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- We have beginner to intermediate level programming and graphic design skills.
- We run moderately busy sites (less than 1000 visitors per day) that generate moderate sales per day (less than $1000)
- Our price points are low ($20-$50), margins are decent, and we tend to operate in the "impulse buy" world of online shoppers.
- We are spending WAY too much time now with order processing, inventory control, shipping, site maintenance, and other activites not related to the growth and promotion of our stores.
- We like flexibility, but do not want to spend the majority of our time programming. For example, we want to be able to shift the look/feel of the site, add specials/coupons, highlight products, etc...
Now, what we've been looking at:
- MonsterCommerce
- Volusion
- StoreFront
- Yahoo
- X Cart
Any help is definitely appreciated as we do not want to make a change only to have to switch again 1 month later. What have you found to be major pros and cons of these? Do you have good or bad experiences with them? please do not flame one of them due to a single incident. We'd rather hear facts supported by opinions than the other way around.
Thank you all in advance
joined:Mar 16, 2006
posts:20
votes: 0
I have spoken some developers who write addons for Storefront - these guys obviously know the code and they all say the same thing - it is badly coded.
I have looked at X-Cart and quite liked it, the features look very complete and the support seemed good, the technology did not personally suit my needs as I do not know php but dont let that put you off it is probably the best on the list. Dont know about the others you mentioned.
cheers
We are leaning towards Volusion because we feel it has a solid balance of built in functionality, ability to customize easily, inventory control, responsive support, and a decent user forum.
We liked X Cart, but just want to get away from time hogging programming and finding Programmers (sorry, no offense meant).
Monster just is too new, with some major limitations for tracking abandoned orders and inventory control.
Thanks again
I am a hardcore open source believer so i would recommend oscommerce.
and trust me installing oscommerce is easy unlike the popular perception.
The good things is the scalability and evrytime you need to add something cool just log on to one of those freelance sites and get a php programmer.
I have worked with everything under the sun and i liked oscom so much i got 4 php developers and started work on a better version oscommerce which would have the ease and global scalability of ecommerce solution provided by a volusion or venda.
and believe me im more thn glad to take this decision.
Try oscommerce and see if it works what have you gotta loose?
Adi
[edited by: lorax at 11:55 am (utc) on May 1, 2006]
[edit reason] edited sig [/edit]
The install may be easy but customizing the spaghetti code isn't worth it. I used to be a big fan of osCommerce but after working with it for years I've realized there are better alternatives out there.
I can host the site on my own server, and besides my monthly costs for a business DSL connection, my additional monthly cost is zero. Highly recommended.
From what I've seen (I have no installs using this as yet) it's an export tool within the Admin area. You can export the entire PHP version out to an HTML version. This is for the catalog portion only. The checkout process still relies on PHP as does the cart (I'm pretty sure about this but not positive). There is a mod that provides SE friendly URLs too if that's the concern.
In my view you can either be a professional webmaster and run a business to make money or you can be a code jockey, spending time fixing things because you like playing with technology - nothing wrong if that is the direction you want to go in.
But I do not think that open source ecommerce software is the professional way to do business, spending a few hundred dollars on a supported cart such as xcart is an easy decision imo.
cheers
But I do not think that open source ecommerce software is the professional way to do business, spending a few hundred dollars on a supported cart such as xcart is an easy decision imo.
Thanks because to me all os commerce sites all look the same...I don't mean to slight anyone it's just the way they appear to me. I looked at skins/templates and I haven't been able to find any that fit my biz. I am not a code junkie and I still struggle a bit with some hand coding so having to learn php would be over the top for me at this time. I read that the support for X-Cart is very good. Something that I know I would need.
for myself, as I am trying to run a business, grow it, and remove myself from the grind of coding, a pre-packaged, non-OS solution is probably best.
In reply to the split forum position
I belong to a third category. I code for myself, customers and run my biz with or without E-comm solution.
BDW, what is the story with ecommtpl, it can't be "hand" modified, one should only use a WYSIWYG?
Looks like the only versions they offer are built for specific editors.
Yes they can be hand modified and they provide a generic version than you can easily edit. They recommend that you buy the Dreamweaver version because it contains very little proprietary code.
what is the story with ecommtpl, it can't be "hand" modifiedI have used text editors for both design and code editing. the ecommercetemplates shopping cart has separated design from code making it easy to edit or intergrate into your own design. When using FrontPage I mostly use text editor when working with the php version.