Recomendations for professional webdesigner

A customizable, easy, licence free, ecommerce solution?

[danloffler]

Hi all,

I am a webdesigner who is getting requests for e-commerce websites. I have done two sites using a service called Cartmanager.com, it is a service that charges by the month to manage the shopping cart. I want to be able to create solutions for my clients and not have to pay for this service. I want to do it on my own server(I lease & resell server space)or my client's server.

I am mainly a graphic designer and I would rather not have to learn programming if I can avoid it. I would not mind spending a few hundered dollars for the right software. This software should be unlimited licence and should have a store management capability.

Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks

Dan

[jdancing]

My host among others, includes Miva with some hosting packages. I have no idea how Miva works, never used it, or if it is any good. But you may wish to look into it if you need to offer a cheap shopping cart.

[TallTroll]

>> I want to be able to create solutions for my clients
>> I want to do it on my own server
>> I would rather not have to learn programming

Dan, those requirements seem to be incompatible. If you want to offer your clients a true ecommerce solution service, someone in your organisation is going to have to learn enough programming to do the modifications. It need not be you, you can always hire in the talent on a permanent, or project-by-project basis.

Doing anything more advanced than out-of-the-box sites is going to require some programming skills though, and someone somewhere has to do it

>> This software should be unlimited licence and should have a store management capability.

Do you mean multiple shops per installation of the software?

>> store management capability.

Not sure exactly what you are after here

[paladin]

try OS Commerce. It is a free PHP & MySql solution.

[ecommerce man]

OScommerce is not a good idea if you don't want to learn "some" programming.

[danloffler]

TallTroll,

>>>> This software should be unlimited licence and should have a store management capability.

>>Do you mean multiple shops per installation of the software?

What i mean is I want to purchase and/or learn one program and use it again and again for new clients as needed, without having to buy licences for these new sites, if this is possible.

>>>> store management capability.

>>Not sure exactly what you are after here

The capability to manages prices and products etc. througn some kind of interface so my clients can manage their day-to-day business.

[too much information]

Hey danloffler, Welcome to Webmaster World!

I have to agree with TallTroll, you might want to get into the programming just a little bit. (It's not as bad as you think it is)

When I started my first e-commerce site I got a book called "ASP from scratch" (may not be the exact title) but it taught me how to build a customizable e-commerce site with a shopping cart, auction system and credit card validation built in and provided the code and explainations. Very easy to follow and I had never programmed in ASP or visual basic, ever!

I never finished the book though. I still have the last two chapters to read, but after I got so far I really just took off on my own project and created my own system based on what I learned. I don't see why you couldn't build your own system from scratch in under three months. Not only that but if you ever wanted to upgrade the system you would be able to do it yourself.

[danloffler]

It does seem as though I should try to learn a little programming.

Is it the consensus here that I start with OScommerce and then learn to tweek it to my end requirements each time?

As a designer the look of the page is very important to me. As I have a client who needs a quote, I may have a bit of a dilema, how do I design and quote the site not knowing if it is possible to do or how much time it will take.

I will need to finish my projects in a reasonable amount of time, even if I am learning on the job. I can't spend three months on one project.

Thanks all.

Dan

[Robino]

osCommerce is great.
It does take some time to learn it. Especially if you're not familliar with PHP and MySQL. But there really isn't anything you CAN'T do with it.
I've done four sites with it and they're all very successful.
I would recommend installing a pre-packaged modified version.
If you want specific recommendations, sticky me.

[TallTroll]

OSCommerce isn't the only cheap/free ecomm system out there, but it has a good rep, and several advantages, notably the very active user forum (if you run across something you can't handle, someone out there knows the answer). I gather from those who've tried that the PHP / MySQL combo is easy enough to learn to a reasonable level. Obviously, becoming a guru takes time, but getting good enough shouldn't be too hard.

Also, as Robino has already implied, there are several "pre-rolled" add on modules, usually reasonably priced or also free. OSC is worth investigating

>> without having to buy licences for these new sites, if this is possible.

Hmmm, outside of free products, thats a no-no. EVERY paid solution wants to charge on a site-by-site basis, its simply good business. There are a few partial exceptions, for example, Actinic Developer Edition comes with unlimited licence, so you can run as many shops as you like from one install.... but you then have to process EVERY order for EVERY client, or persuade them to pony up another chunk of money for the Order Proccessing module

>> The capability to manages prices and products etc. througn some kind of interface so my clients can manage their day-to-day business.

Any decent package should have this built in at some point. Some will support spreadsheet / CSV upload, some are database driven. Investigate the options for your chosen shortlist of products. See what you are comfortable with / what works for you and your clients

[tolachi]

As far as learning a little programing I personally think that php is the easiest thing I have come accross. That's mostly because of their website www.php.net. It's worth looking at if you are heading down this path.

Check out the search function, and always flip through the user comments if you don't find what you want in the official info.