Teach me Step-by-Step How to Install a Free Shopping Cart

[Master Trader]

Hi friends,

I'm building an online print shop. Product prices are displayed in tables and I need a shopping cart which meets the following criteria:



can be made to work on my existing platform



free (but decent), with FREE support and no monthly fees or hidden costs



price in each cell to be "clickable" and linked to the payment area



easy to edit the prices myself



able to accept large/unlimited sums of money



doesn't force users to commit personal information in order to fill the shopping cart as they should only need to register when they're actually ready to buy



multiple payment options incl PayPal (but NOT PayPal's Website Payments Pro nor Virtual Terminal as these charge a monthly fee)



can be easily customised to match my website


Please either teach me how to install the cart myself and use it or install it for me and teach me how to use it.

I'm not a technical person so you'll need to explain (in simple language) if I'll need anything else in order to take online payments.

Willing to pay a modest fee.

Thanks in advance.

[Place of design]

Hi friends,

I'm building an online print shop. Product prices are displayed in tables and I need a shopping cart which meets the following criteria:



can be made to work on my existing platform



free (but decent), with FREE support and no monthly fees or hidden costs



price in each cell to be "clickable" and linked to the payment area



easy to edit the prices myself



able to accept large/unlimited sums of money



doesn't force users to commit personal information in order to fill the shopping cart as they should only need to register when they're actually ready to buy



multiple payment options incl PayPal (but NOT PayPal's Website Payments Pro nor Virtual Terminal as these charge a monthly fee)



can be easily customised to match my website


Please either teach me how to install the cart myself and use it or install it for me and teach me how to use it.

I'm not a technical person so you'll need to explain (in simple language) if I'll need anything else in order to take online payments.

Willing to pay a modest fee.

Thanks in advance.

To be really fair, you are wanting a designer to walk you throgh the process that ought to cost you 1000's and rightfully so, because doing the job properly isnt box ticking exercise

Installing the store and setting up the mechanics is the MINOR part of the job

The subsequent work, that a good designer/developer does, turns a great (but bland) "engine" into a commerciall acceptable product. Some of the changes look simple, and are infact can be quitte intricate

Yes you can install a store, throw a template at it and be up and running, but then your site will just look like all the other generic templated sites. A designer will be able o waeve the look and feel of your store into the rest of your site to reflect your image and product offering properly

A good designer / developer will do things that ensure that on page SEO is pretty much dealt with

Unfortunatally, to do this job properly, you need to make an investment, both in time, and cash, and effort

- You may need a copywriter for the texts
- You may need a professional photographer for the images
- You may need a IM professioanl for the marketing

etc...

[nickpp]

Agree with the comments above but we have a magento in install guide

http://www.simpleservers.co.uk/clients/whmcs/knowledgebase/26/Magento-Installation-Guide.html

Magento is free and easily the best open source cart out there.

We also do a one click install for magento,takes about 2mins!

[nickpp]

sry, double post

[bdw]

Ain't no such thing as a free lunch and you are being unrealisitic if you expect someone to do this for nothing. Isn't your ecommerce business worth any investment?

[Master Trader]

Hi Place of Design,

Thanks for taking the time to reply. This is an existing site which I'm continually improving step by step. Hiring expensive professionals to do everything would not only prove prohibitive (as you rightly indicated) but would also be less fun.

As a believer in the old proverb, "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach him to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime." my next step is learning to install and manage a good online payment system. I welcome the guidance and assistance of yourself and other supportive forum members.


Master Trader

[Stampy]

I think you're asking a lot. Generally you'll get help and advice on specific parts of setting up a site, but you may be asking for too much for the whole thing.

Wanting a free site, with no monthly fees and free support may also be unrealistic.

I would recommend using an open source shopping cart like Prestashop, and using their instructions to install etc. They also have a forum where it's possible (sometimes!) to get help on specific issues. Not sure if it's compatible with your existing site, but it's free, which seems to be quite important to you.

[Place of design]

Hi Place of Design,

Thanks for taking the time to reply. This is an existing site which I'm continually improving step by step. Hiring expensive professionals to do everything would not only prove prohibitive (as you rightly indicated) but would also be less fun.

As a believer in the old proverb, "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach him to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime." my next step is learning to install and manage a good online payment system. I welcome the guidance and assistance of yourself and other supportive forum members.


Master Trader

I really do understand where you are coming from. Arround the house I do most jobs myself. When it comes to plastering or working with gas, I get the tradesman in - because I know my limitations

The thing is, from a professional point of view (both in the retail and webdesign sense) I have seen this before and the finished result is invariably the same - a bit makepiece and tatty arround the edges. It is worth noting that the most difficult website builds (from a design point of view) are where there is a tight integration of a store into an existing design and framework

Opening a online store is EXACTLY like opening a high street retail store, except the consumers are a lot more picky. In the high street, to get from Gap to Marks and Spensers takes effort, actually getting to the high street takes effort. Online it takes a few clicks

Your websedigner is the equivelent of your shop fitter, often he is the equivelent of your sighwriter, your marketer and your tech bod who makes the phones and PDQ machine work

If your shop fittings and general fit and finish look rubbish, or are not robust enough, on the high street people walk out. if your POS is weak, the products dont sell, if the product looks shabby and tierd, it wont sell (The online equivelent is product photography)

I dont know what your product is, but if you are in competition with the high street, selling online by far is the cheap portion in terms of set up and running costs

With regards to the price, again a comparison to the high street is needed. Getting the smallest unit on the high street will cost you £000's in rent, at least £20000 in shop fittings, £000's in rates - you get the point

Also on the high street, you actually do need to buy the stock - online you can (just) survive without stock, and just show pictures

Instead of paying to park and drive to the store, online customers pay P&P

We are prepared to work with a client and "do the plastering" followed up with a bit of hand holding and training, but at the end of the day, that still costs. In a way, a clinet who wants to be interested and get his hands dirty is more fun for us

[MH1]

I would also recommend prestashop for a free version, but asking for someone to do all this for free is prehaps asking too much. There are plenty of hosts who will install it for free, but usually you would then takeover.

It's not that hard to do to get a simple basic shop up and running, but you will hit problems, which can be helped by the online forum and other sites.

Use google, start searching and reading, if you are going to use a free system then you also need to learn to look after it yourself.

[zone1creative]

Hi friends,



free (but decent), with FREE support and no monthly fees or hidden costs




Not even a charity shop give things away for free. Good look finding such a solution.

[Master Trader]

Thanks for your very helpful response nickpp. I've had a look at your site and will contact your company to confirm which package is most suitable for my needs as I already have a number of items offered in your package:



domain namme
hosting (HostGator)
control panel (XSitePro)
content

-------------------------------------------

Bdw, Stampy, Et Al,

Thanks for responding,

However you should have read my post more carefully before responding as there does seem to be some misunderstanding here. I did NOT ask for a "free lunch". I repeat from my previous post, "This is an existing site." i.e. it's already been built, hosted and has a CMS. I just need a means of collecting online payments e.g. via a good free cart (which I'm informed are often as good some of the paid ones). For assistance with this, I did offer to pay a modest fee from the outset. This needn't cost thousands of pounds - a fact borne out by nickpp whose website offers superb service at reasonable prices.

In answer to your bdw's question, "Isn't your ecommerce business worth any investment?" Yes it is. I'm investing time and effort to learn enough to help myself and money to pay wages, purchase various business assets and pay London rent etc.

I quite enjoy learning and don't understand why this would upset anyone. I'm certainly no threat to any well-established web designer's business.


Respect,
Master Trader

[paretowasright]

Master Trader,

If you are using xsite pro you should look at their excellent forum as there are loads of postings about the most suitable carts that integrate best.
From memory roman cart was one.

[Master Trader]

Sound advice. Thanks paretowasright.


Kind regards,
Master Trader

[TopShopper]

Hi
TopShopper is NOT free but just £29.95 one-off payment. Free set up is offered.
Regards

[Master Trader]

I truly thank you for understanding my needs TopShopper.

Small business start-ups do need a means of trading online which doesn't involve getting into serious debt by spending thousands of pounds for ecommerce solutions before we've earned our first penny.

£29.95 as a one-off payment sounds quite reasonable especially as you also offer free set up and free 30 day trial.

Such a relief!


Very best regards,
Master Trader