I sell gemstones. Rubies from Mozambique. Sapphires. High-end stuff - $3,000 to $10,000 pieces. I started on Etsy because everyone said "it's easy, built-in traffic." Then I realized: they own my customers. I can't email them. I'm paying 6.5% forever. And when I tried to move to my own site, every cart I tried was either slow, bloated, or missing the one feature that would actually help me sell.
So I built my own. Not as a software project. As a tool to sell gemstones. Every feature exists because I needed it. LC Cart is what happened when a merchant got tired of renting his business from someone else.
The Problem Nobody Talks About: SEO URLs That Actually Work
Here's something I bet you've never thought about: When someone sorts your products by price on your homepage, what happens to the URL?
Most carts: example.com/?sort=price
The problem: Google sees duplicate content. Your homepage exists at 20 different URLs (sort by price, sort by name, sort by newest, page 2, page 3...). Google doesn't know which one is "real." Your SEO is diluted across identical pages.
When someone uses your search box to find "blue sapphire"?
Most carts: example.com/?search=blue+sapphire
The problem: Google either doesn't index it (query parameters) or sees it as duplicate content. That search results page could be a perfect landing page for "blue sapphire" searches, but it's wasted.
LC Cart does something different. Something I haven't seen anywhere else.
LC Cart:
Sort by price: example.com/sort/price
Sort by newest: example.com/sort/newest
Search for "blue sapphire": example.com/search/blue-sapphire
Category page 2: example.com/rings/page/2
Every single one has clean SEO URLs. Every one is indexable by Google. Every one has unique meta tags and schema markup. You're not creating duplicate content - you're creating valid entry points for customers searching different ways.
I've tested this on Shopify, WooCommerce, and OpenCart. They use query parameters (?sort=price, ?page=2) which creates duplicate content issues. I haven't found another cart that gives clean SEO URLs to sorting and search. If one exists, I'd love to know about it - but in my testing, LC Cart is the only one doing this.
The 404 Recovery Nobody Else Does
Here's another one: Customer lands on a broken URL. Maybe you changed a product name. Maybe they mistyped. Maybe an old link from 3 years ago.
Every other cart: "404 Page Not Found" and a sad face emoji.
What happens: Customer leaves. You lose the sale.
I was getting these constantly. Old links from forum posts, blog mentions, people sharing products. The URL structure changed slightly and boom - dead ends everywhere.
LC Cart's 404 system is intelligent. It doesn't just show an error.
Customer types: example.com/products/saphire-ring (misspelled)
LC Cart shows: "We couldn't find that page. Did you mean:
• Blue Sapphire Engagement Ring ($4,500)
• Oval Sapphire Cocktail Ring ($3,200)
• Pink Sapphire Halo Ring ($5,100)"
It analyzes the URL, finds similar product names, and offers alternatives. Turns dead ends into sales.
I've tested this on the major carts I've used (Shopify, WooCommerce, OpenCart). They all just show standard 404 pages. Maybe some premium Shopify apps add this - I don't know - but it's not built-in. LC Cart has it out of the box, analyzing URLs and suggesting similar products automatically.
The Marketing System That Doesn't Exist Anywhere Else
Okay, here's the big one. The feature that made me realize I'd built something actually valuable.
I have 50 gemstone products listed. Real inventory. Physical stones I can ship. But here's the problem: I could target 1,000 different keyword combinations if I had time to create 1,000 product pages.
"Blue sapphire ring"
"Certified sapphire engagement ring"
"Heirloom quality sapphire"
"Conflict-free blue sapphire"
"Investment grade sapphire ring"
All different searches. All potential customers. But creating 1,000 products manually? Days of work. And I'd still be managing just 50 actual items of inventory.
LC Cart's marketing system solves this.
Step 1: Define keywords once per category (5 minutes)
Step 2: Click "Create 100 Marketing Products" (10 seconds)
Result: 100 unique landing pages created. Each with:
- Unique title with natural keyword injection
- Unique description with varied grammar
- Unique SEO-friendly URL
- Complete meta tags (title, description, Open Graph, Twitter, Pinterest)
- JSON-LD schema markup
- Canonical URL pointing to itself
Customer clicks "Buy Now" on marketing page → redirects to your real product → purchases actual inventory
You manage 50 products. Google sees 1,050 pages (50 real + 1,000 marketing). Each marketing page is a valid entry point targeting specific keywords.
Real product: "Blue Sapphire Ring" ($4,500)
Marketing system creates:
1. "Premium Blue Sapphire Ring, Certified Authentic Design"
2. "Heirloom Quality Blue Sapphire Ring with Conflict-Free Stone"
3. "Investment Grade Blue Sapphire Engagement Ring, Timeless Style"
...97 more unique variations
All point to the same inventory. All rank for different keywords.
Other platforms? Shopify requires you to manually create each product variant as a separate product if you want unique URLs and descriptions. WooCommerce can handle it but you're looking at hours or days of manual work. SEO agencies charge $1,499 for "landing page packages" and deliver 10 pages, not 1,000.
LC Cart does it in 10 seconds. Included. No extra charge.
The Keyword Analytics That Actually Help
After building the marketing system, I realized: how do I know which products need more keywords? Which keywords am I overusing? Where are the gaps?
I tried SimilarWeb ($200/month). Too much data. Confusing graphs. Couldn't figure out what to actually do.
I tried SEMrush ($99/month). Same problem. Bloated dashboards showing me hundreds of metrics I didn't understand.
So I built the keyword manager to show me exactly what matters.
👻 Orphan Products: "These 5 products have ZERO keywords. They're invisible to Google. Fix them now."
⚠️ Keyword Cannibalization: "You're using 'sapphire ring' on 15 products. They're competing against each other. Differentiate them."
📏 Keyword Length: "You have 40 short keywords (1-2 words) but only 5 long-tail (4+ words). Add more long-tail for easier rankings."
🗂️ Category Coverage: Visual bars showing "Rings: 8 keywords avg (green). Pendants: 2 keywords avg (red). Fix pendants."
📋 Duplicates: "These 8 products have identical keyword sets. Google sees duplicate content. Make them unique."
No complex dashboards. No confusing metrics. Just: "Here's the problem. Click here to fix it."
When you drill into a keyword, you see every product using it, color-coded:
- 🟢 Green row = 8+ keywords (excellent SEO)
- 🟠 Orange row = 3-4 keywords (needs work)
- 🔴 Red row = 0-2 keywords (fix immediately)
Click "Edit" on red rows. Add keywords. Watch them turn green. That's it. No $200/month subscription. No PhD in analytics required.
The Details That Matter When You Actually Sell Things
Image Management That Doesn't Break
Ever delete an image and end up with gaps? You had sku_1.jpg, sku_2.jpg, sku_3.jpg, sku_4.jpg. Delete sku_2.jpg. Now you have sku_1, sku_3, sku_4. Gap in the sequence. Breaks things. Looks unprofessional.
LC Cart auto-renumbers. Delete sku_2? System renames sku_3 → sku_2, sku_4 → sku_3. No gaps. Ever. Plus it deletes all the thumbnail cache variants automatically. No orphaned files sitting on your server.
Marketing products? Images tab hidden completely. They don't need images - they redirect to real products. System prevents confusion.
Import/Export That Doesn't Corrupt Your Data
I was importing products from a spreadsheet. Product names had accents (François, São Paulo). WooCommerce corrupted them. "François" became "François". Spent 2 hours fixing 200 products manually.
LC Cart handles UTF-8 properly. Tested specifically with Excel 2010+. Special characters work. Accents work. Doesn't break. Because I actually use it.
Speed That Doesn't Make Customers Wait
WooCommerce on WordPress: 2-5 second page loads. Customers stare at loading spinners. They leave. You lose sales.
LC Cart: 0.3 seconds. No WordPress. No bloat. Pure PHP. Pages appear instantly. Google gives you 91-100 PageSpeed scores. Customers don't wait.
The Cost of Renting vs Owning
Let's talk real numbers. Not "$500k annual revenue" fantasy - actual small merchant numbers.
Scenario: $30,000/year in sales (realistic for small merchants)
Etsy:
• 6.5% transaction fee = $1,950/year
• $0.20 per listing × 50 products × 12 renewals = $120/year
• Total: $2,070/year
• 3 years: $6,210
• They own your customers
Amazon:
• 12% referral fee = $3,600/year
• 3 years: $10,800
• They own your customers, can shut you down anytime
Shopify Basic:
• $39/month = $468/year
• Transaction fees 0.5-2% = $150-600/year
• Apps for functionality = $100-300/year
• Total: ~$718-1,368/year
• 3 years: $2,154-4,104
WooCommerce:
• Hosting: $120-240/year
• Security plugins: $100/year
• SEO plugins: $100/year
• Speed plugins: $100/year
• Total: ~$420-540/year
• 3 years: $1,260-1,620
• Slow (2-5 sec loads), gets hacked, breaks with updates
LC Cart Full:
• Year 1: $99 + $120 hosting = $219
• Year 2: $120 (hosting only)
• Year 3: $120 (hosting only)
• 3 years: $459
• You own everything. 0% transaction fees. YOUR customers.
Over 3 years:
- Etsy costs you $6,210
- Amazon costs you $10,800
- Shopify costs you $2,154-4,104
- WooCommerce costs you $1,260-1,620 (plus slow, insecure)
- LC Cart costs you $459
And with LC Cart, you own your customers. You can email them. You can build relationships. They're yours.
What You Get
✓ Marketing system (1000+ SEO pages automatically)
✓ Keyword analytics (shows what to fix in plain English)
✓ Clean SEO URLs (sort, search, pagination - all indexable)
✓ Intelligent 404 recovery (turns errors into sales)
✓ Smart image management (auto-renumbering, thumb cleanup)
✓ 0.3 second page loads (customers don't wait)
✓ Import/export that works (no data corruption)
✓ Google Merchant Center ready (schema markup)
✓ Newsletter system (HTML emails, your list)
✓ 0% transaction fees (keep your money)
✓ Bulk operations (status, price, category, thumbnails)
✓ Own your customers (not Etsy's, not Amazon's)
✓ Full PHP source code (edit anything)
$99
One time. Forever yours. No monthly fees. Ever.
Get LC Cart Full →
Instant download. Complete documentation. Built by a merchant who actually sells things.
Who This Is For
LC Cart isn't for everyone. It's not for mass retail with 10,000 SKUs of t-shirts. It's not for people who want drag-and-drop builders and app stores.
LC Cart is for merchants who:
- Sell distinctive items (jewelry, art, handmade, collectibles)
- Want to own their customers, not rent from Etsy/Amazon
- Value SEO and speed over convenience features
- Can handle basic hosting or hire someone for $50
- Want tools built by someone who actually sells things
If you're on Etsy paying 6.5% forever and wishing you owned your customer list - this is for you.
If you're on Shopify paying $468/year and your pages load in 2 seconds - this is for you.
If you tried WooCommerce and it's slow, got hacked, or broke with an update - this is for you.
If you want to build a business you own, not rent shelf space forever - this is for you.
Stop Renting. Start Owning.
$99
Get LC Cart Full Now →
Built by a gemstone merchant while selling $5,000 sapphire rings.
Every feature solves a real problem. No theoretical BS.