eCommerce

Magento frequently asked questions

Q. What is Magento?

Magento is a feature-rich eCommerce platform built on open-source technology that provides online merchants with unprecedented flexibility and control over the look, content and functionality of their eCommerce store. Magento’s intuitive administration interface features powerful marketing, search engine optimisation and catalogue-management tools to give merchants the power to create sites that are tailored to their unique business needs. Designed to be completely scalable, Magento offers companies the ultimate eCommerce solution.

Q. Where can I see a demo?

A free demonstration is available at http://www.magentocommerce.com/demo

Q. What does Magento cost?

The Magento Community Edition is available as a free download under the open source OSL 3.0 license. The premium, Magento Enterprise Edition solution is available based on an annual subscription. Emotech does not charge a fee for a basic Magento OSL license. What we do charge for is our professional services with installation, design and development of the platform to further enhance and customise it beyond its standard offering. Think of us as the mechanics that turn your new dealer purchase into a super-charged road warrior!

Q. What licenses does Magento use?

The Magento Community Edition is licensed under the Open Software License (OSL) v3.0, an open source certified license. More information about Magento's license can be found at www.magentocommerce.com/license/. The premium, Magento Enterprise Edition product is licensed under a commercial license. The license and its restrictions are solely the customers responsibility to maintain.

Q. Why Open Source?

A recent report by O'Reilly Research on usage of Open Source in the enterprise provides a number of reasons for the meteoric growth of Open Source products, including: Agility and scale, reduced vendor lock-in, quality and security, cost, and innovation.

Q. What is Emotech’s relationship to Magento?

Emotech is a professional Australian-based Web site design and development company that specialises in working with the Magento eCommerce platform. The excellent people behind the development of the core platform are Varien. Varien is the company behind Magento, responsible for the development and on-going maintenance of the platform.

Q. Where can I get themes, extensions and other add-ons?

Emotech does not design themes or developer extensions for community release. We design and develop custom and unique solutions tailored to each individual client’s needs. We strongly advise against the use of a community theme and advocate the design of a custom site for each of our clients to ensure brand uniqueness is maintained. We do research and advise on extensions and their usage and also provide an installation service. Extensions for the Magento platform can be found on the Magento Connect marketplace at http://www.magentocommerce.com/magento-connect

Q. What features does Magento Support?

Aside from the features listed on this page, head over to Magento's feature list.

Q. How can I get support?

We only offer support to clients who have an existing Magento project with us (designed, built and supported). If you would like to get support for your site please send emotech projects an email with your name, contact details, website URL and problem you are experiencing here.

Q. Where can I host Magento?

Magento requires a very specific list of requirements for hosting. You can view the minimum requirements here. Emotech hosts Magento clients on our Australia or United States servers in an agency managed environment. We take care of the installation, monitoring and maintenance requirements under one yearly service fee.

Q. Where can I see examples of live Magento stores?

In our portfolio of course!

Q. What Payment Gateways are compatible with Magento?

Lots! You can view a list of payment gateways available at Magento Connect here.