Thinking about a site using a "Cart"

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I'm thinking about/probably going to starting a web site that will feature a cart system to make small purchases. But the entire process of it is completely foreign to me. The only time I've sold anything prior is on eBay.

So I was wondering are there a few "leaders in the pack" when it comes to carts? I would not need anything fancy. The overall site would be simple and offer just a few items that could be customized by the user.

If there is a thread on this that's up to date or a nice article you know about I would love for you to share!

Thank you!
#cart #site #thinking
  • Profile picture of the author mikel.perez.01
    Yes, there are a few leaders in that arena, like shopp, jigoshop, premium web cart, or 1shoppingcart.

    They are different animals, some are mainly wordpress plugins and others are hosted shopping carts, take a look at them and see if any of them meet your needs.
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    • Profile picture of the author aduer
      I would look into Woocommerce for wordpress or Virtuemart for Joomla. Using either one you can create great looking websites with shopping carts.
      Just my opinion
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      • Profile picture of the author Si Parker
        Originally Posted by aduer View Post

        I would look into Woocommerce for wordpress or Virtuemart for Joomla. Using either one you can create great looking websites with shopping carts.
        Just my opinion
        Woocommerce for wordpress Agreed
        Virtuemart for Joomla RUN A MILE i have never had to deal with anything as bad as virtuemart in my life. terribly written and executed bit of code.

        If you want ecommerce then use magento

        if you want a simple to use site with some small ecommerce features use WP with Woocommerce. (and also wpallimport will allow you to move to woocommerce easily if you need to from a csv file)

        If you want a balance of other things which Joomla can provide then use Hikashop

        but for god sake dont use virtuemart unless you just want a world of pain and suffering.
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  • Profile picture of the author OnlineStoreHelp
    Originally Posted by Get Inspired Today View Post

    I'm thinking about/probably going to starting a web site that will feature a cart system to make small purchases. But the entire process of it is completely foreign to me. The only time I've sold anything prior is on eBay.

    So I was wondering are there a few "leaders in the pack" when it comes to carts? I would not need anything fancy. The overall site would be simple and offer just a few items that could be customized by the user.

    If there is a thread on this that's up to date or a nice article you know about I would love for you to share!

    Thank you!
    Your thread is sufficiently vague that no one can really give you a good answer of what you are looking for. There are multiple "shopping cart" systems out there, whether stand alone or adding functionality to a content management system.

    Are you doing some type of Blog or informational site, and then want to monetize it? Remember there are always things like Amazon Associate program which means you can participate in a sale without having to handle it.

    Are you starting a site and then want to sell little virtual products? Or are you wanting to sell one off items? Full product catalog?

    There is no cohesive thread on "best" carts, since there are so many that fit so many needs or wants. Do you want open source? Closed Source? Self hosted, hosted? Do you sell digital products? Physical products? Very niche? Or multiple categories and sub categories? Downloads or online courses?

    You mention customized. Define customized? Pick color, size, material? Or upload artwork?

    Until you give more details in what you are looking for, it will be hard to give you a good answer. If you just want a review of shopping carts, look in my signature as I provide video reviews and walk throughs of several carts.
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    • Originally Posted by OnlineStoreHelp View Post

      Your thread is sufficiently vague that no one can really give you a good answer of what you are looking for. There are multiple "shopping cart" systems out there, whether stand alone or adding functionality to a content management system.

      Are you doing some type of Blog or informational site, and then want to monetize it? Remember there are always things like Amazon Associate program which means you can participate in a sale without having to handle it.

      Are you starting a site and then want to sell little virtual products? Or are you wanting to sell one off items? Full product catalog?

      There is no cohesive thread on "best" carts, since there are so many that fit so many needs or wants. Do you want open source? Closed Source? Self hosted, hosted? Do you sell digital products? Physical products? Very niche? Or multiple categories and sub categories? Downloads or online courses?

      You mention customized. Define customized? Pick color, size, material? Or upload artwork?

      Until you give more details in what you are looking for, it will be hard to give you a good answer. If you just want a review of shopping carts, look in my signature as I provide video reviews and walk throughs of several carts.
      Haha, yes that is quite a list of ambiguities I did not attempt to clarify. Partly because I did not know if it would be relevant nor helpful! I just kind of figured it would get the ball rolling and some people might offer some "leaders of the pack" (sort of like how if someone asked for the best blog they would get solid recommendations such as wordpress, blogger, joomla, etc.)

      Anyways, the site would sell physical, small items of purchases mostly not exceeding 100 USD. Nothing digital... mostly, I imagine, it would be a fairly static web site; thus no need for a blog attached to it.

      Open vs closed source would really not matter. The most important thing would be security. After that, and well behind that, would be things such as fees, customer usability, upkeep...

      And thank you to you and everyone else for the many solid answers and possible directions to pursue!
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      • Profile picture of the author OnlineStoreHelp
        Originally Posted by Get Inspired Today View Post

        Haha, yes that is quite a list of ambiguities I did not attempt to clarify. Partly because I did not know if it would be relevant nor helpful! I just kind of figured it would get the ball rolling and some people might offer some "leaders of the pack" (sort of like how if someone asked for the best blog they would get solid recommendations such as wordpress, blogger, joomla, etc.)

        Anyways, the site would sell physical, small items of purchases mostly not exceeding 100 USD. Nothing digital... mostly, I imagine, it would be a fairly static web site; thus no need for a blog attached to it.

        Open vs closed source would really not matter. The most important thing would be security. After that, and well behind that, would be things such as fees, customer usability, upkeep...

        And thank you to you and everyone else for the many solid answers and possible directions to pursue!
        If security and ease of customer (and your use) are what you are looking for, take a look at the hosted shopping carts that are PCI compliant. There are two in particular most people like here (including me), which would be Shopify and BigCommerce. Both are fairly inexpensive, PCI-DSS Level 1 compliant and serve different purposes.

        BigCommerce is much more full featured but Shopify is easier to use and great for Niche related sites. I have done reviews on both of them, you can see the links in my sig and that includes walk throughs of the carts (via video).
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  • Profile picture of the author serryjw
    Originally Posted by Get Inspired Today View Post

    I'm thinking about/probably going to starting a web site that will feature a cart system to make small purchases. But the entire process of it is completely foreign to me. The only time I've sold anything prior is on eBay.

    So I was wondering are there a few "leaders in the pack" when it comes to carts? I would not need anything fancy. The overall site would be simple and offer just a few items that could be customized by the user.

    If there is a thread on this that's up to date or a nice article you know about I would love for you to share!

    Thank you!
    With small purchases, use PayPal. It has the reputation every one knows. This will bring you credibility. One less thing to worry about with a start-up. Any shopping cart will cost you more money with small revenue. You can always switch/add cart when your volume increases.
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  • Profile picture of the author abbe77
    First you have to decide which CMS (wp, joomla. opencart or any other) for your site. Then you find the related plugins or modules for easy mangement.

    I recommend you to use wordpress with any simple cart plugin. WP is easy to use and one click upgrade. Joomla (virtuemart) is headache when it comes to upgrade to newer versions.
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  • Haha! Thank you for the passionate replies!

    I have some research to do and videos to watch!

    Thank you all. I'll be back!
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    How to Get Motivated, Get Informed and Stay Inspired

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    • Profile picture of the author dburk
      Hi G.I.T.

      Since nobody directly answered you question about "leaders in the pack", I will try to help you out with the answer to that.


      There is one cart system that is far more popular than all the rest, in fact 1 out of every 4 new online stores are built on the most popular shopping cart, Magento. Even though it is a relative new comer, as compared to the previous favorite, it has quickly risen to become the most popular cart used by businesses today.

      Back in 2011 the developer, Varien (now Magento, Inc.) was purchased by eBay, and it's popularity has continued to soar. There is both a commercial version, a paid hosted version, as well as a "free" open source community version. It is to eCommerce what Wordpress is to blogging, the stand out "leader of the pack".


      HTH,
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  • Profile picture of the author Danceparty
    Your best bet would probably be Shopify. Its perfect for a few items, or what they call "collections".
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  • Well, this has turned into a very helpful thread!

    Those two videos above were really good. And now this Magento seems really interesting.

    And I also like the idea of the Woocommerce purely because I have used, and like, Wordpress. Free is obviously something that has a nice ring to my ears I might add too...
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    • Profile picture of the author OnlineStoreHelp
      Originally Posted by Get Inspired Today View Post

      Well, this has turned into a very helpful thread!

      Those two videos above were really good. And now this Magento seems really interesting.

      And I also like the idea of the Woocommerce purely because I have used, and like, Wordpress. Free is obviously something that has a nice ring to my ears I might add too...
      Nothing is free That being said Magento is the most powerful but its not something you can run on shared hosting. It requires a pretty good dedicated server or at the minimum a robust VPS. You then have to get your own SSL certificate

      Woocommerce is popular but it will not give you as much functionality as a shopping cart script nor be anywhere near secure as a shopping cart program. If you are looking for close to free (i.e. Open Cart), check out Presta Shop, Opencart and Spree.
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      • Profile picture of the author dburk
        Originally Posted by OnlineStoreHelp View Post

        Nothing is free That being said Magento is the most powerful but its not something you can run on shared hosting. It requires a pretty good dedicated server or at the minimum a robust VPS.
        Hi OSH,

        I must disagree with your assertion that "not something you can run on shared hosting". Magento will run well on shared hosting provided you select a host the specializes in hosting Magento stores and you configure and optimize your store.

        It's true, if you go for a budget hosting company that tries to put a couple thousand websites on a single server, then you will probably have a problem unless you have a small store with little traffic.
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        • Originally Posted by dburk View Post

          Hi OSH,

          I must disagree with your assertion that "not something you can run on shared hosting". Magento will run well on shared hosting provided you select a host the specializes in hosting Magento stores and you configure and optimize your store.

          It's true, if you go for a budget hosting company that tries to put a couple thousand websites on a single server, then you will probably have a problem unless you have a small store with little traffic.
          This would certainly be a "small" store with little traffic. Should I expect woocommerce or magento to be fine in this case?

          I have looked into the options mentioned in this thread, and security is still of the utmost importance, but I love the customization of Wordpress and Woocommerce; not to mention I am already a novice at Wordpress and the price is right.

          My (ultimately uninformed at this point) thinking was that if I make sure I keep on top of updates and patches then I should be able to maintain the integrity and security of the site. My flimsy rationale goes along the lines of, it should be feasible otherwise why would so many hundreds of thousands of people use this?...
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          "You don't get onto the high road accidentally!"

          How to Get Motivated, Get Informed and Stay Inspired

          Are You an Avid Student of Life? - Personal Development Blog
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