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Need Shopping Cart Etc.

allergyladyallergylady subscriber Posts: 4
edited June 2007 in Building A Website That Works
I am just about to begin a website, but I need advice on getting the whole "shopping cart" and checkout system.  Do you suggest paypal, or some other system? thanks
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    vwebworldvwebworld subscriber Posts: 40
    A shopping cart/ecommerce solution and who you use to process payments (credit card purchases) are two different things.
    A shopping cart provides the ability to present and sell products online while the payment processing (merchant account or paypal) provide the way to handle the dollars.
    There are many many choices for a shopping cart - and a lot of discussion on SUN about them. The appropriate choice depends upon what you plan to do and how you plan to use the site. Are you setting up the shopping cart or are you hiring a web designer? Do you have a budget? What functions and features do you need and would you like for your website?
    Re: PayPal - PayPal is certainly an option to handle payments and usually a first choice because of their fees versus other merchant accounts. There is some customer resistance to use PayPal, so once you have an established sales flow, it may be a good idea to add a merchant account - as an option.
    ~Rolandvwebworld2007-6-10 2:23:32
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    blondieblueblondieblue subscriber Posts: 9
    Here`s a esource for you ...
    http://applecart.info</A>blondieblue2007-6-10 12:56:6
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    NuevolutionNuevolution subscriber Posts: 30 Bronze Level Member
    Allergylady,
    My suggestion with you is to go with OSCOMMERCE... but before I point
    you in that direction, can you be more specific as to what you will be
    selling, the quantity of items?
    See here is my thing, if you`re going to sell less than 50 products, it
    would be better to go with a simple cart that can handle just that..
    perhaps, a small-shopping cart system.

    If you`re going to sell more than 51-200 or 500 products, go with
    OSCommerce,  Os Commerce gives you,  a checkout  system,
    pay pal and Credit Card Processor Integration. UPS, USPS, and FED EX
    shipping Modules, that calculates everything for you. It also has a
    Login, for returning customers.
    I think your solution would be to go wit OSCOMMERCE
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    vwebworldvwebworld subscriber Posts: 40
    I`ve designed, set-up, and managed websites using osCommerce, Zen Cart, and Xcart.
    At this time I would recommend Zen Cart over osCommerce. The last couple of releases for Zen Cart are superior to osCommerce as far as built-in features.
    Xcart is a little more involved to use and has even more features... and costs a little bit of $$.
    ~Roland
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    allergyladyallergylady subscriber Posts: 4
    Thank you everyone for the help
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    allergyladyallergylady subscriber Posts: 4
    Here are the answers to your questions:
    What are you selling?  JEWELRY AND CROCHET PRODUCTSHow are you putting up your site? Are you doing it yourself or hiring a developer?  I AM DOING IT MYSELFHow many products do you have?  I WILL PROBABLY HAVE NO MORE THAN 100-200How do you keep track of your inventory?   I WRITE IT ON PAPER, AND MICROSOFTHow computer-savy are you? Do you want to manage your own store or have someone else do it for you?   I WILL MANAGE MY OWN STOREHow often will you be changing products, adjusting prices, changing descriptions, or making items as sold out?   PROBABLY ONCE OR TWICE A MONTH?Do you need any advanced features like package tracking, shipping insurance purchasing, or shipping calculations?    JUST SHIPPING CALCULATIONSDo you need anything custom, like design-your-own whatevers features, or is it merely an option of purchasing products?  JUST PURCHASING PRODUCTSWhat kind of features do your products have - is there a choice of colors, quantities, or other characteristics?   COLOR CHOICE, QUANTITYAnd speaking of quantities, do you need the ability to give discounts based on quantity or make shipping changes based on the total order price?   I DON`T THINK SO
    I HOPE THIS HELPS-based on what people have posted, I will probably go with Zen CartBut I`m still open to opinions Thanks
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    vwebworldvwebworld subscriber Posts: 40
    Vwebworld`s hosting ... 1-click Zen cart install too.
    ~Roland
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    blondieblueblondieblue subscriber Posts: 9

    Here are the answers to your questions:
     

    With 100 - 200 products, you are a super store. IMHO, you can not afford to NOT use a design team, with a proven shopping cart/data base.
    With 100 items or more, to make multiple price changes one at a time with an on-line data base management system  is going to be a mess and time consuming.
    What if you decide to temporality discontinue an item or it is out of stock? With an on-line system, you`ll need to delete that product from the data base and input it all over again ... when it is back in stock.
    IMHO, if you are truly interested in getting into on-line retailing ... and you wish to do it right ... get a part time job (delivering pizzas or whatever) save up the needed $$ to do it right ... you`ll need approx $3500 and have a design team with a proven history of e-commerce stores, that offer an OFF-LINE data base management system - with an easy to use shopping cart. And have them design the system for you. (You wouldn`t do brain surgery on your self, right? - So why in the world do you think that you can do e-commerce well - without any knowledge of all the programming stuff?) (I dont mean to sound harsh here, bit I feel sometimes that I`m the Simon Cowell (American Idol) here at SuN./.
    No idea where to turn.
    try here ...
    http://spads.com</A>
    http://allmedianet.com</A>
    http://applecart.info</A>
    Still not sure where to turn. Then take a look at these 2 on-line stores that are selling stuff and doing extremely well in the search engines, for their micro-niches.
    http://boxerhaus.com</A>
    http://gotruckstop.com</A>blondieblue2007-6-10 21:2:34
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    vwebworldvwebworld subscriber Posts: 40
    What if you decide to temporality discontinue an item or it is out of stock? With an on-line system, you`ll need to delete that product from the data base and input it all over again ... when it is back in stock.
    That is just not true for osCommerce, Zen Cart, or Xcart. You can deactivate a product then reactivate it with a single click..you do not have to re-input anything.
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    vwebworldvwebworld subscriber Posts: 40
    I do agree that (I think) it is better use of your time and money to hire someone to create the website using the appropriate ecommerce solution.
    There has been a lot of discussion on SUN about various ecommerce programs and DIY or Pro. There are pros and cons to the various ecommerce solutions as well as hiring someone. Using an all in one solution like yahoo stores limits your design alternatives but more importantly, restricts your ability to move to another host (form yahoo)... in this case you will have to re-input everything (start from stratch).
    ~Roland
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    allergyladyallergylady subscriber Posts: 4
    Ok, I think I have decided to go with Freewebs web hosting, and they provide an easy way for inserting the shopping cart and check out service.  I am sure this will work just fine.  If anything, I will store all the great information that you have provided for future referances.  Thanks
    -Andrea g
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    pkammpkamm subscriber Posts: 2
    I am looking at creating a shopping cart for a client myself. This discussion has been very helpful. Based on vwebworld`s advice and some independent research, I think I will install Zencart and work on a customized look. Does anyone know of a site(s) that I can find some opensource templates for Zencart? I`m looking for something that has a clean design and well formed PHP as a basis for my own customization. Thanks.
    pkamm2007-6-11 23:39:18
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    vwebworldvwebworld subscriber Posts: 40
    There are a few free templates around, but they are only slight variations of the default Zen Cart layout. Like a different header image and different colored slidebox headers.
    I have Zen Cart templates for purchase. When picking out a template (free or pay), it is important to focus on the layout of the content. That is, how the content is displayed on the page, and what is shown on the main page, product page, etc. It is easier to change the graphics and colors, than it is to change the layout. So, choose a template that has the layout you want... and don`t worry about the graphics or colors it uses.
    If you have any questions about iuseing or modifying Zen Cart, do not hesitate to contact me.
    ~Roland
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    pkammpkamm subscriber Posts: 2
    Thanks, vweb! These templates look pretty slick.I may decide to start with a basic free one and then customize it for the look & feel of my client`s site. I`ve done some quick research on setting up ZenCart and configuring it. I see that the ZenCart site is selling a manual. Have you seen it? Is it any good? Also, I came across this site which has some nice little video tutorials on setup: ZenCart TutorialsThanks for your help.
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    vwebworldvwebworld subscriber Posts: 40
    The Zen Cart forum
    ~Roland
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