OsCommerce, Love It, Hate It, I'd like to hear about it

by Jagged

Posted: 16 years ago 18 replies

PRODUCT REVIEWS

I am looking for user's of OsCommerce, present user's, past user's, or even if your thinking about using it.
I am researching some facts on OsCommerce for a possible eBook. Some comments on:
Your experiences, good or bad...
Do you find it easy to use...
Do you find it easy to edit...
Have you ever attempted to add "contributions"...
Do you find the forums useful....
What suggestions would you have...etc
What ever you wish to say...

I created a very brief survey (10 questions) on surveymonkey and I am hoping some could complete it and help me gather some info.
Click the link in my signature to take the survey,
Or you can just post comments here.

No names or emails are collected. Its totally annonymous. If I get this completed and it's worth publishing, I will post a free link for all WF Members.

#hate #hear #love #oscommerce

wlowrey 16 years ago

Personally - it is OK. But there is a better one out there now. I liked osCommerce for a long time. It has a rich feature set. The problem that I see - they haven't kept up with the times as much.

My recommendation: Magento. You can find it at MagentoCommerce dot com.

It has some awesome features - like allowing the shopper to send contents of the shopping cart to different addresses! It also keeps their shopping destinations in their profile to make it quick and easy to come back. It just takes eCommerce to a whole new level. Check it out, I do not think you will be disappointed. Oh yea - it is open source also.
- Thanks
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Jagged 16 years ago

Nice, thanks, I just checked out Magentocommerce, very nice features and the admin looks real easy too. Definately a step above OsCommerce. I downloaded it and will give it a shot.
I agree that OsCommerce has been a little outdated. The purpose of the survey is to find out just what people think and what they feel needs to be done to bring it up to speed. The good, the bad & the ugly" so to speak...lol There are well over a million users of OsCommerce, and if they had a resource that offer ways to improve their experience with OsCommerce, or offer a "better way" entirely....thats too big of a market to ignore.
Thanks for your input.
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- 1 reply
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- Barbara Eyre 16 years ago
  
  Been using Osc for about 2 years now. It was my first foray into php. I learned a lot.
  
  However, I wouldn't recommend Osc. The barebones script they give you isn't work anything to anyone. You would have to do script add-ons (contributions) in order to get a decent cart. And since the add-ons are individually managed, with anyone being able to update them, it's hard to keep track of the stable versions of each add-on.
  
  I haven't been able to update my cart because some add-ons have been updated too many times that I would have loads of conflicts with other add-ons.
  
  I was looking at Magento also ... Am seriously thinking about that one. Saw it earlier from another recommendation. Would like real recommendations on this one ... from people currently using it. Is updating it a night-mare?
  
  Thanks
  
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Jagged 16 years ago

Thanks for the helpful input. Anyone else?
- Thanks
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LADWebDesign

16 years ago

In the past year I tried to implement OSCommerce. I got frustrated over something (I forget what) and then heard about Zen Cart. Worked with Zen Cart, got a store up and running.

I remember that OSCommerce had many files - and finding the one you wanted to edit wasn't easy. I also took a look at the Zen Cart forums, and there seemed to be a lot more helpful people there helping out newbies.

Linda

P.S. Thanks for the tip about Magento. I will have to download it and see what it's all about.

Thanks
1 reply

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webie

16 years ago

Originally Posted by LADWebDesign

Hi use both zencart and oscmax which is an off shot of the oscommerce cart i have also tried Magento i had problems as will only run on php 5.2 + so you have setup fast-cgi i also found it was very heavey on server resources and very slow zencart is slow too the best distro for me is OSCMAX very secure and very fast page loads i been using it for over 5 years.

Just my thoughts

Regards

Darren

Thanks

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seasoned 16 years ago

Os commerce was NICE, as far as expandibility and basic features, last time I checked. They DID take some LOUSY shortcuts, that the average person would never see and may never have to worry about and, partially because of those, some addons don't work properly. That is ALSO part of the reason why LADWEBDESIGN had problems. Still, it has a LOT of potential. I just wanted to be fair.

There was one company that supposedly built up their product(basically oscommerce with addons properly installed, by their OWN admission) and offered a free and commercial version. I tried the free one, and didn't determine it to be worth my effort. Their DEMO looked nice though.

I'll be interested to check MagentoCommerce out.

Steve
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Debbie Songster 16 years ago

I use and promote zencart. Did the OS commerce thing but its too limited and isn't kept up to date like zencart is.
some samples are
DoodleMyShoes.com
SongsterCharms.com
BataliOnline.com
BeautyInGlass.com
SongsterMall.com

Can you tell I like using zencart?
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- 1 reply
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Getting back in the grove after taking a year off following a family tragedy.
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- Talltom1 16 years ago
  
  I've been looking at Magento myself. Only problem that I spotted a few weeks ago, is that Magento does not currently support digital downloads of products like audio files and ebooks. I'd be real interested in reviewing the product again after they actually get this feature implemented.
  
  I did just set up a new online store using osCommerce. Seems like they upgraded it some since the last time I looked at it. I piddled around with the interface and actually have it looking pretty good. Check it out - I'm actually pretty proud of it - WeMentorSuccess dot com
  
  Thanks
  
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Devan Koshal 16 years ago

Its good compared to its functions - rubbish when it comes to security and seo.
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Jagged 16 years ago

I hope Magento gets that download of digital goods soon. Would be a great feature! Does OsCommerce have it where you can download FREE, or...because it's through PayPal, you have to charge a penny? Does Zen cart offer digital downloads?
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- Talltom1 16 years ago
  
  Actually osCommerce does support digital downloads. And Magento is apparently working on that feature and, according to their forums and PR, is supposed to release that capability soon. Don't know about ZenCart's ability to support digital downloads.
  
  Thanks
  
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Jagged 16 years ago

Does anyone know if Magento support Google Checkout?
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Jagged 16 years ago

Are those the 3 main players now in the "open source e-commerce" world? OsCommerce, ZenCart and Magento? Are there others that anyone has experience with?
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- Barbara Eyre 16 years ago
  
  Of the paid carts, I have experience with X-cart and GotShoppingCart.
  
  Oscommerce is good for SEO if you use the appropriate add-on, like I do, which gives you the ability to customize each product's individual page's page title, meta description, and meta keywords.
  
  I just hated that I had to add over 25 add-ons just to get a typical shopping cart: the basic seo features, newsletter features, cross promotion features, etc. Their basic cart script should have all the basic features that everyone wants/needs.
  
  I dread moving to a new cart only because of having to manually re-enter nearly 1,000 products. I have NEVER had any success with exporting a database and importing it into another application (in this case, another cart). Might as well do it all from scratch and save a lot of headaches.
  
  The main reason why I need to move carts is that I need to be able to allow visitors to NOT register for an account in order to buy something from my store. As it stands, they have to register and I think that is killing my sales. And in order to do that script add-on, I would have to update I believe 7 other add-ons, and many of those have several jumps in versions (have to do each jump in order to have latest version). WAY too much of a headache.
  
  Thanks
  
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Christopher Howard 16 years ago

Lots of great information in this post! Thank you so so much!
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Jagged 16 years ago

First, I thank you all for contributing your experiences in this thread. What I am seeing here is, OsCommerce is a pain, but still the best option for free, open source ecommerce. Magento is closing in on that title quickly. With a few more features, and some SEO and security improvements, I have no doubt that Magento will in time be the ecommerce solution of choice. ZenCart has moved up quickly also with some nice "user friendly" features, but as far a overall performance, acceptance and support, OsCommerce, as much as we may hate it, still ranks on top.
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OsCommerce, Love It, Hate It, I'd like to hear about it

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