Which e-commerce package do you use?

[gwyneth]

After the browser and FTP polls, here's one about shopping carts.

[Sam]

CubeCart for me

[othellobloke]

Whilst I hate ecommerce sites in any form... we use OSCommerce.

I don't think I can quantify how much I hate ecommerce sites.

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by othellobloke

Whilst I hate ecommerce sites in any form... we use OSCommerce.

I don't think I can quantify how much I hate ecommerce sites.

Not trying to start an argument--I'm curious about what you don't like. Do you mean handling the back end (programming, designing)? Using them as a consumer (front end, user interface)? Their possible effect on society (nationalizing and internationalizing the market place)? Effect on consumers (reducing one of the positive by-products of shopping, exercise from walking through stores and malls)? The effect on would-be entrepeneurs (greedy, unskilled ones thinking e-commerce is a license to print money)?

[SandyFish]

WOW! I'm surprised to see so little response to this poll. And disappointed too, as it's my BIG question right now. I have read pages upon pages in this forum - about shopping carts. I'm still not sure which one would be best for me? So far it seems as though Zen or Cube are the ones with the least complaints. I have only done two sites with e-commerce; each of those offer one product with a simple PayPal "Buy Now" button. I have a client that I built a non e-commerce site for, they were very pleased and now wish for me to build another site with a store. One of their biggest requests is to be able to 'track' inventory. I think, if a buyer attempts to purchase something that is out of stock - the buyer would get an instant notice - pop up ? something, so the buyer would know the product is not available. The system they are currently using does not allow this & they are getting paid orders for unavailable products - disgruntled customers... Their request was to be able to go into the site & post "out of stock" - I think it would be easier if the program/store did this automatically.
ANY help would be appreciated!!
THANKS!!!

[Hullabaloo]

We use oscommerce.

The main drawback with any cart system is after you have made dozens of changes, tweaks and customizations they are almost impossible to upgrade.

I recommend keeping very detailed notes on any changes you make, I can't stress this enough.

-----------

It seems like after the [Add to Cart] click you should be able to add a php if statement to check quantity and redirect the browser if an item is sold out/ out of stock.

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by SandyFish

WOW! I'm surprised to see so little response to this poll. And disappointed too, as it's my BIG question right now. I have read pages upon pages in this forum - about shopping carts. I'm still not sure which one would be best for me? So far it seems as though Zen or Cube are the ones with the least complaints. I have only done two sites with e-commerce; each of those offer one product with a simple PayPal "Buy Now" button. I have a client that I built a non e-commerce site for, they were very pleased and now wish for me to build another site with a store. One of their biggest requests is to be able to 'track' inventory. I think, if a buyer attempts to purchase something that is out of stock - the buyer would get an instant notice - pop up ? something, so the buyer would know the product is not available. The system they are currently using does not allow this & they are getting paid orders for unavailable products - disgruntled customers... Their request was to be able to go into the site & post "out of stock" - I think it would be easier if the program/store did this automatically.
ANY help would be appreciated!!
THANKS!!!

Cube and Zen both do this. IMO, Cube is considerably easier to set up, has intuitive back end (i.e., easy to set up to give client access to enter stock, administer, etc., without being able to break stuff. Much easier to instruct clients than Zen.)

If you go the Cube route, it's a good idea to buy a license for the client (Cube isn't open source, but can be used free--buying license gets you support and removes the language that appears on the window title (Free Version of Cube Cart or something like that).

Most e-commerce work is a recipe for headaches, not being able to charge nearly as much as the client should pay, and cursing the day you decided to go commercial with web designing.

The learning curve for Zen is much more difficult than Cube, and though it has more potential power, in practical terms non-coding types will get further with Cube.

Cube also has much less potential for undesirable client-related side effects; first Zen projects are notorious for creating clienemies*.

*Client + enemy, like "frienemy".

[whiplashdps]

Does anyone have any experience with the QuickShopping Cart as an add-on rather than trying to set one up? I have been trying to get ['not allowed to say who - but is obvious'] to comp me one so I can check it out.

I used the quick-blog for a while (before I had time to do wordpress) and that was easy to integrate and use and I didn't have to worry about back-end stuff.

[gwyneth]

First, the good thing about whiplashdps's post--it made Viacart pop into my mind.

Viacart (from Viart, I think) is a fairly straightforward, reasonably simple combination CMS and shopping cart. There is a free version which lets you have something like 24 products (maybe it's more).

Not the greatest CMS, not the greatest cart, but a very good potential solution for people with either a small number of products or the type of creative business (we've had several jewelry designers post) that has a very high content vs product ratio.)

Originally Posted by whiplashdps

Does anyone have any experience with the QuickShopping Cart as an add-on rather than trying to set one up? I have been trying to get ['not allowed to say who - but is obvious'] to comp me one so I can check it out.

I used the quick-blog for a while (before I had time to do wordpress) and that was easy to integrate and use and I didn't have to worry about back-end stuff.

Whiplashdps, the first problem with providing this kind of link is general. It looks like you're that product's affiliate, whether it's true or not. If you are, you should say that instead of just plopping the link sideways into the thread.

The way you did it is close to being acceptable--it's not cloaked (good), not disguised as a graphic (good), requires actual click, here (good), for non-HG product (good) and it's on-topic.

But the second problem is specific and because you weren't direct I will do it for you: the link takes people to your Whiplash Web and Domain Services-branded Godaddy order page to buy the Godaddy shopping cart through you. For all I know, now your Godaddy cookie on my PC means you get a cut when I buy or renew there the same way I always do.

You need to be more direct, so it becomes a voluntary choice by people clicking the link--otherwise, perilously close to spam.

Yes, affiliations/reselling arrangements for everything are part of the printing and promo business world from which you appear to have come. It just needs to be done slightly differently some places online.

[whiplashdps]

I think it's clear to everyone I was not spamming. I can do without the lectures.

[RainbowViper]

Whiplashdps,

This is a very touchy subject here on the Forums, and a little prior reading on your part would have alerted you to that fact.

The only thing that's "clear to everyone" is that you're dropping some type of affiliate cookie on people's PC's under the guise of sending them to a product's own website, when in fact it links to a site (owned by you?) on which you appear to be reselling the product for a profit. Whether or not you *intended* to deceive is fairly irrelevant: most people here consider it deceptive.

That's not a lecture, just a statement of fact and a heads-up for the future.

[whiplashdps]

sigh.....

Look at it this way.

If you wanted to reference a web site with information relative to a topic, and said topic happened to be an item for sale by hundreds or possibly thousands of people, would you locate and then point to one of those sites, or would you point to the most convenient link you had handy... or maybe you have 30 minutes to type a full description of the item.

If I need to point to a page relative to a topic, and it is on my site, then I am going to do it. If you have another method, which you find acceptable, by all means... please tell me.

I see far more agregious links in some of the posts or signatures of posters on these forums so maybe you can spend more constructive time 'correcting' those individuals, rather then 'educating' those of us that don't need it.

Secondly, I am not dropping cookies anywhere. I am a reseller for GoDaddy. They provide a website and all purchases go through the reseller storefront which I control so you can calm down. If you want to preach about researching before posting, perhaps you should follow your own advice. If you are so afraid of cookies, try clearing them instead of accusing someone of wrongdoing.

If you who feel the need to continue with lectures or life lessons, let me suggest you give people the benefit of the doubt, until they give you reason to think otherwise.

This is the last I am commenting on this. You can't please everybody.

Hopefully this thread will get back on topic. Contrary to the conspiracy theories, I was hoping someone had experience with shopping carts like those I mentioned, or something similar to share . They are a tempting alternative to developing and customizing open source carts and worrying about all the security and back end stuff.

[RainbowViper]

Originally Posted by whiplashdps

*****SNIP*****
If I need to point to a page relative to a topic, and it is on my site, then I am going to do it. If you have another method, which you find acceptable, by all means... please tell me.

I'll address this point alone, in order not to get this thread further off-topic:

The method most acceptable to everyone here is to link to the product's OWN homepage, as I inferred, and not with a link that puts a cookie on the user's PC that may pay you at a later date, as Gwen pointed out.

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by RainbowViper

I'll address this point alone, in order not to get this thread further off-topic:

The method most acceptable to everyone here is to link to the product's OWN homepage, as I inferred, and not with a link that puts a cookie on the user's PC that may pay you at a later date, as Gwen pointed out.

Because this situation is different from most of the posts with affiliate problems, it deserves to be clarified.

Whiplashdps's post wasn't nearly as offensive as the HG affiliate spam that was littering the public categories until off-site images were forbidden there. Instead of legitimate affiliate clicks [visitor to affiliate's site clicks link to HG; affiliate gets credit for sale for a certain time, determined by a cookie that's supposed to get changed in the action of going from affiliate's site to HG), this "dropped" or "stuffed" the cookie into posts here. When read by those trying to decide whether to purchase an HG account, the afflicted post would give the spammer fraudulent credit for the purchase if the reader decided to buy, then or in the future.

whiplashdps's link was straightforward, and what made his post slightly questionable was the fact that he did not explain his association with the product he was suggesting. But making it more questionable is the question of whether whiplashdps may also be credited with non-related purchases made by those who clicked the link to see what he was referring to.

Whiplashdps, pleading that others do worse is not a productive response. You can put links in your signature (user cp) which is the most polite way to generate traffic.

[usa2k]

I am exploring Ubercart using Drupal.
Most of my work is offline ATM.

[whiplashdps]

I was using Google Checkout to email invoices. They recently raised rates to be equal with PayPal so, since PayPal doesn't require payers to log-in, maybe I'll use them now.

Anyway.. I was looking for carts to compare and Google has a nice list for easy reference.

(LINK ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - NO AFFILIATE COOKIES - NO NEFARIOUS ACTS - NO ILL WILL - LINK ALERT!!!! - LINK ALERT!!!!! )

https://checkout.google.com/seller/integrate_cart.html

(END LINK ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - NO AFFILIATE COOKIES - NO NEFARIOUS ACTS - NO ILL WILL - END LINK ALERT!!!! - END LINK ALERT!!!!! )[/B]


There are also sites out there that offer store fronts and store hosting to integrate with existing sites for monthly costs but I don't seem to have those references handy. Considering the headaches involved with setting up stores, and security and having to fix or update databases every time hostgator performs maintenance or upgrades (common from what I find in these forums) - I am leaning more and more towards some of these alternative methods.

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by whiplashdps

There are also sites out there that offer store fronts and store hosting to integrate with existing sites for monthly costs but I don't seem to have those references handy. Considering the headaches involved with setting up stores, and security and having to fix or update databases every time hostgator performs maintenance or upgrades (common from what I find in these forums) - I am leaning more and more towards some of these alternative methods.

That's a good point, and don't forget interfacing (both programatically and personally) with some payment gateway, and worrying about security. Amazon has several "store solutions" that may well be quicker/more convenient for a fair number of ecommerce newbies.

I know you can use your own domain name, and I believe the hosting can be split seamlessly between Amazon for the store part of a site and its regular hosting firm for the rest.

[slapshotw]

Originally Posted by whiplashdps

I was using Google Checkout to email invoices. They recently raised rates to be equal with PayPal so, since PayPal doesn't require payers to log-in, maybe I'll use them now.

FYI, until May 5th (but maybe they'll extend it), you don't pay any fees on Google Checkout purchases up to 10x your monthly AdWords spend. Good to remember if you have an AdWords account.

[striddy]

Originally Posted by whiplashdps

This is the last I am commenting on this.

Originally Posted by whiplashdps

I was using Google Checkout...........

I didn't think you were going to comment any further on this.

[whiplashdps]

nah.. I was referring to the stuff about links in posts.

I still would like to hear about or discuss ecommerce options. I have had to turn away a few business opportunities because of my lack of experience with them and I don't take on jobs if I can't guarantee I can perform them properly.

[cleanxhost]

Originally Posted by whiplashdps

I was using Google Checkout to email invoices. They recently raised rates to be equal with PayPal so, since PayPal doesn't require payers to log-in, maybe I'll use them now.

Anyway.. I was looking for carts to compare and Google has a nice list for easy reference.

(LINK ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - NO AFFILIATE COOKIES - NO NEFARIOUS ACTS - NO ILL WILL - LINK ALERT!!!! - LINK ALERT!!!!! )

https://checkout.google.com/seller/integrate_cart.html

(END LINK ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - NO AFFILIATE COOKIES - NO NEFARIOUS ACTS - NO ILL WILL - END LINK ALERT!!!! - END LINK ALERT!!!!! )[/B]


There are also sites out there that offer store fronts and store hosting to integrate with existing sites for monthly costs but I don't seem to have those references handy. Considering the headaches involved with setting up stores, and security and having to fix or update databases every time hostgator performs maintenance or upgrades (common from what I find in these forums) - I am leaning more and more towards some of these alternative methods.

With them quotes in RED, you are just taking the piss out of the people that could help you, and if I were them, I would tell you where to go!

[scarlett]

Originally Posted by whiplashdps

Does anyone have any experience with the QuickShopping Cart as an add-on rather than trying to set one up? I have been trying to get ['not allowed to say who - but is obvious'] to comp me one so I can check it out.

I used the quick-blog for a while (before I had time to do wordpress) and that was easy to integrate and use and I didn't have to worry about back-end stuff.

I used QuickShoppingCart on another host site before I came to hostgator. I loved it! It was easy to learn, did everything I wanted it to do and even created a google product database of my products and sent them to google. It WAS expensive at $350 per year but as I look for a new cart, I wish I had left well enough alone. I can't say enough good things about it.

[whiplashdps]

Considering the amount of money I would need to charge a client for the time to set-up and then maintain open source carts, it just seems to make more and more sense (for me - limited to no ecommerce experience) to sub the carts out to one of these third parties and simply manage it for the client. It is encouraging to hear some good things about the cart.

They still won't comp me one to try and learn before buying so I might need to suck it up and get one for a month or two.

thanks for the input.

[slapshotw]

Many of my clients are on a highly customized version of X-Cart-- we've had good experiences with it.

[kmaw]

Originally Posted by slapshotw

Many of my clients are on a highly customized version of X-Cart-- we've had good experiences with it.

I don't have much experience with e-commerce... just a few sites. Recently transferred a client from CS-Cart to X-cart and they find x-cart to be a big improvement. They're doing about $600,000 gross sales/yr.