Lots of shopping carts are available nowadays... Do you have any specific requirements? This would allow to give a more precise answer.
Most solutions allow to perform design integration via template system quite easily. I'd appreciate if you could check CS-Cart's online demo as an example - our structure is quite similar and a skin design can be tweaked for your needs. It also has similar functionality and modular architecture. You may download a trial version and see if it will suit you - just drop me a line in case you need any help.
Hey CS-Carts looks pretty good, I guess the only issue with me is the license. At stage, I'm looking for a free shopping cart just for now until the funds starts to come in.
Thanks for your opinion! Your concern about the funds is completely understandable. By no means I'm willing to press on you on force your decision, still, I'd like to share some points which will hopefully help you in making the right choice. First of all, I'd strongly advice to pick a suitable solution right from the start. Believe me, switching from a free to a paid platform at a later time may be time-consuming, since you will probably need to transfer your product and order data, design scheme etc. Therefore, even if you choose a free solution, my advice is to pick a platform which will also be suitable for your store at a later time. Secondly, just an opinion (may it be subjective): paid shopping carts are usually better supported, more secure and well-tested, and updates come out more often. Besides, you have a guarantee that any errors will be fixed quickly and you can receive a premium technical support (or other services) directly from a company. By the way, as an option, you may consider using our trial version for two months without any charges. This trial is fully identical to the registered version, and you will have a fair amount of time to launch the store and start earning money. Still, all of these are just my thoughts for your consideration - good luck for you in your research!
Too easy, will give it some thoughts then. Its for a client of mine, well someone I know and I'm doing it for free but I can speak to them and see what they think
Ready Made Shopping Carts are available on the net, but they are not reliable, there is no security, no quality at all, They get different problems. I always recommend custom made bug free script by professional programmer, there is many cheap developers but mostly they are not aware of solution. Some people look for cheap work but they dont keep in mind that why they need cheap work even they are going to have a Ecommerce solution, and in ecommerce solution people should not take risk just for the sake of some dollars. Cheap Work also gives Cheap Quality.
I'm in real doubt regarding your point on lack of quality and security... In fact, commercial ready-made shopping carts simply have to follow security standards and provide bugfixes at shortest time possible. Otherwise, they wouldn't survive on a nowadays market. Same applies to general quality - less bugs just means less pain for a software company, less expenses, more clients, more profit and more time to concentrate on new features. Of course, there may always be cases for some special or enterprise-level project, however, in general, it's absolutely possible for store owners to find an affordable and high-quality ecommerce platform. Custom features may be built onto it at much less summary costs.
Hi, Magento is really cool. Its pretty customisable as well. We had customised it for our client. See the work here http://69.50.205.26/dev/gears/1/magento/index.php
Magento is indeed powerful in terms of features, however, it requires significant server resources and may be more complex in terms of learning to make customizations. In any case, as a popular choice, it's worth to check it out and decide if it suits you.
I don't mind learning magento but when you say its cool and customizable, your example doesn't look like its easy to learn . Yes, I have looked into it in the pass but do find it little complicated. I will have time now, since I'm only doing part time work and my business on the side. Will see if its easy for me or not . CHEERS
There are many from one companies offering shopping cart with paying software/script included for different prices.However,it's like about $100 per month.
You probably mean hosted solutions. Yes, it might be more convenient to have all server work done for you, however, expenses are higher and you have usually much less flexibility. If possible, take things into your own hands.
Go ahead and build it! I've looked at a few php genertors and at least two of them have a shopping cart template....so help is not far away.
Why not simply make use of paypal's Instant Payment Notification script? You can easily set it up with minimal knowledge of PHP/MySQL. I almost just finished an IPN script, for one of my own websites. It was actually quite easy, even with no past experience in the area whatsoever.
Google Checkout is very easy to integrate into any site. They have an API that's easy to use, and scripts to create buttons for you etc. I've used them many times before.
CS, I agree with your first point without reservation. However, I believe your second point is the great debate that has been raging since Richard Stallman started the FSF back in 1985: OSS or commercial licensure. If the open source project has all the features that you need, a strong community, possesses a regular release lifecycle, and has a development team capable of releasing patches then IMO there is no advantage to commercial software. Most people don't realize that the single most important factor for their fledgling online presence is support. Hence, when evaluating the options look at their SUPPORT STRUCTURE. For commercial applications it is the company but open source solutions rely upon free community help or paid specialists in that application. Here are some other applications worth taking a look at: Magento Zen Cart osCommerce There are too many to pick from but IMO Magento is king of the hill at this time with respect to FOSS eCommerce applications.