WordPress makes it extremely easy to create a website and manage that website from the top down, without having to deal with any technical mumbo-jumbo. Everything is so user friendly that it lets someone with absolutely no experience create a fully-functioning online business.
What makes WordPress even better is that it’s open source and there are tons of plug-ins that you can implement to improve the functionality of your website and your business. That being said, while WordPress is extremely easy and user friendly, you can quickly turn your site into a confusing nightmare if you choose the wrong plug-ins. That’s why I’m here to help.
When you start an eCommerce business, you know you need a shopping cart. Luckily, there are quite a few WordPress shopping cart plugins that allow you to just set up and go. And, instead of you having to go out and research all of these plug-ins to find out which ones to use, I’ve compiled a list of the top 5 WP eCommerce shopping carts. Hopefully, this list will make it even easier to get your online business started and off the ground.

Shopp
Shopp is advertised as an ‘easy to install’ WP plug-in and one that provides ‘bolt-on’ e-commerce functionality. That’s exactly what you want in a shopping cart plug-in. The fewer settings you have to mess with, the less chance you have of screwing everything up. It’s designed to work out of the box with any theme and it’s designed to be fast, efficient and it even goes great with other plug-ins.
With Shopp, you are able to sell like a professional. You get search engine optimized pages, built-in smart categories, RSS feeds, flixible built-in shipping rate calculations, the ability to export orders, all while being a PCI compliant shopping cart.
With the upgradeble plugins available, Shopp also has the following features: Customizable Courtesy Emails, Shoppers Wishlist, Product Importer, Sitemap, and Analytics.
While single site access only costs $55, a developer’s package costs nearly $300 and it’s about that for upgrades as well. Still, if you can afford it, Shopp will give you everything you need to set your store up and go, which is essentially what you should be looking for.

PhPurchase
Once known as PhPurchase, the widely used shopping cart is now known as Cart66. This plug-in is perfect for anyone selling digital and physical products, as well as memberships and subscriptions. With this plug-in, you’ll be able to track inventory and UPS packages in real-time and you’ll receive all the documentation and support you’ll ever need. PhPurchase also states that it is a PCI compliant shopping cart.
What’s more, PhPurchase is advertised as the most customizable WP Ecommerce plug-in. There are custom fields for products, WordPress Affiliate Platform integration abilities and you can even set up product variations that change the product price.
PhPurchase is fairly reasonably priced, depending on which package you choose. The single standard package goes for $49, while the single professional package runs for $99. But when you get into the 5 site packages and the developer packages, you’re easily looking at a couple hundred dollars.
You can always upgrade your license later on when you choose PhPurchase. So if you’re just starting out and you like the customizable features, try it out. Once you get the hang of it, you can upgrade to the professional package so that you can improve your business’s functionality and the services you provide to your valued customers.

Shopper Press
Shopper Press, a newer WP shopping cart plugin, also advertises that you can just set up and go. It’s simple to install, you get to select which template you want to use and which products to sell and you’ll be up and accepting orders in just a few minutes.
Shopper Press is great for anyone who is new to starting their own online business, as it’s extremely user friendly.
The great part about ShopperPress is that you get free lifetime support and upgrades just for becoming a buyer. You also receive unlimited installation license, which means you can set up 1 or even 1000 stores. In addition, you get more than twenty shopping cart website designs and PCI compliance.
Shopper Press is only $79, a tad bit more than Shopp, but the price has been discounted. Shopper Press usually goes for $199, so you can really save money if you act now.
If you are new to selling products and services online and you don’t know how to set up an e-commerce store front, Shopper Press may be for you.

eShop
You can get this plug-in directly on the WordPress.org website absolutely free. This shopping cart plug-in uses WordPress pages or posts to create products. You are provided with various methods for listing products and you can even upload products that your customers can download directly.
You can view basic statistics, manage orders, set up automatic emails once a purchase has been completed and much more.
The downside to eShop is that it’s very basic and not PCI compliant. So if you are going to have a higher volume of sales, this is something to think about. You won’t get some of the advanced functionality and user-friendly controls that you get with some of the more high-priced shopping carts, but this has what you’re looking for if you just need a basic shopping cart that can accept orders while helping you keep all of your products and customers straight.

WP Invoice
If you are selling services instead of products, you may want to look into WP Invoice. With this plug-in, you create an invoice in the admin section and then an email, along with a brief invoice and description, is sent to the client. That email will contain a link where clients can go to view their invoices. Then, after reviewing it, the client can pay the invoice directly from there using a credit card or their PayPal account. As soon as the transaction goes through, you are notified immediately.
WP Invoice uses two widgets that let you log in to view your past and pending invoices. You can even implement PayPal powered recurring invoices and a customizable invoice welcome line.
WP Invoice will even save all of your customer information in a database, allowing for instant retrieval of important client and project information. However, the plugin does not claim that it is PCI compliant.
The best part about WP Invoice is that it is also offered right on WordPress.org for free. You simply download it, set it up and you can start creating your invoices and plugging in your client information. There is an easy-fill option, too, which makes preparing and sending out invoices less of a time waster than it used to be. Now you can run your service business like a well-oiled machine thanks to WordPress, PayPal and WP Invoice.

There you have it. Hopefully by now you have a good idea of which eCommerce shopping cart plug-in you’d most like to use. This list should provide you with enough variety so that you can choose the plug-in that’s right for your business, your skill level and your budget. Thanks to WordPress, it’s easier than ever to set up a landing page, manage content and set up an online store front. Now, with these easy-to-use shopping cart plug-ins, you’ll be bringing in more customers, sales and revenue than ever before.