Selz Review 2022: Features, Cost, User Reviews

Explore the features, pricing and customer reviews of the Selz e-commerce platform in this review.
Randa Kriss
By Randa Kriss 
Updated
Edited by Claire Tsosie

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If you're looking for an e-commerce platform that caters largely to beginners and purports simplicity and ease of use, you might consider Selz, a multichannel e-commerce solution that allows you to sell your products in the way that’s best for you.

However, if you’re looking for third-party processing, a free option or certain specific features, you’ll want to explore other e-commerce platform options.

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Overview

Selz is an e-commerce solution that provides businesses with a multichannel platform that allows them to sell their products and services through the channel they prefer.

You can use Selz to create an online store, starting with one of its website themes and using the drag-and-drop store builder to customize it to your brand. Selz also gives business owners the capability to add “buy now” buttons, product widgets or full stores to their existing website to sell products. Finally, Selz allows you to sell via Facebook and Instagram and integrates with Google Smart Shopping. Whichever method you choose, Selz provides web hosting, an SSL certificate and, perhaps most importantly, payment processing.

With Selz, you can choose from four service plans. Plus, Selz gives you the ability to try its platform for free for 14 days, no credit card required.

Pricing and plans

Selz offers four different plans, including its Do It For Me plan in which Selz’s team of experts will create and manage your store for you. Besides the monthly cost, Selz also charges varying credit card processing fees depending on the plan you choose. If you use a payment processor other than Selz Pay, you will have to pay the fees associated with that processor, plus an additional percentage. Selz does not charge fees for setup, cancellation or PCI compliance.

As you move up to each higher-level plan, you’ll receive more features, additional staff accounts and lower payment processing fees. All of this comes at a higher monthly cost.

Features

Online store

  • Professionally designed free themes.

  • Drag-and-drop store builder.

  • Change colors, images, fonts, layouts.

  • Built-in blogging platform.

  • Web hosting and free SSL certificate included.

  • Use a Selz domain or attach a custom domain.

Source: Selz

All of Selz’s templates are optimized for desktop and mobile.

Multichannel selling

  • Add products to an existing website, blog or social profile by embedding customizable “buy now” buttons, widgets or your entire Selz store.

  • Install the Selz plug-in for WordPress and easily add e-commerce functionality.

  • Create a fully functioning, mobile-responsive Facebook store.

  • Sell on Instagram.

  • Integrate with Google Smart Shopping.

  • Manage all social channels from a single dashboard.

Payment processing

  • Selz Pay (powered by Stripe) accepts all major credit cards.

  • Funds deposited directly into your business bank account, Monday through Friday.

  • Option to use PayPal.

  • Charge your customers in over 100 different currencies.

  • Get paid in whichever of the 20 available currencies you choose.

  • Automatic tax calculation at checkout, including U.S. sales tax and EU VAT.

Checkout and order fulfillment

  • Built-in online shopping cart allows customers to check out directly on your site.

  • Customize your checkout with forms, checkboxes, terms and conditions, delivery information, gift details and more.

  • “Pay what you want” feature allows customers to designate their own prices for products.

  • Send automatic order confirmation emails.

  • Abandoned cart recovery emails.

  • Shipping tools, including integration with major shipping services.

  • Real-time shipping rates and options at checkout.

  • Process refunds.

Inventory and customer management

  • Sell physical products, digital products or services.

  • Add multiple images, categories, subcategories and variants for characteristics like size, color or weight.

  • Set and track stock levels and automatically pause sales when an item is sold out.

  • SEO optimization tools, including product- and category-specific meta tags, titles and URLs.

  • Create customer profiles.

  • Build mailing list using email marketing platforms.

  • Offer loyalty programs, discounts and free shipping.

  • Integrate with comment and rating apps to engage your community.

  • Communicate directly with customers using in-app messaging

Digital products

  • “Digital ninja” features allow you to sell e-books, videos, online courses and apps.

  • Unlimited hosting and bandwidth.

  • Automatic delivery options.

  • PDF stamping, limited downloads and license keys.

  • Automated product updates let customers know when an updated version is available for download.

Analytics and integrations

  • Real-time sales analytics accessible at any time through the dashboard.

  • Connect third-party web analytics tools like Google or Bing Analytics.

  • Export sales, referral and traffic reports to CSV files.

  • App store includes various one-click integrations, including:

    • Mailchimp.

    • AWeber.

    • Campaign Monitor.

    • Salesforce.

    • QuickBooks.

    • Xero.

    • Freshbooks.

    • Disqus.

Customer support

For all of its plans, Selz includes 24/7 customer support live chat. You also have the ability to schedule a one-on-one setup session with a Selz expert for assistance getting started with the platform. Additionally, all Selz users have access to email support, the Help Center, as well as FounderU, which provides Selz how-to guides, FAQs and general business tips.

Source: Selz

Advantages

  • Ease of use: The Selz platform makes it quick and easy to design and customize your online store using its templates and drag-and-drop builder. With online credit card processing, shipping integrations and other operational tools included in the platform, you will have the essentials you need to manage your e-commerce business.

  • Multichannel platform: Use the Selz platform to create a completely new online store or simply add e-commerce functionality to an existing business website or social media page. Selz gives you the ability to add “buy now” buttons, product widgets or your whole store to an existing website or social page.

  • Digital product features: In addition to its capabilities for physical products and services, Selz offers functionality specifically for selling digital products. Not only does Selz provide unlimited hosting and bandwidth for digital sellers, but also other significant features like automatic delivery and updates, limited downloads, PDF stamping and license keys.

Disadvantages

  • Third-party payment processor fees: Although Selz offers discounted rates for credit card processing with its higher-level plans when you use Selz Pay, it does charge additional transaction fees for using third-party payment processors. If you already have an account with another provider, it’s going to be expensive to continue to use them with Selz.

  • Cost: With its three standard plans, Selz falls in line with other competitors; however, other than the discounted credit card processing fees, you don’t actually receive many additional features between the three plans, despite the large price jumps between them.

Customer reviews

On the whole, Selz reviews online are notably positive. The most common feature that customers highlight is Selz’s customer service. Even though Selz does not offer customer support via phone, users, again and again, praise its customer service for being accessible and helpful.

Customers also regularly mention how easy it is to create a store with Selz and use it for your e-commerce business. Reviewers comment that the Selz interface is clean and intuitive and the themes available are professional and well-made.

On the other hand, some reviewers have commented that Selz is not scalable, is a little expensive and can be buggy. Others feel that it does not offer as many integration options as other e-commerce platforms. Finally, some Selz reviews mention features that should be relatively standard, like the editing of sales receipts, are only available in the higher plan levels.

Top Selz alternatives

With all of the e-commerce solutions available for small businesses, you should consider some Selz alternatives before you decide which platform is best for your business.

Shopify

With its vast customization and integration options, plus user-friendly platform and different plan offerings, it’s no wonder that selling on Shopify is one of the most popular ways to start an e-commerce store. Shopify offers many similar features to Selz, including a low-cost plan that allows you to sell on an existing website or social media platform.

However, Shopify stands out in a few ways, including offering more features in its lower-level plans and lower payment processing rates for its built-in Shopify Payments processor. With the standard Shopify plan, credit card rates are 2.6% plus 30 cents per transaction, and with the Advanced Shopify plan, the rates fall to 2.4% plus 30 cents — both of which are cheaper than what is offered by the Advanced Selz plan.

Square Online Store

Although you may typically think of Square for point-of-sale technology, it also relaunched its online store platform in 2019, making it a worthy Selz alternative. Plus, Square Online Store has a free plan offering — making it a great option for e-commerce business owners who are just starting out.

With the free Square Online Store, you can start with a website design and use the store builder to customize and launch your store. You also can accept payments through Square, manage products and inventory and integrate with Instagram. Using the free version of the Square Online Store, you’ll pay the fixed rate of 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction.

For more advanced features, you can choose from the Square Online Store paid plans, which range from $12 to $72 per month when billed annually.

Sellfy

If you specifically like Selz’s features for selling digital goods, consider Sellfy as an alternative. Sellfy specializes in digital products and is designed specifically for digital-based businesses. Features include PDF stamping, pay what you want pricing, unique download links and limited download attempts. Additionally, Sellfy has no restrictions for storage or product amounts, which is particularly useful if you’re selling illustrations, photos or videos.

Sellfy’s basic plan starts at $29 — or $19 if you opt for an annual plan — so it can be more cost-effective than Selz. Not to mention, having a platform that caters specifically to digital-based businesses can be a real game-changer.

A version of this article was first published on Fundera, a subsidiary of NerdWallet.