newbie: need easy shopping cart

[Gombul]

I am a web designer who specialises in xhtml and css. I have no experience at all with server side languages.

Please can someone offer advice - 2 of my clients want shopping carts on their sites. Will I need to subcontract a programmer or are there products available that make it simple for people with little to no back-end experience?

I'd like to have control over the layout - preferably html. If this is a bit vague please let me know how I can help you answer my question.

I'm at the quoting stage, with no idea of what I'm up for, so any pointers in the right direction appreciated.

[Corey Bryant]

I have a very simple ASP shopping cart that I can send over to you if you would like. Easy to use - it does have inventory & colors / sizes.

There are also some other ASP carts available. Not too certain if you like ASP or PHP?

[Peter (IMC)]

Gombul,

How are you?

One of your main concerns should be if the shopping cart pages can be found and indexed by the search engines, and of course, rank high as well.

Until recently I haven't seen any shopping cart that is capable of generating search engine friendly pages.

I did find this shopping cart at http://www.applepiecart.com which makes perfect pages from a search engine point of view. All pages look like normal static .html files, but not a single page in the site is static. They are all comming from a database, which is very easy to manage.

You may want to get a quote from them as well.

Regards,

Peter

[TheWebDoctor(tm)]

I have a search engine friendly shopping cart called Apple Pie Shopping Cart. The system is very powerful and user friendly.

The system is designed to provide easy to optimize pages without the need for programming external pages and without the problems presented by all the other shopping carts. We just launched a new site on 4/2/04 and they wanted to focus upon 'harmonicas'. The homepage is on the first page of Google.

The system also includes a lite content management system so you can add additional pages to the site without having to create extra HTML pages.

Additionally, we include an easy to use WYSIWYG site and newsletter designer. It operates much like FrontPage and Dreamweaver. There are a lot more features available.

We have a resellers program.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

[Corey Bryant]

Actually all shopping carts are capable of creating "static" HTML pages if you use the ISAPI rewrite for ASP or use htaccess for UNIX.

[Peter (IMC)]

Actually all shopping carts are capable of creating "static" HTML pages if you use the ISAPI rewrite for ASP or use htaccess for UNIX.

That is true,... but that alone doesn't make them search engine friendly,. :)

Regards,

Peter

[Gombul]

Lee,

Keeping in mind that this post is a "newbie" would you mind outlining the process in laymans terms?

ie:
1. database data entry (how is this done? can it include photos/and fields I chose such as size, weight? easy for me as the webmaster to update?)
2. where is database stored and how does it interact with the location of the rest of the site (existing static pages)?
3. where are the credit card details stored and how exactly does the sale proceed from the time the buyer clicks the GO button? (ie: notification to seller and credit validation - handle different currency?)
4. how seller is notified (send address, valid transfer of funds etc...)

These are some things off the top of my head - it is important to me to understand the process and if you are able to take the time to explain it clearly I will certainly consider using your product - because if the support makes me feel confident enough NOT to subcontract a tech guy, then I'm willing to give it a shot as this will save me $$$.

[StevenAllen]

I will let Lee reply to your specific questions, but I have looked at his shopping cart and it appears to be first rate.

[TheWebDoctor(tm)]

I've replied by PM.

[dark one]

i can recommend something more effective.
if you are looking for something simple - www.litecommerce.com might be what you need. i am satisfied so far, however worked with them only once.
basically i work with www.x-cart.com
this system is more complicated and has much more features. the best platform so far if you ask me. none of my clients was disapointed with my work.

now things i know about x-cart

1. database data entry (how is this done? can it include photos/and fields I chose such as size, weight? easy for me as the webmaster to update?)

php & mysql. any number any type of additional fields you want. i'd recommend you to store images in the file system

2. where is database stored and how does it interact with the location of the rest of the site (existing static pages)?

php & mysql. both free.

3. where are the credit card details stored and how exactly does the sale proceed from the time the buyer clicks the GO button? (ie: notification to seller and credit validation - handle different currency?)

if you'd decide to store cc info - it'll be in the database. several encryption mechanisms are available. i don't store cc numbers - good point gor clients. sale processed the method you choose: manual and online cc processing are most used. something about 60 payment gateways support available. handles any currency you specify.

4. how seller is notified (send address, valid transfer of funds etc...)

you'll get email and have the order stored in the database with all the details.