1ShoppingCart Alternatives?

[richpeck]

Hey everyone,

Looking to start offering some backend products, etc from my site... and I need to be able to have a shopping cart that's as flexible as 1SC... except a lot less expensive.

Here's an idea of what I need:

1. I need it to be as flexible as 1SC - with customizable checkout pages, etc
2. I need to be able to offer an affiliate program to my customers
3. It needs to have the ability for upsells / cross-sells

Etc

Anyone got any ideas?

If I were to use 1SC I would have to get the $100/month package... and I just can't justify that for a shopping cart.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Rich

[Albert Steven]

I was about to recommend infusion. But for your case try zoom cart pro. Its a new service but i can vouch for em. they does all that 1sc do, + they do offer one click upsell.

[dbarnum]

Paypal has a virtual cart and some other merchant account cart tools and features, so might want to check with them for more full features that you could use.

ProStores (thru Ebay) http://prostores.com has lots of bells and whistles, too. You can often get a good deal through eBay (like first month half off or free trial, something like that) or check Paypal's ads for discount coupon offers, too.

[Rolliesworld]

Originally Posted by Albert Steven

I was about to recommend infusion. But for your case try zoom cart pro. Its a new service but i can vouch for em. they does all that 1sc do, + they do offer one click upsell.

Albert, I am also currently looking for an "all-in-one solution" to start with and I checked out Zoom Cart Pro's website ... what confuses me is that it looks exactly like dozens of other sales websites that all appear to be promoting exactly the same product as QuickPayPro...???

I came across QuickPayPro recently and while it sounds a very good deal, there appear to be multiple sites promoting (previous versions?) at lower monthly charges, and some even sell the original script for as low as $4.00 (four)...???

Anyone knows anything about QuickPayPro and their Private Label partners?

[JP Wilson]

Originally Posted by richpeck

If I were to use 1SC I would have to get the $100/month package... and I just can't justify that for a shopping cart.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Rich

Truthfully Rich, for everything that 1ShoppingCart does, it's well worth the 100 bucks a month... and then some. I use it and am exceptionally satisfied with how well it works for my business. The only feature that I wish was included is "risk free" upsell technology. I had to have a custom plug-in integrated into the system to accomplish this, but now it practically does everything I need.

When you take into consideration the fact that people spend tens of thousands of dollars customizing expensive shopping cart solutions, paying $100 per month for one that does virtually the same thing (of course without all the bells and whistles) is quite justifiable.

Another great option is QuickPayPro (as mentioned above). It has a built-in "risk free upsell" feature automatically included. You'll still be paying around the same monthly price for the premium package though. But you'll be hard-pressed to find something that does everything that you want and also has substantial customer backing for much less than the $100 going rate...

However, if you do... please share with the rest of us. Cheers

PS
Rollie, QPP is great. Dustin (the owner) is very thorough and is always updating the system with the newest technology. I've also seen Matt Trainers version (zoom cart) which I'm sure is equally great. Either one you choose, I don't believe you'll go wrong.

[jamawebinc]

Originally Posted by richpeck

Hey everyone,

Looking to start offering some backend products, etc from my site... and I need to be able to have a shopping cart that's as flexible as 1SC... except a lot less expensive.

Here's an idea of what I need:

1. I need it to be as flexible as 1SC - with customizable checkout pages, etc
2. I need to be able to offer an affiliate program to my customers
3. It needs to have the ability for upsells / cross-sells

Etc

Anyone got any ideas?

If I were to use 1SC I would have to get the $100/month package... and I just can't justify that for a shopping cart.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Rich

Look into ultracart.

It can do everything 1sc can do and then some.
1 click upsell after the initial sale is built into the system

The price is about half of 1sc

They also have live support, they can customize features for you based on your wants and needs.

Sometimes you almost feel as though the cart was built specifically for your own needs.

And it has built in integration with autoresponder services like aweber, getresponse, icontatc, mailchimp, and more..

Shopping Cart Software by UltraCart - E-Commerce Solutions

[Rolliesworld]

Originally Posted by jamawebinc

Look into ultracart.

It can do everything 1sc can do and then some.
1 click upsell after the initial sale is built into the system

The price is about half of 1sc

They also have live support, they can customize features for you based on your wants and needs.

Sometimes you almost feel as though the cart was built specifically for your own needs.

And it has built in integration with autoresponder services like aweber, getresponse, icontatc, mailchimp, and more..

Shopping Cart Software by UltraCart - E-Commerce Solutions

How well does the autoresponder integration work - could anyone comment?

I am still looking for a good solid all-in-one eBusiness solution, therefore cannot speak from experience of using either, but speaking of price comparison .....

UltraCart's minimum price @$49.95 may be half of 1Shoppingcart's Professional package @$99pm (which includes affiliate management), however at those prices:

1. Ultracard:
-for $49.95 it allows up to 250 items listed or income is not to exceed $50k in any month (if you earn over $100k p/m the base charge is $154.95)
-it does not come with an autoresponder, only integrates with them. If you add the cost of Mailchimp for instance, it will be an additional minimum $10 - $75 p/m (it is $75 if you compare with 1Shoppingcart's 10,000 limit for $99 all inclusive rate).
Therefore, it depends how you compare costs. If you only have a list of 500 subscribers you could pick mailchimp for $10 and if you earn less than $50k in any given month (most of us would), then it would be the additional $49.95 = $59.95 p/m

Then again, I am not sure if Ultracard has affiliate tracking/management included in the package. A couple of people have said it is included, but I cannot find any infos on their website - any thoughts?

2. 1Shoppingcart

It is true that it's a definite $99 p/m which includes autoresponder and affiliate management. So starting out with a tiny list and no affiliate means paying more compared to Ultracard in conjunction with Mailchimp (if you choose other AR services like aweber or Getresponse you will pay the same or more in total monthly costs right from start).

My questions on 1Shoppingcart are :
- How reliable and good are their autoresponders / email delivery and how does it compare with Mailchimp for list segmentation for instance?
- Is the affiliate program any good? What tracking method are they using?
- There appear to be a number of Private Label sites selling 1Shoppingcart services under their banner, i.e. 1automationwiz, salesautomator, netofficetoolbox etc - some are saying it is a cookie-less tracking system...do they use a mix of cookies and IP and/or email address of prospect?
- Will they have a 1-CLICK UPSELL system integrated soon...???

[Rolliesworld]

Originally Posted by JP Wilson

Truthfully Rich, for everything that 1ShoppingCart does, it's well worth the 100 bucks a month... and then some. I use it and am exceptionally satisfied with how well it works for my business. The only feature that I wish was included is "risk free" upsell technology. I had to have a custom plug-in integrated into the system to accomplish this, but now it practically does everything I need.

But you would still input each order manually, right? Is it the optimizeyourcart plugin you are using? I would really want it all automated, is that going to be possible with 1ShoppingCart anytime soon?

Another great option is QuickPayPro (as mentioned above). It has a built-in "risk free upsell" feature automatically included. You'll still be paying around the same monthly price for the premium package though. But you'll be hard-pressed to find something that does everything that you want and also has substantial customer backing for much less than the $100 going rate...
PS
Rollie, QPP is great. Dustin (the owner) is very thorough and is always updating the system with the newest technology. I've also seen Matt Trainers version (zoom cart) which I'm sure is equally great. Either one you choose, I don't believe you'll go wrong.

What is your own experience with QPP? In terms of affiliate management and email/autoresponder/follow-up marketing?
I am still confused about the fact that there are so many branded and old versions of this service to be found on the Internet - the list of features in QUICKPAYPRO really sounds extremely good, but I would like to hear more from those actually using it - anyone?

[JP Wilson]

1shoppingcart has a superior affiliate program has been used to operate multimillion dollar launches. Apart from infusionsoft, it's the highest recommended shopping cart solution among internet marketers across the entire community. As I stated in the above post, if you're not willing to pay the $100 price tag for all the features you want, you might as well settle for a solution that's a little less advanced... or one that hasn't got nearly as many recommendations and social proof surrounding it.

As far as the 1click upsell plug-in is concerned, yes you have to import the upsell orders manually, but it's quick and as simple as pie. The only time it would get a bit time-consuming is if you're holding a launch (which won't be happening everyday) and you've got a huge volume of orders (100 or more) being processed at the same time, in which case you could always just outsource the data entry on elance or guru.com. It's not a problem.

I don't believe that they are planning to integrate automated 1click upsell technology into their system anytime soon, but the above-mentioned plug-in works extremely well for my purposes. Hell, if it was good enough for Belcher, it's good enough for me...

In all honesty I tried out QuickPayPro (which does have 1click upsell technology pre-programmed into the platform), but went back to 1shoppingcart only because it was a better overall fit for my business. I found the interface quite a bit more streamline and much easier to manage in 1SC. Also, customer support is second to none, which is very important to me when dealing with a platform that’s essentially managing some of the most critical aspects of my business. I don't much use the autoresponder, because I've got getresponse for that but I've heard that it's got pretty good email deliverability.

In fairness to QPP, however, after I left, they asked me to send them a brief email explaining why I was no longer interested in their services. Well, there was nothing brief about the message I sent to them. And a month later, I received an email from Dustin (the owner) telling me that all of the recommendations that I had for them to improve their platform had been implemented based on my feedback... and let me tell you, I recommended some pretty advanced technical improvements and each and every one of them were taken under serious advisement and subsequently implemented into the system. Now, how many large-scale companies can you say that about? Not many. So you can see why I would still be inclined to recommend QPP as an excellent alternative option to 1SC.

All in all, the cost-benefit analysis that you did above should pretty much answer your own question for you. Is 1shoppingcart worth the money? I think that it is, and so do thousands of other marketers who use it to on a daily basis. But, to each his own, and I suppose it all depends on the way that you look at your business and what you want to accomplish with it... Choose the best fit for you.

Best of luck to you Rollie.

[Josh Anderson]

We offer a great alternative to 1shoppingcart that meets the requirements you listed and more at http://nanacast.com

1. Authorize.net, NMI, Durango Merchant Services gateways for US, Canadian, and International merchant accounts supported. Application access provided if you need one.

We also work with Paypal and 2checkout.

2. One click upsell/downsell integration for credit card orders and upsell/downsell integrated for free/paypal/2checkout orders (non one click for those).

3. Superior affiliate tracking and management using ip and cookie based tracking plus smart anti affiliate theft detection which rewards the legit affiliate and screws the theif.

4. In addition we have integrated membership, digital, and physical on demand print product (all types including cd/dvd, books, print newsletters, and combo packs) delivery. Our system also has rss and podcast publishing tools for publishing free, private, and paid subscriber feeds. Any number of these product types can be integrated into one offering and combined with a membership.

5. We can do physical continuity, bundling, and micro continuity.

6. We can automate instant, real time broadcast, driped over time (prescheduled auto responder type) and even individual broadcast (sent to individual subscriber) content deliver for any content type including online membership, rss, podcast, and even physical on demand print.

7. We automate the adding and removal of subscribers to your lists at Aweber (via the Nanacast parser in your aweber account) and getresponse (via their api).

8. We also have one of the best coupon and automatic bonus delivery systems you will find.

Our basic package costs the same as 1sc and our Preium Package is $47 more.

I believe our system can make people more money by using it. Just ad one upsell to any offer and you can pretty much count on increasing your bottom line by 20% or more...

If you cannot "justify" the cost of a solution that helps you automate your business and makes you more money than you would otherwise make then you may want to take another look at your current business model...

Even if you stuck with one shopping cart you would likely be better off since most other options would be like doing a downgrade to your business just to save a few bucks a month will benefit your business.

What would truly benefit your business is adding more potential for revenue by automating more of it and adding upsells and downsells to the mix. Nanacast can provide all that you loved about 1sc and everything you whished 1sc would have done for you but without the hassle of having to piece together a bunch of scripts without ever truly meeting your needs.

[Rolliesworld]

Originally Posted by JP Wilson

1shoppingcart has a superior affiliate program has been used to operate multimillion dollar launches. Apart from infusionsoft, it's the highest recommended shopping cart solution among internet marketers across the entire community.

Is their tracking system reliable? I actually contacted their support last night to ask them what exact technology they are using, and all they said it was "cookie based".
On 1Automationwiz's website (PL version of 1SC) it says:
"Amazing cookie-less tracking for your affiliates"

1AutomationWiz offers complete cookie duration control:

• Amazing cookie-less tracking for your affiliates.
• Impression based tracking for all media types*
• You can even pay your affiliates using PayPal's mass pay option..
• IP-based Tracking for clicks and impressions.
• Impression based tracking for all media types

On another website that is using 1SC's affiliate system it was stated that if a user (=affiliate's referral) deletes their cookies, then another follow up email sent by the merchant would ensure another cookie would be dropped in the user's browser if they open the link contained in it.
This I found pretty cool, but I can't see this explained on 1SC's website, and their support obviously did not explain or know.

On another note, I was checking out 1SC setups on some websites, and while I was playing around on WP-Wishlist's after a couple of clicks a message said my IP was banned ....is that normal?

Originally Posted by JP Wilson

As I stated in the above post, if you're not willing to pay the $100 price tag for all the features you want, you might as well settle for a solution that's a little less advanced... or one that hasn't got nearly as many recommendations and social proof surrounding it..

It wasn't actually me who said $100 is too much - I am not overly concerned about that if a system does what I need. I guess I have done the cost analysis more in response to a previous statement reading Ultracard was "half the price" of 1SC (and I went into great detail

Originally Posted by JP Wilson

All in all, the cost-benefit analysis that you did above should pretty much answer your own question for you...

Only based on cost, the benefits are way more important to me - as it should be for everyone.

Originally Posted by JP Wilson

As far as the 1click upsell plug-in is concerned, yes you have to import the upsell orders manually, but it's quick and as simple as pie.

Question here (and remember it is all theory for me so far):
Would I actually have to have a separate merchant account on top of 1SC or QPP to be able to do 1click upsells, or can this be done by using Paypal (you can pay using your credit card via paypal checkout)?
Sorry if the answer to this question may seem too obvious to you...
If so, the fees of a merchant account would come on top for each order, right? Which payment gateway can I choose being in Australia? 2CO seem to charge 5.5% for each transaction? Does this compare to 2.4% for Paypal?
I do not want to give the impression I am chasing the cheapest set up, I just need to understand what options I have. Thanks!

Originally Posted by JP Wilson

I don't much use the autoresponder, because I've got getresponse for that but I've heard that it's got pretty good email deliverability.

So I can integrate a 3rd party autoresponder into 1SC? Or are you using Getresponse separately, which means your customer data in 1SC does not interact with your list in Getresponse?

You see, this is really getting to the bottom of what I want. I am a BIG picture person, and I know that even though I am only starting out (after having researched "every facet" of IM "every night for 6 months"), what I want on the the long term is a system set up where I am in full control of all optin leads, customers and affiliates. I will want to be able to segment my lists based on what they bought, when they bought it, if they took an upsell or downsell, if they became an affiliate and then nurture a continuous relationship based on that intelligence.

I may be overshooting a bit, and maybe I should be "just starting" (as some people start with a cheap $5 p/m e-junkie account or CB, but I just see the huge potential of using a proper set-up with affiliate management and a fully integrated solution. If I start out 'cheap' then I may get stuck with one particular set up if it grows exponentially all in a sudden.

[Rolliesworld]

Originally Posted by Josh Anderson

We offer a great alternative to 1shoppingcart that meets the requirements you listed and more at nanacast DOT com

I have seen your posts for some time, I am struggling with your sales page...it really does not "illustrate" what your system can do. I am a BIG picture person and a "visual" learner. Your website may not help sell your product I think.
Also, is the follow-up marketing as powerful as what Infusionsoft makes out to be (with full list segmentation and moving prospects, customers and affiliates along to various automated email cycles based on specific 'events', i.e. purchased xyz product, take from follow up email sequence to another one, promoting an add-on product or something else. Or if someone becomes an affiliate, that the system recognises that he was or was not a prior customer...? Things like that ... .

Originally Posted by Josh Anderson

Authorize.net, NMI, Durango Merchant Services gateways for US, Canadian, and International merchant accounts supported. Application access provided if you need one. We also work with Paypal and 2checkout.[........] One click upsell/downsell integration for credit card orders and upsell/downsell integrated for free/paypal/2checkout orders (non one click for those).

What on top of Nanacast would I need to set up a fully working shopping cart system ... could you elaborate on that for me? I may need a beginner's course on checkout processes, i.e. can Paypal be used for one-click upsell/downsell or not (I interpreted your notes that I need an Autorize.net account = merchant account for one-click upsells, and that using Paypal or 2CO does not give you a true one click upsell/downsell?) ...

Originally Posted by Josh Anderson

Superior affiliate tracking and management using ip and cookie based tracking plus smart anti affiliate theft detection which rewards the legit affiliate and screws the theif.

What if someone is using another computer to make that purchase down the track (at work rather than from home for instance)?
And is there a way to attach a user's primary email address (the one they opted in with) to an affiliate ID, so that when the user deletes their cookies, they will be dropped again next time they click a link in one of the follow up emails?

Originally Posted by Josh Anderson

In addition we have integrated membership, digital, and physical on demand print product (all types including cd/dvd, books, print newsletters, and combo packs) delivery. Our system also has rss and podcast publishing tools for publishing free, private, and paid subscriber feeds. Any number of these product types can be integrated into one offering and combined with a membership.

5. We can do physical continuity, bundling, and micro continuity.

6. We can automate instant, real time broadcast, driped over time (prescheduled auto responder type) and even individual broadcast (sent to individual subscriber) content deliver for any content type including online membership, rss, podcast, and even physical on demand print.

7. We also have one of the best coupon and automatic bonus delivery systems you will find.

That all sounds great, but too much theory ... I need to have this illustrated and again, your sales website is not really helping.
I was looking at a WP plugin like Wishlist to use as a membership creator for future blogs, but where and how would Nanacast fit in (in practical terms please)?

Originally Posted by Josh Anderson

Our basic package costs the same as 1sc and our Preium Package is $47 more.

Do you cater for someone starting out, with no products yet but great aspirations and big picture thinking, but not necessarily for $150pm? For instance, I will probably be starting with creating a blog website, sales squeeze pages for each products (creating my own infoproducts and promoting them along with third party products). I would want to use affiliates pretty much from start. A membership site would come next, or I may decide to offer some of the products solely in a membership eCourse type setup (as opposed to just selling units).

Originally Posted by Josh Anderson

What would truly benefit your business is adding more potential for revenue by automating more of it and adding upsells and downsells to the mix. Nanacast can provide all that you loved about 1sc and everything you whished 1sc would have done for you but without the hassle of having to piece together a bunch of scripts without ever truly meeting your needs.

I totally agree with that - a fully functioning all-in-one solution would be great. How do you compare to Infusionsoft and QuickPayPro?

[Josh Anderson]

Originally Posted by Rolliesworld

Also, is the follow-up marketing as powerful as what Infusionsoft makes out to be (with full list segmentation and moving prospects, customers and affiliates along to various automated email cycles based on specific 'events', i.e. purchased xyz product, take from follow up email sequence to another one, promoting an add-on product or something else. Or if someone becomes an affiliate, that the system recognizes that he was or was not a prior customer...? Things like that ... .

Some people who use infusion soft have used our api to integrate their infusion soft account with nanacast...

However, for email marketing we work with third party autoresponders. This allows you to take advantage of the superior email marketing features and delivery that services dedicated to this provide.

In Aweber you will find a Nanacast email parser. Nanacast can add and remove subscribers to any list on both Aweber and Getresponse.

What on top of Nanacast would I need to set up a fully working shopping cart system ...

A payment processor such as Paypal or a merchant account with one of our three supported gateways.

can Paypal be used for one-click upsell/downsell

No system can offer that. For "one click" you must capture the credit card info. Can't be done with Paypal. For paypal we offer upsell/downsell but not one click.

We offer "one click" upsell/downsell functionality to anyone who has a merchant account integrated with Authorize.net or NMI or Durango Merchant Services Gateways.

We provide an easy application for anyone who does not have a merchant account with one of those gateways and we can offer this to US, Canadian, and International Companies.

And is there a way to attach a user's primary email address (the one they opted in with) to an affiliate ID, so that when the user deletes their cookies, they will be dropped again next time they click a link in one of the follow up emails?

Let me ask you a question...

Lets say that someone purchases a product from a company and then forgets about that company for say 6 months...

Then one day they get an email promotion from a publisher they follow who provides them great free training and content and has been doing so for a long time. This publisher is an affiliate for that same company they purchased a product off of 6 months before. This new affiliate recommends a new product from the same company that they had not known about.

Who should get the commission?

Our system tracks and pays on back end sales.

But is also pays last affiliate wins...

That means that the affiliate who truly referred and convinced the buyer gets the commission...

Except that if a buyer deletes their cache and joins the affiliate system and buys off their own link our system then looks up the last legitimate referer and denies the thief.

No system is perfect... but this is our approach which we have developed from feedback from affiliates and publishers to be as fair as possible.

I was looking at a WP plugin like Wishlist to use as a membership creator for future blogs, but where and how would Nanacast fit in (in practical terms please)?

We offer a plugin... but the reality is that our system is far better to handle all types of private content publishing and delivery than any hacked together blog ;-)

Do you cater for someone starting out, with no products yet but great aspirations and big picture thinking, but not necessarily for $150pm?

Nope. If you don't have a product you don't have a business and you don't need what we offer. I recommend starting your publishing via a blog, building a list, and creating a product.

When you have a product to sell... then you need a platform to sell it. Not before. though some people do start out with our system by building memberships and podcasts which can be your product.

How do you compare to Infusionsoft and QuickPayPro?

We offer more and different features. There really is no comparison beyond the basics. Many people leave Infusion to come to us and some integrate their infusion with us using our API (Paul Colligan and Alex Mandossian for example use our Platform and our API with their Infusion account to deliver the content for their Podcast Secrets course) but that is not necessary and not recommended since for the most part Infusion would be redundant...

But it all depends on specific goals, needs, and plans. No one should look for a solution until you know what you need to accomplish. That is the only way to find the right platform for your needs. No system can pretend to be the right fit for every application.

As far as Quick Pay Pro goes... I used them when I was first starting out and horrible customer service and terrible bugs when they moved to the cydec platform made it unbarable for me... in fact at the same time I left there was a major exodus from them over the same issues Russell Brunson, Armand Morin, and many others left them never to look back. Sad thing was that they were a great service... they simply became undependable and bug ridden. I am sure they have had time to correct a few of those issues but if you were to dig up some old threads in the old warrior forum you will see it was a deal killer.

[Jarrod Morris]

A lot of great stuff, but I'll cut to the bottom line here...

1) Infusionsoft
2) 1 Shopping Cart
3) Magento

Magento is free if you're looking for something cheaper than 1 Shopping Cart. And yes the automated marketing Infusionsoft claims really is out of this world. Also, the Affiliate System is not just cookie-based. It has other affiliate click history technology tied to it. This makes it close to bullet-proof.

If you're making this important decision on the right solution to grow your business, you're welcome to read more of our thoughts and opinions at InfusionPro.com. Hope this helps your decision.