Shopping Cart Software - Buy or Build?

[mtorbin]

Hey all,

I'm working on a proposal to implement a shopping cart on my company's web site. There are a TON of software packages out there and there doesn't seem to be any one consensus on which works. So what's the deal? Do I buy or do I build from scratch? Has anyone had any experience with this?

- MT

Matt Torbin
Web and Graphic Arts Engineer
PEI-Genesis

http://www.peigenesis.com

aim: dgtlby
direct email: mtorbin_at_mac.com

 

[audiopro]

I am in the same boat as you - buy or build.
I looked at what was on offer and decided to build in order to have full control over the whole thing.
The site almost finished except for the main bank contact section.

Keith

http://www.studiosoft.co.uk

 

[mtorbin]

Wow, that must have taken a lot of work. Years ago, I did a lot of work with the Bulletin Board system UBB (which is coded in Perl). The basic idea there is that you purchase their base package for a couple bucks and then you can do with it what you wish (essentially modifiying it out the wazoo). Isn't there something like this for shopping carts? I found a couple solutions, but I am a bit wary about buying something that I've never dealt with or heard about.

- MT

Matt Torbin
Web and Graphic Arts Engineer
PEI-Genesis

http://www.peigenesis.com

aim: dgtlby
direct email: mtorbin_at_mac.com

 

[Foamcow]

http://www.zencart.com

http://www.oscommerce.com

Free, open source shopping cart solutions with loads of modifications, payemnt gateways etc available.

I am developing a site at the moment using heavily customised Zencart.

Foamcow Heavy Industries - Web design and ranting
Toccoa Games - Day of Defeat gaming community
Target Marketing Communications - Advertising, Direct Marketing and Public Relations
"I'm making time

 

[dmears1]

I highly recommend OSCommerce. Foamcow posted the URL above.

http://www.AbsoluteStudio.com

http://www.Morter.com

 

[Foamcow]

To clarify Zencart is based on OsCommerce, but has a load of extra features built in.
It's also easier to modify as the code is a bit tidier. That said, it's still not as simple as it might be and doesn't use proper CSS or web standards.

Foamcow Heavy Industries - Web design and ranting
Toccoa Games - Day of Defeat gaming community
Target Marketing Communications - Advertising, Direct Marketing and Public Relations
"I'm making time

 

[mtorbin]

And these two options, what code are they in? ASP? PHP? PERL?

- MT

Matt Torbin
Web and Graphic Arts Engineer
PEI-Genesis

http://www.peigenesis.com

aim: dgtlby
direct email: mtorbin_at_mac.com

 

[mtorbin]

OK, I see that they're based on PHP. A few questions about PHP. I am pretty fluent in JavaScript and I can find my way around Perl. Also, I am taking a class next week on ASP. Will all that under my belt, how much trouble will I have learning PHP?

- MT

Matt Torbin
Web and Graphic Arts Engineer
PEI-Genesis

http://www.peigenesis.com

aim: dgtlby
direct email: mtorbin_at_mac.com

 

[BabyJeffy]

how much trouble will I have learning PHP?

You won't have any problems. The syntax reads a lot like Javascript (using . instead of + as the string concatenator is the most noticeable for me).

There are so many built-in functions and so many tutorials/free scripts in PHP too... so easy to learn by looking another person's code.

Oh... the

http://www.php.net

online documentation is really worthwhile regardless of what level you are at.

Enjoy!
Jeff

 

[Foamcow]

I find PHP to be much easier to follow than ASP, but I think that's down to what I call "MS mentality coding practices"

Foamcow Heavy Industries - Web design and ranting
Toccoa Games - Day of Defeat gaming community
Target Marketing Communications - Advertising, Direct Marketing and Public Relations
"I'm making time

 

[audiopro]

I wrote our original web app in PERL so it was natural progression to produce the full blown Shopping Cart in PERL too.
I have never really investigated ASP or PHP as I have found a mixture of HTML and PERL covers all of the areas I work in.
I am using text files to store the shop stock data (2000 items), these files are created from the shop till system, written in FOXPRO.

Keith

http://www.studiosoft.co.uk

 

[imstillatwork]

if the choice come to osCommerce and ZenCart, ZenCart all the way. They actually provice UPDATES. somthing osc hasn't seen in a long time!

I think every web developer should buld his / here own cart once. If you're not in a hurry, it can be real fun to put together the categlog, cart, and admin.

Kevin.

 

[coldfused]

Those pre bought options are fine until you get ready to or need to make modifications. Unless you know the language the app is written in you will backed into a corner when everyone starts asking for modifications.

I have used cartweaver which is an amzing coldfusion cart for dreamweaver. It served its purpose for a while, but in the end, after all the modifications and request, I have now completed about 95% of my very own coldfusion shopping cart built from scratch.

Best thing I have ever done, I learned so much and now I am able to go in and make and/or add any modifications I want.

So my opinion is they are good for starters, but in the end, build your own.

----------------------------------------
Florida Web Design
Orlando Web Hosting
Florida Coldfusion Hosting

 

[imstillatwork]

I vote build your own, unless there is a serious deadline. You could have a custom theme on zencart in a matter of a days almost.

If / When building your own, start very basic, so you really get a strong base to build from. If you try to build in every feature round 1, you'll end up with a cobled together project that you're frustrated with.

 

[t5amec]

I am very intrigued as to how you could build your own S/C, and get connected to banks, paypal, worldpay, etc...

Am i being dumb? Is this all very easy?

Make Sense? I hope so (-:

 

[Foamcow]

Each payment system has it's own "API" which defines how you connect to it and perform a transaction.
It's then a matter of creating something that follows that API and exchanges data in the correct manner.

Personally, I went with ZenCart for a recent project due to time and the security/testing aspect. I could probably create my own cart software but ZenCart has had alot more testing done on it than I can do! Why reinvent the wheel?



Foamcow Heavy Industries - Web design and ranting
Toccoa Games - Day of Defeat gaming community
Target Marketing Communications - Advertising, Direct Marketing and Public Relations
"I'm making time

 

[BabyJeffy]

With the last ecommerce site I put together for a client, the interaction with the bank was not something we had to worry about. It was simply a form submission to the bank...

Run whatever shopping cart you want on your site... the user picks items they want to buy... you manage everything to the point where you calculate how much money you want to charge the user. This is the core functionality of all shopping cart solutions (or should be, if it isn't).

Then you can redirect the user to a third party (branded) portal which handles the secure side of the transaction (in my case it was the bank itself). You get a reply back from the portal saying if the payment details were accepted (or not)... at which point you can continue to process the order in your own system.

You do not store the credit card details at all -- and you do not have to invest in SSL certificates and pay expensive hosting for a "secure" server. You often pay for this simplicity -- usually a 1% or 2% fee of the total.

This is by no means the best solution for every ecommerce site (although it certainly is the case with all small business and even medium-sized businesses I have worked with). It's just my experience (as a contract developer in London).

Hope that was interesting reading
Jeff

 

[spewn]

i vote to build your own...i worked at a hosting company and they used miva merchant, which was cool, but i constantly had the customer that needed to modify and didn't know what to do...

since you probably have the benefit of being able to write code, why not just make it yourself?

i started my project awhile ago and ended up with the best cart i've ever seen (no, really!)...it's written in PERL, using a database and the session module...

it took a lot of learning and about a month (PERL is still new to me) of coding, but it was worth it. now (just like building a car from scratch), i know everything about the site, and when something fails (although i believe it to be error free) i can immediately identify and correct.

http://www.skipjack.com

offers great real-time processing of credit cards, and multiple API's for perl, php and others...and affords you site continuity...

- g

 

[imstillatwork]

how good is

http://www.skipjack.com?

I've never heard of them (that doesn't mean anything) and they don't list any prices that I could find...

 

[spewn]

personally, i haven't used them yet (live), but i have integrated the gateway and done testing (over 500 times) using pre-determined credit card numbers and all has gone well...

professionally, i know of a company that uses their system, doing over 150,000 seperate transactions a month, and they continue to use them, going on 3 years.

i heard of them through EMS (

http://www.emscorporate.com

- merchant accounts), and i have talked to the customer support at Skipjack; they were more than helpful...answered every question and walked me through some patchy stuff, all before i even signed up.

good luck and do all the research before signing anything.

- g