product search

[mystic]

I'm planning on building an online electronics store and i was wondering once i list products on my site how can i have a product search on my site.

How would i go about putting a search on my site so people can search for the products they want on my site?

[ManagedLinks]

That would depend on how you are setting up the site.

Are you going to use a shopping cart?. most come with a search function

Try OSCommerce

[brian.mark]

Depending on your budget, the Google Mini or the Google search appliance may be good options. mini.google.com and http://services.google.com/enterprise/gsa_landing

Personally, I'm looking at 2 mini's for load balancing and redundancy. For under $3k, they're almost disposable.

Brian.

[mystic]

OS Commerce is a free shopping cart, so is it good enough for a good site filled with thousands of products?

and where do they make money if its free?

[ManagedLinks]

They don't its free

Its Open source software like linux etc

Most of the hardcore developers either have a job or possibly do freelance work installin and developing the product

But its is free

I am installing it as we speak, you reminded me a friend wanted a site set up

The backend is mySQL so it will handle as many products as most companies can throw at it

[mystic]

ok this is my first time doing this so sorry if these questions are newbie questions but with OS Commerce what payment methods can i accept? I want to be able to accept paypal and credit cards. maybe some thing else also but for now that. Could i do that with the shopping cart or would i have to use something else for that. if so wut should i use?

[ManagedLinks]

OSCommerce uses a modular approach to its payment processing, what this means is that no matter what you use it can be incorporated

I believe most major options including paypal come standard. but don't me on this. today is the first time I have dabbled with it in a couple of years

[mystic]

I downloaded OS Commerce but how do i install it.

Do i need a domain name? because i didn't think of a name yet for the site but i wanted to start the home page and maybe a few other pages with the shopping cart software untill i think of the name. Just wanted to get a head start.

[ManagedLinks]

OSCommerce currently comes in 2 packages
the shopping cart and the documentation

you must download the documentation seperately, the installation instructions are in the documentation.

no you don't need a domain name. but you do need a website and a PHP enabled webserver with a mySQL database installed

PHP is the programming language that oscommerce uses
mySQL is a free database
both are commonly provided by good web hosts.

[mystic]

well i use frontpage how would i put it on a page?
Should i use ftp?

[ManagedLinks]

Frontpage is unrelated.

If wholesalespotter is the place you are talking about. I have checked it and it does support PHP whether it uses mySQL I cannot tell.

It appears obvious you are going to need professional help.

Private Message me if you are interested in getting a quote on installing the software for you

[mystic]

No i don't need it on wholesale spotter.

I just want to no how to install OScommerce on a new site. I want to know how to put it on a specific page.

I don't think its that difficult to install a shopping cart software.

[ManagedLinks]

its easy to install, but you don't seem to grasp the ideas behind it

A shopping cart is a very complex piece of software. the developers have done a brilliant job in making it as easy as they have.
BUT thats not to say you don't need some knowledge of the way it works to install it properly.

Its not a case of simply copying it to your web site and then adding a link from your page.

There are many shopping cart vendors who will gladly sell you a product and even install it for you.