.

Pros & Cons of 3dcart

Is 3dcart a go or a no-go for your online business? Let’s see in this pros and cons comparison.

Pros

• Wide-selection of features;
• PCI compliant hosting;
• 15-day free trial;
• Unlimited bandwidth & storage;
• No transaction fees;
• 24/7 support.

Cons

• Lacks multiple language support;
• No iOS or Android app;
• Some complaints about certain features being confusing.

3dcart Review Conclusion

3dcart is equipped with the necessary tools to help you build and launch your online store, even if you’re not an eCommerce guru. Apart from the strictly eCommerce related tools, it brings several complementary tools that will help you with converting visitors into customers, building customer loyalty, and gaining ground in search engines.

Unfortunately, 3dcart supports only one language at a time, and it doesn’t support languages that don’t use the Latin/Roman alphabet (e.g. Chinese or Greek). Thus, if you’re planning to launch a multi-language web store, check out BigCommerce, which comes with multi-language support out-of-the-box.