Earthskater Intro Plan, $ 19.95/mo. on Windows Shared

Intro Plan has been added on Feb 27, 2016, Aggregate Rating (10 out of 10 from 3 reviews)

⚑ Targeting :	US

See also initial Intro Plan plan location on their website!

📜 Plan description

📄 Editorial Review

Earth Skater is a US managed hosting, e-commerce, web design and online-business services provider based in Boca Raton, Florida. The business has operated since 2000 under the direction of founder and CEO Sener Korkusuz. Earth Skater Inc. was incorporated in Florida in October 2009, following several years of activity under the Earth Skater name.

The company follows a boutique managed-service model rather than conventional low-cost hosting. Its services are designed for startups, independent retailers, professional service providers and small businesses that need a complete website or online store without having to configure hosting, install applications, design templates or integrate payment and shipping systems independently.

The service portfolio includes managed Windows hosting, WordPress hosting, online stores, custom websites, domain registration, SSL certificates, business email, affiliate tracking, recurring billing, API integration, custom programming, web design, search engine optimization, social-media management, email marketing and pay-per-click advertising. Dedicated and semi-dedicated server environments are also available through customized quotations.

Earth Skater combines hosting with hands-on implementation. Design, logo preparation, account configuration, content migration, product imports, payment-gateway connections, shipping calculations and store setup can all be handled by the same team. This makes the service considerably more accessible to customers without an internal designer, developer or systems administrator.

The main managed packages are Specialist, Pilot and Commander.

Specialist is intended for conventional company websites, professional profiles, portfolios, landing pages and information-based projects. It includes a customized website and logo, WordPress, six email accounts, unlimited pages and bandwidth, plugin customization, visitor tracking and SSL protection.

Pilot adds a complete e-commerce platform with ten email accounts, unlimited products, payment-gateway integration, digital downloads, personalized products, coupons, gift certificates, abandoned-cart recovery, Mailchimp integration and real-time shipping calculations. Affiliate tracking and Stamps.com shipping-label integration are also included. This is the most practical package for a small or medium-sized online retailer.

Commander is aimed at stores with more advanced operational requirements. It includes 25 email accounts, recurring billing, separate retail and wholesale pricing, API integration, advanced product calculators, custom programming and secure customer payment-profile functions. It is particularly suitable for subscription services, wholesale suppliers and businesses that need connections with external applications.

Existing websites and online stores can be transferred from platforms such as WordPress, Wix, GoDaddy, Ecwid, Shopify, BigCommerce, 3dcart, Web.com and PayPal-based systems. Product details, pages, images and other customer-facing content can be migrated into the new environment.

The shopping-cart platform supports physical products, downloadable files, donations, subscriptions, personalized products, gift certificates, coupons, inventory tracking and separate retail and wholesale prices. Payment integrations include Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net, First Data Payeezy, CyberSource, Chase Paymentech and USAePay. Authorize.net ARB and CIM can be used for recurring payments and secure customer payment profiles.

Shipping functions include UPS, USPS, freight calculations, real-time carrier rates and label-processing integrations. Custom shipping formulas and connections to external applications can be developed through PHP, ASP and API programming.

Earth Skater also provides a standalone hosted affiliate-management system. Businesses can create affiliate accounts, issue individual tracking links, upload banners, monitor clicks and conversions and calculate either percentage-based or fixed commissions. Recurring commission structures are available, and the system can be connected to many third-party shopping carts without requiring a complete migration to the Earth Skater store platform.

Managed WordPress service includes hosting, installation, theme configuration, responsive customization, plugin setup, content migration, logo placement and email configuration. It is considerably more comprehensive than an unmanaged WordPress account where the customer receives hosting space but remains responsible for setup and maintenance.

Customers retain ownership of their website content. Earth Skater’s proprietary shopping-cart and management software remains licensed for use with the approved customer domain. FTP access may be restricted for e-commerce accounts where tighter PCI-related security controls are required.

The website and ordering information are primarily available in English, while customer websites can be configured for additional languages. Prices are displayed in US dollars, although online stores can process other currencies when supported by the selected payment gateway.

Parts of the technical documentation still contain older references to Microsoft FrontPage, Windows Live Mail, Google Checkout and Yahoo Stores alongside newer services such as Stripe, responsive WordPress and current shopping-cart integrations. Some older resource figures also differ from the unlimited-storage or unlimited-bandwidth terminology used for the present packages. Customers should confirm software versions, storage limits, renewal costs and included maintenance before completing an order.