Review: E-junkie is an Addicting Storefront Solution

Desperate for an e-commerce fix? E-junkie offers powerful capability to quickly create and integrate sales features into a Web site. The service is particularly good for selling downloadable products such as software and MP3 and video files. And what's particularly buzz-worthy is that the service has no transaction or bandwidth limits and no setup or transaction fees. Its low price starts at $5 per month and tops out at $125 per month, depending on the number of products that you sell.

The company recently released its "FatFreeCart," its next generation online shopping cart that is browser independent, works inside a site without relying on pop-ups or the installation of additional software and supports leading payment systems such as PayPal, Google Checkout and 2CheckOut. It is indeed a seamless way to add e-commerce features to your site, as well as sell products on eBay, MySpace, Google Base and Yahoo Stores.

It's the Code
To incorporate E-junkie's sales features, all you have to do is define and describe your products in a form and then paste the resulting code into your sites. The code defines a button that can also be integrated into a stand-alone blog or Myspace profile. Each product that you wish to sell gets its own E-junkie "buy now" and "add to cart" buttons. There's no programming involved and it can take less than three minutes to define the product and generate the code.

Buttons are easy to create. In E-junkie, simply go to the administration ("admin") page and click the "Add Product" option. After entering the name and price for a product and customizing its accompanying e-mail message, which can offer instructions, warnings, thank-you notes and more, the service generates the button code, which you may then paste into Web pages through editors such as Macromedia Dreamweaver.

When customers visit your site, they'll see E-junkie's "Buy Now" and "Cart" buttons and can click on them to purchase items. And after making a sale, E-junkie conveniently accepts payments via PayPal, Google Checkout, 2CheckOut and ClickBank accounts and offers built-in shipping, sales tax and VAT calculators when working with non-downloadable products.

You can sells goods on any number of sites and manage them through E-junkie's administration site. And once you have pasted the button code into your site, you should never have to change it even if you alter prices or other details.

Downloads
If your company sells downloads such as e-books, MP3 files, software or digital images or artwork, E-junkie can store your products on its server so you don't have to deal with hosting space. The company's storage facilities are separate from publicly accessed Web folders, which should make them quite secure.

After payment, buyers are sent an e-mail that includes a link to download the product. The links are designed to be hack-proof and expire after a designated number of downloads or a time limit that you set.

The program also supports PIN codes. This is handy, for example, when selling phone cards or programs that require a registration code for activation. Another strong capability, E-junkie can call a script and apply a code that's generated by it.

E-Junkie is so easy to use, you'll keep coming back for more. (Click for larger image.)

Selling Goods
If your business offers non-digital goods, you can set the quantity and time limit for any product that you promote, which is a great for selling goods such as calling cards, event tickets and more.

To assist with shipping, E-junkie calculates the total weight of the purchased products and applies customizable rules to determine the most efficient packaging to ship them. E-junkie then refers to USPS for U.S. merchants or a configurable shipping table to estimate the shipping cost based on the weight and destination.

E-junkie's cart also calculates and charges sales tax by matching a buyer's location with its taxable region. If you use the VAT option, prevailing rates will be based on a customer's location relative to that of your business. To work internationally, E-junkie supports various currencies that include the US Dollar, Pound Sterling, Euro, Yen, Canadian Dollar and Australian Dollar.

Marketing
The platform also offers product promotion features that let you list merchandise on Froogle. If you like, you can create and manage discount codes for products and initiate and manage affiliate programs. There's a feature for sending out complimentary copies of a downloadable product to reviewers or friends. You can also set a script on your site so you're notified of all sales and receive a copy of each e-mail that's sent to customers.

E-junkie has competitors such as Payloadz. While Payloadz also generates code that's pasted into a Web site and is reasonably priced, E-junkie generally offers a better deal because it's more flexible.

E-junkie starts at just $5 per month for 10 products and 50MB of hosting space. The highest priced plan supports up to 999 products and 999MB for $125 per month. To evaluate the company's service, you can register for a free trial.

When it comes to making sales via the Web, it doesn't get much easier than E-junkie. This minimalist, but powerful approach is reasonably priced and definitely worth considering.

Wayne N. Kawamoto is a regular contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com.

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