Comments on: Is OSCommerce Really The Best Option? http://www.merchant-account-services.org/blog/is-oscommerce-really-the-best-option/ A blog about merchant accounts and merchant services Fri, 20 Aug 2010 23:05:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: weasel http://www.merchant-account-services.org/blog/is-oscommerce-really-the-best-option/comment-page-1/#comment-15 weasel Sat, 22 Jul 2006 18:39:53 +0000 http://www.merchant-account-services.org/blog/is-oscommerce-really-the-best-option/#comment-15 Heh, I just wrote a similar article on my blog (it's in romanian, so giving you the link wouldn't make much difference), and I just noticed yours. I completely agree with you, but I am more subjective because I also created a shopping cart engine, and I tried to avoid all those stupid things in oscommerce, zencart, xtcommerce and other *commerce scripts. There are a lot of issues you have to deal with, and if you don't know a little bit (more?) of PHP and how to navigate through the twisted file structure of those engines, it's literally a nightmare to customize your store. I really couldn't find an easy to use and easy to customize free solution; I don't know much about the commercial ones though. So I guess a commercial solution is many times a better choice, but there are two things it should be: easy to use and easy to customize. Most of the times, you also receive faster updates, support, and many times they also help you when starting out. Furthermore, if you have a problem or something with a free cart, there isn't much you can do except for write them about the problem and wait for the update/fix; when you pay for something, you can easily pick up the phone and give them a call, and you'll find someone to answer to your problems/yelling :) At the end of the day, shops sell stuff. If you sell stuff you probably make money. If you make money, you should buy yourself a good e-commerce platform, so you can work more efficiently. Heh, I just wrote a similar article on my blog (it’s in romanian, so giving you the link wouldn’t make much difference), and I just noticed yours.

I completely agree with you, but I am more subjective because I also created a shopping cart engine, and I tried to avoid all those stupid things in oscommerce, zencart, xtcommerce and other *commerce scripts. There are a lot of issues you have to deal with, and if you don’t know a little bit (more?) of PHP and how to navigate through the twisted file structure of those engines, it’s literally a nightmare to customize your store. I really couldn’t find an easy to use and easy to customize free solution; I don’t know much about the commercial ones though.

So I guess a commercial solution is many times a better choice, but there are two things it should be: easy to use and easy to customize. Most of the times, you also receive faster updates, support, and many times they also help you when starting out. Furthermore, if you have a problem or something with a free cart, there isn’t much you can do except for write them about the problem and wait for the update/fix; when you pay for something, you can easily pick up the phone and give them a call, and you’ll find someone to answer to your problems/yelling :)

At the end of the day, shops sell stuff. If you sell stuff you probably make money. If you make money, you should buy yourself a good e-commerce platform, so you can work more efficiently.

]]> By: Jon Lewis http://www.merchant-account-services.org/blog/is-oscommerce-really-the-best-option/comment-page-1/#comment-14 Jon Lewis Sat, 22 Jul 2006 15:12:33 +0000 http://www.merchant-account-services.org/blog/is-oscommerce-really-the-best-option/#comment-14 I've had a couple of osCommerce based sites. I for the most part, like osCommerce. I built a website for some computer illiterate friends of mine and they were able to use it with ease. As far as the design portion goes, you can buy osCommerce templates that look nice so you don't have to dable in the code. I'm not a coder and I have added a few contributions on my own. I have had some frustrations with osCommerce. In order turn off the session IDs, you have to force cookies. That's been one of my frustrations. You bring up some good points though. If I were to grade osCommerce with a 5 star system, I would have to give them maybe a 4 star rating. What other shopping carts have you used that you like? I’ve had a couple of osCommerce based sites. I for the most part, like osCommerce. I built a website for some computer illiterate friends of mine and they were able to use it with ease. As far as the design portion goes, you can buy osCommerce templates that look nice so you don’t have to dable in the code.

I’m not a coder and I have added a few contributions on my own. I have had some frustrations with osCommerce. In order turn off the session IDs, you have to force cookies. That’s been one of my frustrations. You bring up some good points though. If I were to grade osCommerce with a 5 star system, I would have to give them maybe a 4 star rating.

What other shopping carts have you used that you like?

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