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I want to set up a business site with products, basket, credit card etc. but I don't know which application is the best. The problem is unfortunately it seems that I can't affort to buy the "Actinic Business" software since it is £900.
That is why I ask you to tell me if you know any nice application to build my E-commerce with ease with all the accounting calculations etc.
Thanks
Alex
Sorry that I have to ask you for some help but it is the first time that I experiment with E-commerce and I find it trully interesting.
I have downloaded "redhat interchange" and unziped it. My current web account has the following features.
Full CGI-BIN - Perl, C, and Java
Free Server Side Includes
Free FrontPage Extensions )
mySQL Database
PHP 4 scripting language
Full Graphical Access Statistics
Unlimited Updates Via FTP
Free scripts provided
Daily Backups
Access to raw log files
Web control panel
Rub on Linux
60mb of space
Is it posible that I use redhat interchange with that ISP???
Can you give me a tip of how should I transfer interchange to the servers???
Thanks
Alex
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It's not easy to give you much input, because I don't have a feeling for the scale of your planned business. 60MB can vanish mighty fast!
There are hosting plans that come with shopping carts included, and plenty of commercial carts to choose from as well as free ones. Try www.cgi-resources.com or www.hotscripts.com for plenty of choices, and do a site search here. There have been several good discussions with many products spoken of.
DOes anyone have Actinic Business here??
Alex, it has never been mentioned here, not even once. You've made it very clear that you will not pay, so it's really a moot point. Since you will not pay, there's not even any point getting a download.
Besides, even if someone somehow shows up all of a sudden to have a discussion about it, there won't be a discussion because that would end up promoting the product, which is against our Terms of Service.
Check out the scripts at the sites I gave you, or to make matters really simple, get with a web host that provides a cart. That's the simplest way to go, and is what I would do. Then the host can just accommodate if your needs grow.
With Interchange you'll be spending LOTS of development time before you're open for business. From what I've read it's got a pretty steep learning curve. So ask yourself if that is really what you want or need to be involved with.
It may be just the thing for you, especially if you have a big e-commerce business already in mind, all fleshed out with a business plan, your supply chain all nailed down, etc. Or maybe you'd rather just get on with collecting sales for a select initial product offering, in which case I'd suggest trying a ready made solution.
To be clear, I want to start out from scratch. I have no business yet!!!
The other point is that first I want to know what is easiest and most efficient for the future. I just want to know more about applications etc. I prefer something ready and easy rather than coding stuf my self.
And I thing I ll give Interchange a try even if it will take a part of my limited time.
Alex
IMO is no such thing as a universallly easiest and most efficient application - i think it would depend on your needs both now and in the future.
but a couple of observations about online shops are...
you don't list a ssl as part of your current hosting plan, if you plan to take credit cards you need this... many hosts offer a shared ssl as part of the deal.
you need to set up a merchant account with a card processor, there are various options at different price levels, from hand processing your sales locally to a fully automated system ... the set up and running costs of different methods vary considerably and reflect both your turnover and service level
>>>>I just want to know more about applications etc. I prefer something ready and easy rather than coding stuf my self.
many hosts offer miva merchant [miva.com] as part of the hosting package, you can have a 28 day live trial where you can try it by building a shop on their servers with real or imaginary products, this may be something to try just to see how it works
disclaimer - i have no association and don't use it myself but i've tried it and its a very easy to use catalog builder
marcia's excellent suggestion and links list a load of applications at different price levels.
>>>even if it will take a part of my limited time
my experience is that i have two choices to get things done
1) spend time: finding out/trying out and learning
2) spend money
-as i'm not the brightest nor the most well funded person it means i just don't get much sleep.
good luck with you investigations!!!
I personally have used Mal's free eCommerce (mals-e.com) successfully for two years now. I created a simple web store using ColdFusion/Access without worrying about the shopping cart. I let Mal's handle that. You could just as easily use PHP/MySQL to create your dynamic pages.
That's my take on it. Coding a shopping cart is a big pain. There are so many issues that others have already pre-solved that I prefer not to re-invent the wheel.
I know many people who've started custom e-commerce sites and run into some design glitch after a few weeks that meant MAJOR code revisions. There's a lot of what-if's that aren't obvious up front.
I've been using Americart for five years with many clients. The thing I dig is that all the shopping cart activity happens on their server. Your site stays totally portable, and changing ISP's is a snap. Also, they've been doing this long enough that their service is very feature-rich and bug-free.
They have a shopping cart, the price is right, and you can customize to your hearts content.
