Shopify Review

I think I'm 30 days into working with Shopify. I've gone from clueless about what features I want in an ecommerce solution, to having some definite opinions.

I'm not super happy with Shopify. It lacks some fundamental features and/or has an upcharge for them.

I picked Shopify because it was end-user extensible. Most other hosted solutions are not. I still find that an advantage, but given the fact that I don't want to spend my time coding stuff, it's not necessarily a huge win.

My main gripes are these:
1) You cannot associate a particular image with a particular product variant without some serious hacking. I sell makeup. Color is critical. Yet, I have no way to say, "this image is Plum lipstick, while this image is Coral lipstick of the same manufacturer."
I can upload multiple images, but cannot identify the variant with text.
This is a HUGE downside for my particular products.

2) There is virtually no reporting functions. I can export to Excel but I still have no real reporting.

3) No built-in Quickbooks integration. For $10/mo I can add it. But I haven't been able to get it to work and the support email address that was given was apparently wrong. I've now tracked down the right contact address but haven't heard back.

4) Blogging doesn't allow tags and is so lacking in features that it might as well not exist.

5) You cannot get separate metatags on a per page basis without serious hack and slash.

6) Some companies offer free Verisign (like http://www.shoppingcartsplus.com/host/page/1109.htm which looks like a fantastic deal for $25/mo

7) some of the social networking and marketing that's built in, works really well. The Google feed is great. But the Twitter integration is all wrong (worthless.) The FB integration works great. I believe it's a free 3rd party app though.

8) No tell-a-friend built in and I haven't found a good third party replacement yet.

Overall, I think it's an okay platform. But I wonder what else is out there that would better serve my needs.