Online Shopping Carts - Recommendations

[Simmy]

I'm setting up an online shop and I've just created my worldpay account to accept credit/debit payments. I now need a decent shopping cart program, but most of the ones I have seen look awful! Cubecart looks the best so far, but their new version is $200.

Can anyone recommend a better shopping cart, preferably open source? If not, I will probably just pay for CubeCart.

 

[greggh]

OsCommerce or ZenCart. Those are pretty much standard these days. Both open source.

 

[Simmy]

Cheers gregg. I looked at OsCommerce a couple of years ago and I wasn't overly impressed. Will see if it's been improved and will give zencart a go.

Has anyone had experience with x-cart?

 

[Bryce W]

Depending on what you want it for, there is an excellent choice that is a Wordpress plugin.

http://www.instinct.co.nz/e-commerce

Technibble uses a modified version of this system for its Computer Business Kit. There are examples of an unmodified version on their site.

 

[rsavoia]

I used Miva Merchant for many years until they released version 5. They had lousy support but a decent mail list. Some of the users were developers and helped everyone out. The software was too expensive.

I considered OSCommerce last year and it looked good, but I wanted one I could integrate into a CMS and although there is a version of OSCommerce available for it I opted to go with one written specifically for the CMS.

 

[The Goatboy]

not to hijack or get off topic:

is anyone using or can recommend a newsletter/mail list program. I have a client who currently has a mail list program on a linux box, but it's an older hand written program that is a pain to use. they are looking for something easy to use and manage, as they do get a lot of their customers signing up for newsletters. any help is appreciated.

I'll start a new thread if necessary to continue this topic.

 

[thecoldone06]

phplist might be of some interest to you. I have never used it personally but it looks like it'll fit the bill.

 

[The Goatboy]

I'll definitely check it out; thanks for the info.

 

[tartis]

I would use CRE Loaded. It is an altered OS Commerce open source cart like zen cart.

 

[cmonova]

Cart

Not sure about the price on CubeCart. I thought they had a free version unless you want it modified.

I setup cubecart for this site: www.mimiandcompanygifts.com and I use to use Cube Cart for my own store, but have since changed and now use a a whole different thing.

But, oscommererce is a very popular one also.

 

[tartis]

I used Miva Merchant for many years until they released version 5. They had lousy support but a decent mail list. Some of the users were developers and helped everyone out. The software was too expensive.
QUOTE]

Miva is a very stable shopping cart, however, you get a very basic cart and need to buy tons of add-on modules to get everything you need.

 

[Simmy]

Thanks for the recommendations all. We've decided to write our own shop so we can easily customise it. Unless of course it's rubbish in which case we'll ditch it for one of the above recommendations.

 

[greggh]

Thanks for the recommendations all. We've decided to write our own shop so we can easily customise it. Unless of course it's rubbish in which case we'll ditch it for one of the above recommendations.

Any reason you dont use an open source one and work with the community to add modules or modifications to it for your custom needs? If you can get a secure system (since many eyes have seen it and its been in use for a few years,) it would be a smart choice. The main idea of open source is that you can take the code that exists and use it or modify it for your needs. All they really ask is that you try and contribute anything useful back to the main codebase.

 

[Simmy]

The open source carts were too over the top for our needs, plus none of them had a decent PC Configurator script which is all we really need. The API for worldpay is very simple so integrating that isn't a problem. If there is a problem, I also prefer to know exactly how the site works so I know instantly where the problem will be.

When I have some spare time, I might try writing a pc configurator module for oscommerce. I'm amazed I haven't found a decent one yet.

 

[greggh]

I find a few but they are all for sale, like:
http://www.holbi.co.uk/modules-for-...product-customization-module-pc-configurator/

Seems like a good option. But it costs money.

EDIT:
what about this?
http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,407
"Custom Computer Creator"