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Is Weebly Dying?

I hate to be the one to say it, but it seems like ever since Weebly was bought out by Square it has begun to stagnate.  We haven't seen any significant updates since the buyout, other than the option to transfer everything over to the Square editor.  I liked Weebly a lot when I first got my sites (I manage two Weebly sites for two different but affiliated organizations).  The drag and drop editor was a great tool, and we still got access to the site code.  Plus the ability to download and save our sites in code form was extremely appealing because it gave the option for easier transition to other hosts in the future (unlike most drag and drop editors that are proprietary, requiring you to completely rebuild your site from the ground up if you ever move).  Weebly had a lot of benefits and seem on the forefront of features and flexibility, which is why I chose it.

But then it got bought up by Square.  I have seen this once before, my first website was hosted by Webs (also a leading host at the time) but then it got bought by Vistaprint and when that happened all resources went into the Vistaprint-branded site editor, and Webs slowly died until it was finally deactivated for good.  Now it's happening all over again, Weebly is getting no new updates while the Square editor has become the priority.  Unfortunately the Square editor lacks many of the core features that the Weebly editor has (and I need), so it's a no-win situation.

Features that are STANDARD for ecommerce sites barely exist (or don't) on Weebly.  Like social integrations (being able to sell on Facebook and Instagram, first requested on Weebly in 2016 but still not available.  It is available on the Square editor though it should be noted); the ability to customize the checkout and site membership experience for our customers; the ability to have more options when it comes to offering site discounts; and I would love, LOVE it if there was a product type geared towards classes/events where you could put different dates as options and it would be smart enough to know when a date has passed and remove it as an option, and if it also automatically made a roster based on who signed up I would be absolutely over the moon.  But we aren't getting these features, we aren't getting any new features at all really.  Sure there are some third-party app integrations that are pretty cool, but these often are insanely expensive and just unsustainable for small businesses and startups.

So what is the solution here?  Are we ever going to get the Weebly we all want back?  Is it eventually going to die and we're all going to be forced over to Square?  Does the Square editor now allow access to the site code, the ability to download the site, and apps / features / integrations that the Weebly editor allows (When I first checked it out, it certainly didn't.  Hopefully things have changed).  But one thing is for certain, unless we start seeing some improvements and updates, companies like mine are going to have to start looking for another site host that offers these features.  In the constantly changing online business environment we have to adapt to survive, and Weebly just doesn't seem to care about that anymore.

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Unfortunately tech support has not contacted me in over two weeks, the integration still doesn't work, and I am looking into alternative web hosting sites.  I've tried to hold out, but when my business keeps being adversely affected, it's time to look at other options.  They've had years to get this stuff figured out, and why release an update that doesn't even work?  Makes no sense to me.  If you are looking for a web hosting service that provides both a flexible editor and ecommerce tools, you will sadly need to look elsewhere.  Maybe once they get the integration worked out things will be better, but in the meantime this just isn't working.

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I have to ask essentially the same question - - will the WEEBLY website product disappear?

In my case I do have different email addresses for my SQUARE accout and for my WEEBLY account. What I find is that Square dumps cookies into my browser/computer so I cannot have an open page in WEEBLY if I open an accoutning page for SQUARE. For some reason SQUARE wants to override the signd-in Weebly page (AND the SQUARE website editor is completely worthless)  In fact, it seems that even if I switch browsers (MAC Chrome -> EDGE) the cookie still sticks and restricts me from using the WEEBLY Site editor.

I understand why the companies want to combine for synergy, but since the products are SO different can't there be some sort of firewall between the two for the customer ? ?

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@cafutah - I've continued to contact tech support about this issue and they have either stopped answering or been utterly unhelpful in fixing it. I haven't even been able to get the so called "bridge" integration to even work, so it sounds like you are a lot further along than me. It looks like nobody at weebly/square actually tried to see how the sites would integrate before releasing the update, and nobody has bothered to clue us in to what the actual plan here is (if there ever was one). The whole thing has been haphazard, not well thought out, and with no communication at all to and basically no support to us end users. Businesses like mine are suffering as a result of this. My recommendation to you is to do like I'm doing, find another web host like Squarespace, Wix, or Wordpress with the features you want and get out while you can. It's taken square/weebly 4 years to even get to this disasterous point, how many more years will it take to finally get it fixed? My business certainly doesn't have the resources to keep waiting endlessly to find out.
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I cannot disagree with anything you say here !

 
I have tried Wix and tried to work with Squarespace but found the limitations of Wix irritating and SS too many ch effort so I return to Weebly. Now the Square interaction is enough of a problem that I have to revisit the earlier decision.
 
Today Weebly deactivated my website because I did not see their email last week that my Pro subscription had run out. When I saw the “404” page in place of my website I immediately went to Weebly Support looking for some explanation….
 
HA ! ! “Support” does not exist and the bot chat went in infuriating circles. I used GetAHuman to find a phone # but that also is blocked by a request for a PIN that my Pro acct is supposed to have made available.
 
I finally did an email search for Weebly and found their warning that the site would go off line since I had not paid to renew. A little advance warning after a 3 year subscription would have been nice…. 
 
So - Yes - like you, I am going to put some real effort into finding a new website host and merchant account provider. I can no longer continue this path !

DkG  CAF UTAH
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I'm seriously considering moving away from Weebly now, after discovering that one of my old inactive sites, which the client wanted to be reactivated, has a broken gallery. Re-uploading the images would be a nightmare and there doesn;t even seem to be a way to see file name or link in image options in editor (I think it was there before?)

I didn't get anywhere with customer support and overall I think Weebly is no longer a viable platform for me.

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