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Best Shopping Cart for selling only Digital Goods and Services?

Discussion in 'eCommerce' started by eager, Dec 15, 2010.

  1. #1
    Hi,

    I'm looking for a shopping cart ( or ready to run script) for selling Digital Products like eBooks, Graphic Objects etc..

    I need some features in cart like

    1. There should be a provision to place downloadable files at secure location like at server's root.

    2. The downloadable link should be available for specific time and should be downloadable for specific number of times.

    3. There should be proper user management who buys ebook

    FYI: I searched internet a lot and tried various type of solutions but found some features in one cart and other in some other script because they all meant for selling physical goods not for Digital Products


    Any type of help will really be appreciated.
     
    eager, Dec 15, 2010 IP
  2. rashida

    rashida Active Member

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    #2
    rashida, Dec 15, 2010 IP
  3. edesigner

    edesigner Peon

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    #3
    i always use Zen Cart for any e commerce Project. it is easy to modify and maintain.
    features are very good. Try this One !
     
    edesigner, Dec 16, 2010 IP
  4. Hoodala

    Hoodala Peon

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    #4
    I agree, zen cart is one of the easiest carts to use and has good features. It is very easy to set up for software delivery.
     
    Hoodala, Dec 16, 2010 IP
  5. supdoggy

    supdoggy Peon

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    #5
    I started out deciding whether to use OpenCart, Magento, and PrestaShop. However, after a series of screening, I decided to settle down using OpenCart (Presta came second). In my opinion, OpenCart is pretty user friendly (Mangeto not so friendly imo).
     
    supdoggy, Dec 16, 2010 IP
  6. eager

    eager Peon

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    #6
    Thanks everybody for answering.

    As far as ZS Cart is concerned it's service not a self-hosted solution and to pay every month a subscription fee + Transaction Fee is bit hard for me because I gonna start a new site. Below is ZS Cart's plan which I can't bear :-


    I need a cart or script (preferred non encoded which I can host at my site).




    supdoggy thanks for the suggestion, I already tried OpenCart. I'm afraid it has almost no features to protect downlodable files like .rar files (ebooks) whereas Prestashop do has (to limit number of days and number of downloads) but it has another issue :-

    When someone places order through Prestashop it shows 2 different pages for confirming Address and confirming Billing Address which are completely unnecessary when we have to sell Digital Products. I raised this question in there discussion forum and waiting for their reply


    Is there anyone else who suggests me some other viable solution!
     
    eager, Dec 16, 2010 IP
  7. zachc

    zachc Peon

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    #7
    Have you tried fetchapp.com?

    They are specifically catered to selling digital goods and they have a free plan to start out with.
     
    zachc, Dec 21, 2010 IP
  8. eager

    eager Peon

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    #8
    Thanks zachc I have already checked fetchapp.com a long time ago. It's a hosted solution for which one has to pay a monthly fee whereas I'm looking for self-hosted solution and preferred is open source, whether it's paid or free.

    If you know kindly let me know.
     
    eager, Dec 21, 2010 IP
  9. zachc

    zachc Peon

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    #9
    The other solution that I know of that might be able to do what you want to do is Magento. Have you tried it out? They have an option to upload downloadable products and there is a whole lot of options that you can customize (you can limit the number of downloads per purchase, but i'm not too sure about time)

    Magento has a free community edition where you can download and use.
     
    zachc, Dec 21, 2010 IP
  10. Nigel Lew

    Nigel Lew Notable Member

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    #10
    Clearly Magento if you want to ultimately have something enterprise level. Your next best bet is prestashop. Its very fast and has a friendly community.

    oscommerce and zencart got left in the dust a few years ago. That stuff is frankly a trainwreck.

    That said, it helps to have a programmer handy to do some things with magento. Customizing it has a bit of a learning curve but the logic bits are completely separate from the design so you don't have to mess with any core files.

    hope that helps,
    Nigel
     
    Nigel Lew, Dec 21, 2010 IP
  11. eager

    eager Peon

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    #11
    Thanks you so much zachc and Nigel,

    I have also tested Magento, few days ago and surely it's has Downloadable Product option but no doubt it's too much hard to operate and understand for designers and other technical staff members and it may take almost couple of days to get used to with it. As I'm web developer so it wasn't hard for me to manage with Magento but rest of the co-worker can't understand easily because it requires too much deep technical knowledge to operate it. Even then I decided to go for it and when we did benchmark with Magento, we found it consumes too much CPU resources because it is coded in wrong way (may most of the people are not aware of this is the fact) + it is using Zend Framework which is itself a resource eater. I think you may haven't used it otherwise you wouldn't have recommended Magento to me. But honestly I am really thankful to both of you zachc and Nigel

    I have already tested couple of other eCommerce Shopping Carts which says in very small words :) in their Features List that they support Digital Products whereas the fact is they are far from the practical life and they are initially meant for shipping products later they added this feature which make them fit it real life otherwise still people wouldn't have searched for Best Shopping Cart for Selling only Digital Products
     
    eager, Dec 21, 2010 IP
  12. zachc

    zachc Peon

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    #12
    No problem eager, sorry I wasn't able to help! But it looks as though you have tried out many solutions already.

    Would be interesting to know which solution you eventually end up with so do let us know if you can. =)
     
    zachc, Dec 21, 2010 IP
  13. eager

    eager Peon

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    #13
    Surely I'd update here, once I get a perfect solution for selling digital products like eBooks, MP3 etc...

    By grace of GOD I’m a hardcore web developer and working in this stream for last couple of years. As I’m working with a company and so It’s my duty to work as per their regulations otherwise, to develop a site along with full fledged, easy to understand, Admin Panel + Client Devoted Download Area + eCommerce integration with complete automation whether it’s Paypal or 2Checkout. A complete good looking Digital Product selling site can be developed within 2 months. But I am having to work, the way my company wants me to work, they need some ready to run solution.

    Let's what is in stored!
     
    eager, Dec 21, 2010 IP
  14. yaylarugs

    yaylarugs Peon

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    #14
    use of Zen Cart is more efficient.
     
    yaylarugs, Dec 22, 2010 IP
  15. crisgold

    crisgold Peon

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    #15
    Have you found a solution. I was reading the thread and I am looking for a solution as well. Thank you for your help!

    Cris
     
    crisgold, Jan 14, 2011 IP
  16. eager

    eager Peon

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    #16
    Cris, thanks for asking.

    It's really pathetic that so far there is no such ready to run, perfect and above all self-hosted solution for selling digital products like ebooks, mp3 etc...

    Either there are several carts/softwares in the market which were initially coded for selling physical products and later they added a slight/partial feature for selling digital products (and claims as a complete solution for digital product selling, which is 100% work) which doesn't fulfill the requirement or make them perfect for selling digital products. I tried almost all small to big shopping carts, free to paid, even products coded in non-regional language in order to find the perfect solution for my company for which I am working but I'm afraid I didn't find even a single one.

    OR there are many hosted solutions which charge on monthly basis which is not acceptable in any way and I hope many other people also don't accept it and prefer a self-hosted solution.

    I submitted my report to my company and still it is under consideration and I also recommended them to make a team which develop a ready to run digital product selling solution and if it gets approval then most probably It will be developed under me. Lets hope for the best.
     
    eager, Jan 16, 2011 IP
  17. crisgold

    crisgold Peon

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    #17
    I found this company in my search that claims that allows digital goods delivery, runs in your own server and they charge a one time fee for the product.

    I have not tested yet but I will. They offer a free trail
    You can check it at http://www.spbas.com/digital_goods_delivery

    I hope it does the trick, if not we are also done searching. We might to develop our own.

    Best!

    Cris
     
    crisgold, Jan 16, 2011 IP
  18. JerrickYeoh

    JerrickYeoh Active Member

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    #18
    From what i heard from most of my friend, They prefer OS commerce Cart. I think it must be awesome.
     
    JerrickYeoh, Jan 18, 2011 IP
  19. Mailware

    Mailware Peon

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    #19
    There are a lot of different options available for eCommerce web carts. People have already mentioned ZenCart, Magento, and osCommerce to name a few. If you are having trouble deciding which solution works best for your business, you should check out our shopping cart software comparison chart. It compares a lot of the major carts and their features.

    http://www.mailware.com/mailware/integration/cart-comparison/

    I hope this helps!
     
    Mailware, Jan 21, 2011 IP
  20. ydsou

    ydsou Member

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    #20
    you can take a try on opencart.com
     
    ydsou, Jan 24, 2011 IP