Weebly Launches Free WYSIWYG Virtual Storefronts

Weebly, a popular WYSIWYG webpage maker, is launching a new feature
today that will allow users to quickly make fully customized web
stores using the Weebly interface they're already familiar with.

Using the new feature is simple. Weebly has added a handful of new
'revenue' elements to its main menubar, which allows you to
drag-and-drop items onto your page. Simply drag one of the four
available 'Product' elements onto your page, and you'll be presented
with a small box where you can describe your product, add a photo, and
set a price (you can easily create a new item in less than a minute).
After creating a product once, you can add it to your other pages
without having to recreate it.

The store supports both PayPal and Google Checkout accounts, and
allows users to add items to a virtual shopping cart as they browse
(you don't have to buy one item at a time). And aside from any fees
you might have from PayPal or Google, the Weebly storefront is totally
free - the company isn't taking a cut of any of your sales. To make
money, Weebly plans to offer 'pro' features for power users at a
premium in the future (the site also generates revenue through its pro
accounts and domain selling).

There are already quite a few services online that allow you to
generate your own virtual marketplace, but Weebly cofounder David
Rusenko says that most of these do a poor job allowing you to
customize the look and feel of your store, which often leads to
something generic. Because Weebly can already be used to build your
own fully customized webpage, adding the ability to sell items seemed
like a natural extension to the product (especially since many users
were already trying to sell items from their Weebly pages on their
own).