I am looking into implementing a server-side shopping cart on a new site I am working on, and looking for some tips / best-practices. I think that the main issue I am debating on is the "token" by which users are tracked by. Option one (easy) store a token into a 7 (or whatever) day cookie, and track it using this token. However, if cookies are turned off then I guess it can be done (option two) based on IP address + date string. Any ideas / tips for hot to implement it? Thanks.
What sort of tracking are you talking about? Just what they have in their basket or affiliate/referer tracking?
Yes, I'd like to store some initial profile (referrer / affiliate code), cart contents, shipping information... As they advance in the order process more information will be added. Once order it completed, this information will be passed to a permanent db.
Why don't you use something like osCommerce. Has all that built in and already working for you. Uses a combination of cookies, sessions and a database.
Unfortunately, with the current requirements, I believe that a custom cart would best fit the needs. I have an implementation using cookies, but I am trying to avoid it as much as I can...