Complete e-commerce packages?

[i2Paq]

ummmm... No. Purely self promotional posts are considered spam on WPW. They end up getting deleted.

Dave

Thank you!

[funsun]

That is correct, though most are not using those methods. Regardless if you are accepting credit cards or just passing them through a gateway, you need to have a compliant application. Now if you are sending them over to Google Pay or PayPal traditional where the credit card is collected on their site, your app will not have to be, that is true. But if you’re taking them on your site and passing them to a gateway, you do. Hence the reason why later this year new merchant accounts will be required to be on a PA-DSS compliant solution. One other note, if you are storing them, you need to not only be PA-DSS (PCI) compliant, but also the database that is storing the credit card information (PAN) needs to be behind a firewall and not directly accessible through the internet.

[crankydave]

Thank you!

No problem.

mbobic... Another consideration is ShopSite and managed hosting. It's pretty straight forward to use, very nice 'help' feature built in, a lot of features and add on modules, as SEO friendly as you'd like to make it, consistantly updated and upgraded and a very good support forum.

I use ShopSite Pro for my religious jewelry site in my siggy. I use Lexiconn for my host. Can't say enough about them. They are simply stellar. If you go to Lexiconn.com, they have a link to a demo you play around with to see if it's something you're comfortable with.

Dave

[Ralph]

Stay away from Magento. It is full of bugs. It will be a nightmare

Stick to osCommerce or, preferably, X-Cart. The last one is imho the best around

[Milo]

Its agreed that there are many packages across the board and realistically, it comes down to a matter of choice and preferences. I would have to say, in my experience, that pre-planning exactly what you want your business to do and the website functionality will save you a headache later, exactly like a business plan. For example, I used X-cart for my major income website, I still actually do. I'm far too deep into the cycle to change things but really, it works for my business, however, its is not entirely to my liking and in retrospect, would have gone a different option if I had researched more, but this is retrospect. Also, it sells my product nicely, but I don't personally like the bells and whistle and it took a lot to get it right. From this I have learnt what I really need and use another package (cubecart) on several other websites, but these work for me and my businesses needs, they may not be perfect for you.
The learning curve for your first ecommerce website is huge and even greater to make it profitable, but essential if you are to manage your own ecommerce website ie. not pay someone else to do the job. In fact, its experience that will really teach you what this is all about, a broad range of skills, mostly which can be Googled and learned yourself. I also have learned that not all "professionals" will do as they promise and (product) forums are a fantastic way of finding a lot out about a product as you will easily find problems other people are facing there.
Even though its a huge learning curve, go for it and give it a go, especially if you have a great product to sell, as this is the bottom line. You'll get sales (maybe very few to start) if you have a great product and not so good website, but if you have a fantastic website, but crap product, you'll sell nothing. Be prepeared to learn, have good business morals and eventually you'll end up with a great business,and.... ALWAYS KEEP THE END USER IN MIND. My opinion, but it has worked for me.
Good luck.

[nutrawize]

There's an option that you don't have to install yourself. It's simple setup and has a lot of features. But, it won't let me post a link because I'm a reader and not a poster.

X-Cart and similar carts are great (actually better options in the long run), but learning it is not for the faint of heart.

dreamwhisperdomains . com /quick-shopping-cart

[jimj6024]

I really need and use another package (cubecart) on several other websites, but these work for me and my businesses needs, they may not be perfect for you.

[NJ]

It is unfortunate that the digital world isn't magic. Somehow we understand that to have a store, we have to lease space, hire people, get insurance (and a lawyer), buy inventory, buy fixtures, place the inventory on the shelves, restock the shelves, recheck the inventory, buy new inventory, put outdated inventory on clearance, deal with employee issues, deal with customer complaints, price inventory, add signage to our stores, market our stores, clean the stores, etc. But all that work doesn't translate to an online store!

There is no shopping cart product that can make itself look like your web site. There is no shopping cart product that can know what your product is, or price is, or ....

It's all a whole lot of work!!!! Maybe the best person to do that work is someone who has set up a shopping cart before!

[jacksan]

I suggest you to use zeuscart.com is much easier to work with than others. It's open source software is SEO friendly, can support several languages, and is easily customizable.

[Milo]

What suprises me is that most reactions are from those who offer "their" help and advice by promoting their own company or product.

How's that independent and what help will that give to our TS......?

Everyone is mentioning how a package helps them sell their product. How are they supposed to tell you how other products sell if they don't sell them??

This opinion IS helpfull if you sell a similar product to what the original poster does. Its called "helpfull advise".