shopping cart/ e-commerce

[DeviantGeek]

I know this has probably been posted/asked alot but i thought i would share a decent free shopping cart. its called PrestaShop. http://www.prestashop.com/ Im sure some of you are familiar with Interspire and this free version has alot of the same features. the only thing is that its free so of course your not going to get the quickbooks export n all that. the shipping has no preset carriers so you cant link up with like usps or anything. I was actually on an extensive search for a shopping cart script that actually displayed the color when you chose the color. if you notice, most shopping carts dont offer this, or you have to edit the php/templates some sort of way. call me crazy but if someone is buying a decal of sorts from me they should be able to see the color instead of just pick it as a text. I know i could just put a page up displaying the colors but then they would have to go to that page to see the colors instead of viewing them on the fly. im anal when it comes to small stuff like that. unless someone on here knows a shopping cart with that feature. ive seen a few stores where the dropdown box is colored. and unless interspire has that feature and im just missing it someone should should point me in the right direction haha.

[bowhunter012004]

cool thanks for the info, ive been looking for something too.   

[bowhunter012004]

too bad i have no idea how to install this program

[DeviantGeek]

shoot me a PM. its not a typical program to run on windows. its a script. it has to be installed on a website. i offer affordable hosting. as well as free hosting. and i can offer to install this for you. that goes for anyone on here as well. shoot me a PM and i will give you details about what i can offer you.

[midwaste]

Please explain how this is better than Cubecart or any of the other very well documented/supported carts before you come on here offering to install and host it for a fee.  Otherwise, you sorta sound like spam.

[lwsimon]

I'm using WP-e-commerce for my site, which has worked out fairly well once I got used to it.  The trick is to remove the plugin before each WP upgrade and reinstall it once its complete.  It's a bit flaky, but does the job well.

If I had more time to devote to it, I'd be using Magento.  I've tried several Wordpress plugins, osCommerce, and Magento, and Magento is far and away the most professional of them that I've found.  The templating isn't horribly hard either, but again --- I have limited time.  There aren't many good, cheap/free Magento templates out there.

[DeviantGeek]

Please explain how this is better than Cubecart or any of the other very well documented/supported carts before you come on here offering to install and host it for a fee.  Otherwise, you sorta sound like spam.

I never said it was better. I never said it was worse. From my experience testing it out i think its a decent FREE shopping cart software. i tried cubecart as well. and i think thats another decent free one. well version 3. i know there are many options for e commerce and this is just one of them to add to the list. and i never said i would install it for a fee. when you offer something to someone it doesnt always mean your going to ask for money. how would you know if they PMed me and asked me n i said sure no problem? which was my intention in the first place. im not offering to just host this particular shopping cart. im offering the hosting as a whole. for website or shopping cart or whatever. and i assure you its not spam or a scam or anything of that nature. ive been dealing with websites for years now and im very fluent in installing scripts on servers and getting them setup and running properly. ive had my fair share of dedicated servers. right now im a reseller. it was simply an offer to do it for someone who has no idea how to. you guys give out so much information and help about vinyl cutting and sorts. hell this forum has helped me out ALOT and i dont even have a vinyl cutter yet. (on order tho  ). so why not offer something like this to someone trying to get started with e commerce like i am? im not breaking their leg demanding they go through me. just a friendly gesture... and the offer still stands for anyone. if youd like to know more information about my hosting and my experience installing scripts, drop me a PM. o and fyi you can check out the hosting company i resell for. its www.theprimehost.com. my website is www.deviantgeeks.com. i dont have any info on there yet. (insert spam scam comment here) im not hosting websites to make money. its just a side project ive been working on. 

I'm using WP-e-commerce for my site, which has worked out fairly well once I got used to it.  The trick is to remove the plugin before each WP upgrade and reinstall it once its complete.  It's a bit flaky, but does the job well.

If I had more time to devote to it, I'd be using Magento.  I've tried several Wordpress plugins, osCommerce, and Magento, and Magento is far and away the most professional of them that I've found.  The templating isn't horribly hard either, but again --- I have limited time.  There aren't many good, cheap/free Magento templates out there.

ive looked at wordpress and was considering it. i never heard of magento tho. i will def have to check that out. thanks for the info. editing templates can be the most time consuming thing youll ever do. so i can def relate to no time.

[manwayvan]

Thanks for the info I have been looking for the color changing feature also. I have not incorporated any ecommerce yet through my site but want to learn the ins and outs before I do

[DeviantGeek]

if you check out interspire, youll notice there is no way to put the color "swatches" near the dropdown menu for the color. i did a workaround and hardcoded my own color swatches into it. you cant click on them but it still gives the buyer an idea of what color they are getting. sure you could make a separate page but why not have it right there in front of them while they are ordering. you can check it out at http://www.deviantgeeks.com/vinyl/orders/products/Premium-Vinyl-Decal.html. just to give you and everyone on here that use interspire an idea of what im talking about. i odnt know the coding all that well to make it all fancy and clickable yet. and yah learning the ins and outs are def a plus. im still in the "what the hell do i do phase" haha

[manwayvan]

looks great deviant. Is there anyway to make these where the price changes based upon sizing. I wasnt sure if you could code script into these or not.

[DeviantGeek]

yes that can be done through the backend. theres actually an option for that. only problem is when you have a variation setup with a product you cant set a volume discount or anything. like buy 20 and get 5% per item or something. i just threw some stuff in there for test purposes. you can go ahead and order it. if you want to test it out. i dont have it full setup tho. just make sure your method of payment is a money order or in store. its protected throguh SSL too so your safe. the only thing it doesnt show is the price difference (+/-) in the dropdown. i believe theres a small modification someone provided to enable this or when you setup the variation you could always do like "12 inch (+$2.00)". i like this one because it links with quickbooks. i havent fully tested that out yet as im still trying to figure quickbooks out. 

[YHC]

I have had great luck with Zen Cart. Has many options and many free skins that can be tweaked to achieve the look you want.

[tlzimmerman]

I use joomla and virtuemart.  They work great, and it has a dropdown type feature like you are showing for different colors.

Been doing this over a year, and still haven't had enough time to get the number of decals on the website like I want.  Maybe someday!

www.doublezdecals.com and click on the store if you want to see how it works.  Choose a decal, then choose one of the options from a dropdown, and the picture should change.  Both joomla and virtuemart are free, and virtuemart comes with all sorts of payment gateways built in as well as shipping options as well.

[robochan]

I use joomla and virtuemart.  They work great, and it has a dropdown type feature like you are showing for different colors.

Been doing this over a year, and still haven't had enough time to get the number of decals on the website like I want.  Maybe someday!

www.doublezdecals.com and click on the store if you want to see how it works.  Choose a decal, then choose one of the options from a dropdown, and the picture should change.  Both joomla and virtuemart are free, and virtuemart comes with all sorts of payment gateways built in as well as shipping options as well.

Can i use joomla and virtuemart with dreamweaver cs4 or do they make whole sites? What is a good way to build a store in dreamweaver? I am very new to this.

Thank you,
Chandler

PS i love your web site and would be happy if i could make one half as nice.

[YHC]

Robochan,

There is allot of coding that would need to be done to make a secure e-commerce site. If you have the skills and time it can be done. But I would search for an open source developted one. That way you only have to update any security patches that comes out from the developers. Most of them are easy to install on your host and some web host have the popular e-commerce scripts ready to install with a few clicks of a button.

Once you install one of the free scripts you can change the look of them with dreamweaver. I did a quick search on Google and found this list of open source scripts.

http://webtecker.com/2008/04/22/8-best-open-source-shopping-cart-solutions/