Are Vendio Webstores still free? Yours may be!

So, if you read the original version of Beyond Amazon, eBay and Etsy, you know that I highly recommended Vendio’s free storefront as one of the best options out there. It was a bit buggy and a little hard to work with but they gave you a lot with that free store so you couldn’t beat the price. Then, a few months later, they changed their service entirely. While now one of the mid-priced webstore options out there, that money only gets you the same buggy service that you used to get with the free store and, while I’m willing to put up with an awkward free site, I’m sure as heck not going to pay a monthly fee to be frustrated. Even with their new fee structure, many features, including sync with Amazon and eBay are still an additional cost.

Then why am I writing about them at all? Because Vendio grandfathered existing account holders into the original free store. If you ever signed up for Vendio Webstores in the past or have an old account lying around, you may still have access to their free storefront plan. In speaking with Vendio staff, while they cannot specifically guarantee that this will be the case forever, they have no plans to ever charge users who had already signed up for the free storefront. I personally have two of the free Vendio storefronts (two different accounts) that I have been able to use all functionality on for some time since they changed their fee structure without having to pay a cent.

So, if you have one of the grandfathered accounts, I encourage you to take a look as Vendio is one of the best free storefront options you’ll find. While I don’t recommend them as a paid service (what they offer just isn’t worth what they are charging), it’s absolutely worth a look if you still have access to the free plan.

If you discover that you do still have access to the free storefront, my original review of the free Vendio storefront is here for your perusal. (If you didn’t sign up before they changed their structure, I’m afraid this info is useless to you unless you know someone willing to give up their old account.)

Another very similar option to Vendio is Vendevor. Just like Vendio, they used to offer a free webstore that is now paid only. But they have also grandfathered anyone with an account created before October 2013 into their free account. The only catch is that is that their free plan limits you to only 10 times and isn’t really free… you’ll still have to pay a transaction fee on every sale. That said, the transaction fee is often cheaper than the PayPal fee would be so it may be worth taking a look.

What I’m dying to know is if anyone with a grandfathered free account on either of those sites has had any success in selling it…