Building your own ecommerce site

ecommerce

[eltreno]

Hi

I have build multiple CMS's for websites and am possible about to build a ecommerce site for a book store.

I would rather build from scratch a CMS then use an off the shelf simply because I love coding and I know exactly what it can do and obviously it's specific to the site i'm building

My question is, I am thinking of building this ecommerce site with cms (obviously) to add products etc and use someone like payppay etc to do transactions. So Is this a bad idea, ie would there be alot of reasons to go with a off the shelf product apposed to building you own

I just feel I can set one up OK and have the time.

Thanks
Trent

[Essex_boy]

Many people here have done just what you propose.

with a custom built option you get exactly what you want although you may have other problems like security etc.

I build HTML sites and like them to mals-e.com try and see

[Morgenhund]

Building from scratch requires a lot of planning and exact knowledge of your needs. If you do not have a lot of expirience in your e-commerce branch, you might easily overlook something.

I prefer to pick up a GPL-licensed product and modify it to fit my needs.

It gives possibilities:
1. Learn something from other's code
2. Be quickly on the market
3. Start sales actually before your coding is completed

[sharbel]

I built my e-commerce components from scratch. I actually use these base classes for all my e-commerce sites that I develop. I am a developer, and knew that I would obviously be developing many e-commerce sites.. so it only made sense to me to create the base components and customize the front-end/payment processing for each site.

Because I built the components myself, it's really nice when I have some special requirements such as integrating with an XML web-service for a fulfillment service. I know exactly what object to work on, and what class file it exists in.

Someone mentioned security.. i would argue that a properly developed e-commerce site is more secure than an open source one. No, I don't want to have an open-source vs custom job debate.. of course both have their merits.

I think the bottom line is if its worth it in your case specifically. Honestly, if I was only developing 1 e-commerce site that I was going to use to make money, I might have just used a pre-made pacakge and customized it.

[eltreno]

Cheers for you comments

I'll have a think, and see what the budget is as client is unsure still.
I would still rather do my own, mainly because I know exactly how things work and then can reuse again...But will have to see

Thanks