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Free! - From the Ground Up: Shopping carts

osCommerce

June 9, 2005 by Ryan Green

I have personally liked osCommerce. I am a beginning/Intermediate programmer & developer, and I liked being able to go in an modify the PHP scripting to my needs. There is a great version of osCommerce, that has common modules already added, so it is pretty much install and go. It is www.creloaded.com they have payment mondules and shipping modules already added into the osCommerce structure, so you can have your site up and running in a matter of minutes.

RE: osCommerce

June 9, 2005 by Linda Goin

Hey Ryan - thanks for your quick response on the article. I can usually wade through code if I have the time and space, but it's not my total love...so it's good to hear that osCommerce is a "plug and play" type e-commerce program. I'm anxious to hear from some other folks, too, about their experiences with different programs.

Thanks again!
Cheers,
Linda

I've checked a couple of those out too

June 10, 2005 by Chris Charlton

I really am suprised you didn't cover Paypals' option(s) (cart, buy now), or is that for a follow-up article? This area has been one of my biggest hurdles when talking about solutions for clients. They want to know, "which works for me?", "can I sell all my widgets?" and "how much is the cart?"

I've installed a couple osCommerce's and really think it's a solid package. It's honestly as close to a mini-Amazon as I would like to get clients' sites.

X-Cart always seemed really good. A best-friend-developer I know has always held them high with reguard, so maybe one day I'll get into the admin area and see how it all works.

AgoraCart is really popular also, and some people have told me that's the way to go. Then again, this is from the mouth of developers. :)

I have never heard of the other two, but it's good to know who's available, at least to compare.

RE: I've checked a couple of those out too

June 10, 2005 by Linda Goin

Hey Chris - I was going to go PayPal, but wanted to see what was out there first. And - like you - I had the roughest time convincing clients to use PayPal initially. I'm grateful that clients can now pay without registering - what a boost that's been for my business.

Other than this, I'm happy that you, too, like osCommerce. I would like to hear from you whenever you try the X-Cart package. When I return from my summer trips, I'll probably utilize the PayPal option in one of my sites to see how it all works, and if it can be modified re: design aspects, etc. After I use it, I'll definitely report on it!

Thanks for your comments!

Cheers,
Linda

RE: RE: I've checked a couple of those out too

June 10, 2005 by Chris Charlton

Another new "custom" commerce is Yahoo! Store's, in-fact there's a DW extension free on their site that looks like it has it's own panel with Yahoo-tag's, which means killer custom Yahoo Shops for clients! Shhhhh, don't tell anyone, haha.

RE: RE: RE: I've checked a couple of those out too

June 10, 2005 by Linda Goin

Oy - I'll keep it under my hat...but I'm on my way over to check it out. Thanks!

RE: RE: RE: I've checked a couple of those out too

June 13, 2005 by Ryan Green

The only problem with the Yahoo! DW solution, is that it is for PC users only, they don't have a Mac DW extension available. I have worked with Dreamweaver and pasted Yahoo Merchant tags into the pages, but then it doesn't even really worke like a true store, since you can only get some tags, and it isn't truely dynamic like it would be with osCommerce or other store options.

Zen Cart

August 14, 2008 by Glenn Barr

Wow, after such a good article, I find it incredible that you passed over Zen Cart (http://www.zen-cart.com/) as it's a fully loaded open source shopping cart with a great community for support.

Granted it can be a little daunting for beginners, but it does everything that the bigger carts does with ease, all for free (or a donation if you use it commercially).

Well worth a look...