Anything Against OsCommerce?

Just doing some research in the field of shopping cart/e-commerce solutions.

Is there any reason why you wouldn't trust/use OsCommerce?

Would you use it for a retail site with a turnover of 1-2m USD?

For some people it's just hard to believe that something free can actually work. And that it can be a solid foundation of a sound business model. There's hundreds of (paid-for) alternatives but functionality-wise, they hardly have anything more to offer than OsCommerce.

Just wanted to see some points you could come up with... Thanks!

 

Open source software can be the best solution out there.

The number of eyes looking at the code to find holes and/or make improvements can not be mached by any proprietary software.

Just keep on top of the fixes or upgrades, but that goes for any software, and contribute if you can.

 

Check out Zencart www.zencart.com it is based on osCom but has a more advanced admin area.

 

TOPS- I use osCommerce on 3 stores that each sell around 2 million, never had a problem with security issues. Customer control is a hassle with lists over 3,000 people (as it would be w/ any SQL based members list that large) so back up and use e-mail mailing list software to send messages to members.

Any other questions, feel free to ask.

 

Thanks! (OSc + SEO = ZEN) = Brilliant! Oscommerce's SEO friendly option doesn't work well at all.

So if Shawn reckons it's nice, and none of the others can think of any negatives... Is it that good? I've installed it and have been playing with it. I do need some add-ons like Purchase Without Account and some payment add-ons.

It's those add-ons that worry me most. I am proficient in PHP/MySQL so am able to verify all code and look for potentially dodgy snippets. On that note; how easy is it to code your own alterations/add-ons and make them scalable/easy to upgrade?

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Thanks Jacob, that is reassuring to hear. Any links you can post/PM?

I'm not too fussed actually about collecting customer details. I hate having to log in myself before knowing shipping etc.

 

osCommerce does need some minor modifications- ZenCart is based on the project, but Im not sure who the people distributing that are (Im always nervous to try spinoffs just because of the possible back doors they could install - and still keep your trust.)

I'll PM you a couple links, no sense littering the boards w/ products people here aren't interested in.

 

That's the beauty of buying something... You can blame someone if it breaks or the shit hits the van.

I'm in the process of answering al this myself but just a quickie.. Can you batch upload with OSC like with an excel or SQL dump?

And does anyone know any good resource explaining the motivation of the Open Source community? Like explaining why someone would dedicate lots of time to something for no money and that will never become theirs as an exit strategy? I know why but I need someone else's better words, nice and concise.

 

Schlottke mentioned some hacks/mods, he will know.

 

Schlottke- Please litter the board with as much as you can

I do not know PHP/MySQL well (I learned FORTRAN ) and will soon need to make a committment to a specific shopping cart system. Information about needed add-ons is extremely helpful.

 

Yes OSCommerce is good ...
There are mods to make it best for SEO though.
Unfortunately I didn't actually do the work .. my wife did.
But check out ... couchguitarstraps.com for an example.
minimal products, but customizable meta and title as far as I know.

 

The main things you want to do with your board are modifying the page titles, and removing the boxes that you dont need under specific locations (for instance reviews on the main page may be necessary, but not under all product_info.php locations.)

Below is a hack you can use in the product_info.php file to place the Product Name and the Category it is in, in the title of the page.. It should work fine, though it is pretty bulky.

You can add echos for echo $the_product_model; and even $the_product_description in the title or meta tags as well with this.

Add After::

 $product_check = tep_db_fetch_array($product_check_query); ?>

PHP:

<?php
$the_product_info_query = tep_db_query("select pd.language_id, p.products_id, pd.products_name, pd.products_description, p.products_model, p.products_quantity, p.products_image, pd.products_url, p.products_price, p.products_tax_class_id, p.products_date_added, p.products_date_available, p.manufacturers_id from " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " p, " . TABLE_PRODUCTS_DESCRIPTION . " pd where p.products_id = '" . (int)$HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id'] . "' and pd.products_id = '" . (int)$HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id'] . "'" . " and pd.language_id ='" . (int)$languages_id . "'"); 
	$the_product_info = tep_db_fetch_array($the_product_info_query);
$the_product_name = strip_tags ($the_product_info['products_name'], "");
$the_product_description = strip_tags ($the_product_info['products_description'], "");
$the_product_model = strip_tags ($the_product_info['products_model'], "");
?>
<?php
$the_manufacturer_query = tep_db_query("select m.manufacturers_id, m.manufacturers_name from " . TABLE_MANUFACTURERS . " m left join " . TABLE_MANUFACTURERS_INFO . " mi on (m.manufacturers_id = mi.manufacturers_id and mi.languages_id = '" . (int)$languages_id . "'), " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " p where p.products_id = '" . (int)$HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id'] . "' and p.manufacturers_id = m.manufacturers_id"); 
	$the_manufacturers = tep_db_fetch_array($the_manufacturer_query);
?>
<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html <?php echo HTML_PARAMS; ?>>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=<?php echo CHARSET; ?>">
<title><?php echo $the_product_name; ?> <?php echo $categories['categories_name']; ?></title>

PHP:

Also, edit the product_info page to have H1 or H2 tags for the product name, and replacing the "added to the database on:" with an echo of that category, product, or both.

 

If you are not well versed with PHP/MySQL you might consider looking at eShox as it has an OSCommerce look and feel, with a lot of functionality. It is a commercial product, but is not that expensive. The key advantage to it is that installation and maintenance is a breeze. You do not need to know PHP/MySQL to install/use it. For more info take a look at http://hostdrive.com/eshox

 

You don't need to know PHP or SQL to install osCommerce either.

 

Thats some good info, thanks, keep em comming.

 

That is very nice - thankyou

For the record after looking at a number of open source options like cube cart, zen cart I settled on osCommerce for the very reasons illustrated by schlottke here.

 

Just bumping these two questions...

And in addition; do any 'household name' shops, any biggies use OScommerce. Or what's the 'biggest' / most professional shop you know that uses OScommerce?

And can I have multiple shops/domains tied in with just one payment solution? My guess is 'yes' but just checking. So much to find out!

And PS: Such Great Heights - you're lucky having a partner who likes coding too.

 

You can batch upload, yes. Install the contribution EasyPopulate.

 

I found some OSC forum threads about integration with Sage accounting software but can't find any modules in the contributions. Does anyone know of existing code for Sage - OSC (two-way) integration?