New to ecommerce - Any advice

[claybutler]

osCommerce is a frigg'n nightmare. Too many things you have to edit/change/add-on to in order to make it work half-way decent - I'd rather drink bacon grease before having to deal with all that mess... again.

Hmmm...I'd go as far as hot lava myself.

[AAJ]

Hi all

Thanks for all the quick and helpful responses, what a great forum

I'm surprised about the comments on Oscommerce , I'd seen other ones with more positive opinions. That said, I think that because of the comments and its PHP mySQL platform i might give it a miss for now.

I'm going to take a look at the others options today, If I can narrow things down to two or three products, I'll download some trials.

dvduvals thoughts were particularly interesting to me, I do have the skill set to put a working site together, but not really the time, I know from previous ventures, because I enjoy the software aspect, I spend more time developing than actually working!!! I'm desperately trying to not re invent the wheel, but on the other hand to keep control so I can build on it later.

I feel comfortable in a windows environment (no jokes at my expense please...) and if I switched, I could see me worrying about having to learn a whole new skill set if I needed to either fix or expand a product. That's not to say if I found the right non windows product I wouldn't have a go.

Have any of you come across dash commerce? I found it last night after posting my original query. This type of thing might be a good compromise for me, as far as I can tell its a working product thats open source. What about single ASP net components, has any one had any good/bad experiences, I don't mind buying the bits and integrating them together.

Thanks again for all your comments

Andy

P.s. When I get this sorted, I hope there are as many experts on payment systems and Merchant accounts, thats my real worry!!

[cw1865]

My Magento project was a complete disaster. It was quirky operating with my browser and the system was just too slow to handle large amounts of products.

[claybutler]

That's too bad. Sorry to hear that. I have a pretty decent size store running it and it's smooth sailing (Titan Support Systems - Powerlifting Gear and Training Equipment). It's pretty fast too. I host at Nexcess – Beyond Hosting and use their Magento plan.

[kwikstand]

You might want to take a look at Able Commerce. You can customize it to do most anything and if that isn't enough, they also have the source code available. Other user/programmers have developed 3rd party add-ons for it as well.

Works great for me. I just need some development help for freight shipping.

--Scott

[Chargin]

MalsEcom is ok, more of a barebones system that you have to integrate into a site that you build.

I went from Mals to Cubecart, its great, simple install, purchase a nice template and you are all set. Probably the easiest to use cart I have found, Ive built about 12 sites now using it. A bit of basic photoshop, php and css skills and you can do anything you like with it.

[financialinsurance]

If you are looking for some ecommerce solution then its better to start from Wordpress. Build site there and you will find many free plugins for ecommerce..

[ZMakarov]

I would start by hosting it on my home server on apache. If you can do some queries on mySQL then it wouldnt be an issue, just install WAMP server for windows. It is perfect solution for hosting or starting to host a small to big business. You have mentioned that you can program, how about using Drupal and Joomla's Plugins to create a simple yet effective ecommerce solution.
Best luck.

[pixma85]

Use a hosted shopping software such as network solutions/volusion/3dcart. Now you don't have to worry about pci compliance, and server issues. They take care of that.

[nikkyn]

I would recommend VevoCart free shopping cart to anyone who wants to start an ecommerce.