Seeking Advice For Shopping Cart

by alan.t
15 replies
Hi dear all,

I need some advice and recommendations for shopping cart.

A brief history. I have an existing simple HTML website built using templates.

Product range has grown over time and I want to make the checkout easier for customers. Some of the items come in different sizes and colors so the shopping cart must be able to handle that option. And of course would love to be able to cross-sell, up-sell too.

Have looked at a few options so far and realised there are quite a lot of choices in the market, does anyone of you have any good experience with any? And would appreciate if you all can give some recommendations.

- Magento, Magento Go
- Infusionsoft (not cheap as features rich...)
- 1Shoppingcart
- Volusion
- Or install those open source ones? Is it tough to do so?

Thanks & have a nice day
#advice #cart #seeking #shopping #shopping cart
  • Profile picture of the author misswahm
    My main business is selling rare plants on Ebay, Amazon & my own site...for my own site, I used Zen cart on a MySQL database. Works fine for me. I'd look into it more to see if it has everything you need. Here is an example of a Zen cart site...not my site but one of my competitors... Hoya Plants and Cuttings Not bad for free!
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    • Profile picture of the author misswahm
      BTW...she only uses Paypal, I think...but you can use more. I have my own credit card processor on my site, along with Paypal. You can also use shipping modules & lots of other modules. It's opensource, so users are always creating new modules & sharing them. There's probably thousands.
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  • Profile picture of the author jaggyjay
    Yes, that's part of the problem -- so many choices

    Last shopping cart I used was SecureNetShop. Excellent cart and has just about all the necessary features you'd want.

    Also used Miva; and did actually get into OScommerce (free) -- these are good carts, but things can get quite involved when it comes to customizing them.

    Infusionsoft and 1shoppingcart are excellent all around solutions as well although I've never used them. I've noticed that they're quite popular in the IM/Direct marketing community. Don't know how they stand up to the demands of a full-fledged E-commerce site though.

    Follow these tips...

    -Don't so much look at the brand, look at their features. For e-commerce, integration with the likes of AuthorizeNet is mission critical.

    -Also, consider how it integrates with any shipping services you'll want to use. SecureNetShop, last I remember, integrated with everybody (UPS, Fedex, US Mail, etc.)

    - Lastly, consider how quickly and easily you can set up your payment forms and buttons. Last thing you want to do is spend valuable time trying to figure out how their platform works.

    These are the things I remember from my E-commerce days anyway. Hope you find this helpful.

    Regards,
    - Jay
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  • Profile picture of the author kaene
    I have experience with Magento, it eats a lot of resources and requires an important learning curve, but once you know how to use it, it's simply amazing and the best solution
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  • Profile picture of the author so11
    Hello,

    my only advice is to stay away from open source stuff for this kind of things. A well established commercial product should be your primary choice. Here is why:

    1. Support, support, support...
    2. Security
    3. Any legal problems, you've got somebody to blame...open source and you'll be the one!

    Id also check out cloud based services for carts. Takes a lot of headache as you dont have to deal with credit/payment/private information.

    so11
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    We help businesses manage cyber risk and compliance requirements.
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    • Profile picture of the author misswahm
      y
      Originally Posted by so11 View Post

      Hello,

      my only advice is to stay away from open source stuff for this kind of things. A well established commercial product should be your primary choice. Here is why:

      1. Support, support, support...
      2. Security
      3. Any legal problems, you've got somebody to blame...open source and you'll be the one!

      Id also check out cloud based services for carts. Takes a lot of headache as you dont have to deal with credit/payment/private information.

      so11
      Can you be more specific about numbers 2 & 3? I think it would help him to make a better informed decision & I am curious as well. I have an SSL certificate on my site...if I recall, I had to do it to become an Authorize.net merchant. My site has been running & secure for about 2 years now. I've also never had an issue with support because the entire Zen Cart community is always very helpful when you need them. I actually didn't have any questions that weren't already answered somewhere & was able to set up my entire site, by myself & I'm completely self-taught & will admit that I still don't understand how all of the pieces fit together.

      What type of legal problems could one have that your shopping cart company would take the hit for instead of you? I don't doubt you...I'm just trying to get my head around what you said. Thanks.
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnnyDeez
        Not sure what your volume looks like, or, if you for sure want the shop to be local - but, you might consider Shopify if the aforementioned points aren't necessary.
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      • Profile picture of the author so11
        Originally Posted by misswahm View Post

        y

        Can you be more specific about numbers 2 & 3? I think it would help him to make a better informed decision & I am curious as well. I have an SSL certificate on my site...if I recall, I had to do it to become an Authorize.net merchant. My site has been running & secure for about 2 years now. I've also never had an issue with support because the entire Zen Cart community is always very helpful when you need them. I actually didn't have any questions that weren't already answered somewhere & was able to set up my entire site, by myself & I'm completely self-taught & will admit that I still don't understand how all of the pieces fit together.

        What type of legal problems could one have that your shopping cart company would take the hit for instead of you? I don't doubt you...I'm just trying to get my head around what you said. Thanks.
        Hello,

        1. Security
        Processing payment information securely is a complicated process. Three things must be insured at all stages of the process :

        CONFIDENTIALITY
        Availability
        INTEGRITY

        Having SSL certificate is a good start to gain your clients' confidence, but does not necessarily takes care of payment processing security issues.

        2. Legal stuff
        Potential problems :
        1. Personal/payment data leak
        2. Transaction process integrity
        3. etc.

        It really depends the way you are collecting/processing your data.
        If you are able to prove that there are no information/data leak on your side,than you are safe and the only way to do that, is to NOT COLLECT anything. Thats why Cloud based solutions is probably the best choice, in my opinion.

        So11
        Signature
        www.groupesoloviev.com
        We help businesses manage cyber risk and compliance requirements.
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  • Profile picture of the author keyon
    Hosting your own shopping cart can suck up an enormous amount of time and energy, which I guess is fine if you like that kind of work. I guess I'd rather spend my time marketing / promoting my site -- and let a web host manage the cart side of my business.
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  • Profile picture of the author gauravgaur
    Hello,
    This is Gaurav from Enuke Software pvt. ltd. India. Please visit our website and write us.

    Thanks;
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  • Profile picture of the author Jinjer
    I also use Zen Cart for my site. I found there's a bit of a learning curve to it, but it does depend on how much you need to modify the template you choose and what options are required. I really like the very supportive community, the large amount of customizing options and modules available, and how stable it is. I also looked into other open source shopping carts, but none of the others had the features I wanted and the support available.
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  • Profile picture of the author OliviaSSLGuru
    You must have SSL certificate on your website which will be sign of secure online business experience to your customer. It will be core part of your business, if you have been receiving of sensitive information from your customers.

    Ultimately SSL certificate will raise your website as dedicated online business towards customers security and also it will be part of your brand management. Wish you good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author sbrettoncm
    I agree that there are so many cart shopping software applications available today. What you need to do is to go for free demo and select one cart software. I use cart2mobile software for all booking tickets, online shopping, online payment and so on. Have you thought to try this?
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  • Profile picture of the author bigjonnyg
    we looked at wp-ecommerce but have decided to go with zencart as it keeps getting better and had better shipping options for Canada
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  • Profile picture of the author samuelgraye
    Hello,
    I am owner of a online watch shop and i am using magneto site that provide you many features. Here you can find the shopping cart and manage it in your way.You can see last 5 orders, payment, transaction and order detail related useful information here. I thinks it is good for you and easy to access.

    Thanks
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