akward e-commerce solution

[canaryfoot]

Hello....Let me introduce myself before I ask a question.... my name is melissa, I'm 28 years old from toronto and I've been doing web design work for over 3 years. Unfortunatly I've never took my html skills further until now...

I have a customer that requires an e-commerce solution without the check out. So basically they need to be able to add items to a cart but in the end he is only allowed to print out items. Like an add to wish bag, or inventory list.

I am actually new to working with e-commerce software, The only experience I've had is working with paypals integrated shopping cart. I am a web graphic designer and not so much a programmer.

So can anyone point me in the right direction?

[Dubbya]

First decide which platform you're going to run on. Since you're not looking for a full-on eCommerce solution, it sounds like all you need is a free cart.

I use VP-ASP, although I've tried Comersus as well. Both are ASP based stores, both are highly customizable and both allow you to update with additional features and functionality as your shop requires. In either case, you can use offline payment methods if you like. Unlike most solutions, the basic carts are free to use.

Check out the Sticky for a list of carts.
View the List

At any rate, be aware that you're going to have to do some serious template tinkering if you intend to change the layouts and doing so can be a can of worms.

[canaryfoot]

platform?... I'm have hosting with lonex.com which supplies me with a mysql database already (no clue how to work with it).......thanks for your previous reply....not sure if that was what i was looking for. maybe i'm wrong...

I forgot to mention that the website has to be customized where it doesnt actually look like it's an e-commerce site...all I really want is an "add to cart" and "view cart" button that has no checkout but when you view the cart, i want it to look exactly like my site so noone will know they left it...is there a direction someone can lead me to?...

[Dubbya]

I see that Lonex offers FrontPage Server Extentions. That means that you can run Active Server Pages (.asp) with your mySQL or SQL database.

You're either going to have to find someone with the knowledge and experience you need to get this set up for you, or you'll have to step up and learn how to work with VB script and set this up yourself.

You can download and install the VP ASP shopping cart and use the catalog witout the checkout feature but you'll have to do some scripting to modify the cart so that it prints out the "order".

It shouldn't be too difficult for someone with some time. You can also visit the VP ASP forums to ask for help with your modifications. They're pretty good about helping folks.

You could even visit some of the free ASP script sites out there. There are tons of free shopping carts you can use.

Hotscripts.com has tons of shopping cart scripts

[kinlane]

Feel free to contact my wife @ Original Web Solutions.

She specializes in SEO optimized e-commerce solutions that are custom fit to your clients needs.

We have partner solutions, and you get the support of a real programmer / human that you can actually call.