Hi John,
Actually, ProStores is owned by ebay. Homestead whose website service I used some time back (and loved its ease of use-was just too expensive) uses the ProStores platform as their e-commerce platform, but it is not theirs. For anyone who wants to look into this, just call them, they will tell you.
I did look into using Homestead's version of Prostores, but as stated in earlier post, I would prefer a platform with the ability to use more than one pic in my listings without necessarily having to use an outside storage facility. Therefore, I don't know how it would be as I did not pursue this avenue with them.
As far as ecrater goes, yes it is easy to set up, and I think a great place to have an optional store and/or to get your feet wet, but use of this type of platform depends on one's long term goals.
Building on such a platform, your store is NOT technically yours....to expand...you could not sell it for example, if you wanted to later down the road..which many people do do..for great profits..check flippa.com, for example. They can also at any time they see fit, suspend your store, much in the way ebay does, leaving you to defend your position..just check their community board...I am sure you are familiar with this if you use them. Some will say that those who get suspended are for reasons such as selling fake products, which some do, but, it is not always the case. And, as with ebay, your product may or may not be fake...but you will have to prove that one way or the other if they decide that it is.
Another drawback is that they do not favor dropshipping and so many people depend on this type of service.
That being said, I respect your input and will actually look into ecrater again for an idea I have in mind. It is a great place to test a market before launching your own full fledged ecommerce store..which you can actually OWN.
One other thing, did you know that search engines are not as favorable to free stores as they are with paying stores, and, there are other limitations.... you cannot monetize, meaning you cannot add html codes to promote affiliate programs, or google adsense, etc., etc....to name a couple.
Another thing, I do not personally like, and others may not mind, is that I cannot right-click protect my photos, so anyone can just copy.
Peace! Have a wonderful day! Many successes to all!