Daisy May,

OSCommerce is GNU software. It is free to use and modify to fit your needs. Various people contribute new code to the project to improve features or functionality. As a result it is like a 'living document', constantly changing and improving. The problem with OSC is that the project lacks needed attention from the unpaid team leaders. Most needed enhancements must be done by picking through the various free contributions and integrating the code. I found this to be a daunting task and after three months switched to......

Another, similar GNU project is ZenCart. The project leaders started with OSCommerce as a base and build on it actively. It is a much more mature product. It is feature rich. The project leaders are much quicker to adopt well thought out feature contributions and incorporate into the latest upgrade. I think you would have little trouble installing and managing your own ZenCart site if you find it fits your needs. You can check it out at www.zencart.com.

If you choose ZenCart, the biggest challenge will likely be getting the look and feel that you want. You can get just about any look you want, but you will have spend a lot of time with stylesheets and css. This is good. It is one of the better methods of creating template based designs. You can't avoid the time required to get the look you want. Once established however, maintenance of your website should be a breeze.

If you don't get satisfaction from your current designers, and you still want to outsource the work, you may find it a bit less expensive if your designer builds upon a Zencart system. Be aware however, depending on your specific needs, ZenCart may not be the way to go. Be sure to check out the designer's own website, and any sites in his portfolio. If he/she doesn't have at least 8-10 sites in his/her portfolio and they all look good and function smoothly, I would keep looking.

Ron