Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

eBay’s Magento to Shut Down Small-Business E-Commerce Product

eBay found a home for its customers in Bigcommerce.

Pitamaha/Shutterstock
Jason Del Rey
Jason Del Rey has been a business journalist for 15 years and has covered Amazon, Walmart, and the e-commerce industry for the last decade. He was a senior correspondent at Vox.

eBay’s e-commerce software business Magento is killing off its Go product aimed at small-business owners and has inked a deal to move those customers over to competitor Bigcommerce’s service, a source familiar with the deal told Re/code. eBay is also shutting down its ProStores e-commerce software offering, according to this source, a service that targeted similar sized businesses as Go.

eBay spokeswoman Amanda Miller declined to comment. A Bigcommerce spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Magento, which eBay acquired three years ago, has been offering three tiers of software products to power e-commerce sites. Two of them targeted mid-size and large brands and retailers, while Go was aimed at small businesses.

But according to several sources, Go never gained traction against competitors that included Bigcommerce and Shopify. In March, Magento cut dozens of employees in a move the company said was aimed at realigning the business to “focus more deeply” on its two products aimed at bigger businesses. It wouldn’t say at the time what that meant for its Go offering.

ProStores was an older service that hosted e-commerce shops for sole proprietors and other types of small businesses. Over the past two years, eBay attempted to move ProStores customers over to the newer Magento Go product.

Bigcommerce, which has its main offices in Austin, Texas, and Australia, was founded in 2009 and has taken on $75 million in venture capital. It’s not clear if money is changing hands in the deal or how many customers are being transitioned over to Bigcommerce.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

More in Technology

Podcasts
Are humanoid robots all hype?Are humanoid robots all hype?
Podcast
Podcasts

AI is making them better — but they’re not going to be doing your chores anytime soon.

By Avishay Artsy and Sean Rameswaram
Future Perfect
The old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemicThe old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemic
Future Perfect

Glycol vapors, explained.

By Shayna Korol
Future Perfect
Elon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wantsElon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wants
Future Perfect

It’s not about who wins. It’s about the dirty laundry you air along the way.

By Sara Herschander
Life
Why banning kids from AI isn’t the answerWhy banning kids from AI isn’t the answer
Life

What kids really need in the age of artificial intelligence.

By Anna North
Culture
Anthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque messAnthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque mess
Culture

“Your AI monster ate all our work. Now you’re trying to pay us off with this piece of garbage that doesn’t work.”

By Constance Grady
Future Perfect
Some deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapySome deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapy
Future Perfect

A medical field that almost died is quietly fixing one disease at a time.

By Bryan Walsh