Ecommerce package.

[Hedgehog Toys]

I finally gave up on the ZenCart, CubeCart and OSC packages as I don't have the time to mess around with the coding, however I have finally found a package that allows Nochex as a checkout, requires no coding knowledge unless you want to and gives you complete customisation of the site.
The package is 'easystorecreator' and is USA based and has a 24/7 live help.
So far I have been very impressed with the setup and will let you know how I get on as I put the site together.

[SmallBizSoftware]

What's up with OSCommerce then? Also allows Nochex payment. Lots of contributions if you don't like the features of the vanilla package and a great support community. Best of all, it's free !

[mercurywebdesign]

The past week I've been working with Click Cart Pro, and I have to say I prefer it over the many OSC's I've worked with. It is based on CGI, not PHP but it seems to function very well and its easy to template and install. By the way, I'm not associated with CCP - but I do recommend it.

[GNU]

Its always easiest to purchase hosting with OsCommerce etc preinstalled, this saves you the trouble of going into the messy details :-)

Installation is a sinch, its customising the site thats the tricky part.....

[Hedgehog Toys]

Exactly, as GNU says, the installation can be done by the hosting company but when you want to customise it thats when you hit problems.
For businesses who just want to get up and running then a package that allows a quick and easy setup is better. You can worry about tweaking the site later.
The other problem I found with OSC is unless you buy a template then the site looks like any other OSC site which also means that you have lost the 'free' edge that it has over other site making packages.
The same goes for ZenCart and Cubecart.

[mercurywebdesign]

...which is exactly the reason why I'm prefering to use different software altogether.

[Poppy Design]

Hello

I have used a few e-commerce packages in the past but I currently use ShopDirector to build all my e-commerce projects.
It is a very basic shell of a shop (php based) but everything is fully customisable (which means I can set up design exactly how I/client wants it), the support is great and also you can add on just about anything you need i.e wish lists, etc. To get the best out of it I think you would need a pretty good knowledge of html to customise things how you want them but it means you can end up with a shop exactly how you want it to look!

Joanne

[GNU]

...which is exactly the reason why I'm prefering to use different software altogether.

Are you using Cold Fusion for this?
If so was the cart software expensive?

[mercurywebdesign]

No, the software runs on a CGI platform and can be integrated with SQL if required (actually runs on simple CSV files as standard).

[quikshop]

Another option is to use a hosted ecommerce solution. Its a growing market and the most popular choices out there are provided by Actinic and even BT are getting in on the act.

The advantages are you have no worries about hosting costs, most services provide a simple (ish) wizard to let you style your shop and customise it, and in our experience they are generally reliable in terms of uptime. Of course you do not have the same level of freedom to chop and change how your shop works, and you are relying completely on one service provide to keep your shop live and working properly.

We also provide a hosted Internet shop service but I'll refrain from shameless marketing :) Send me a message if you would like to find out more.

[quikshop]

Congratuations on your reviews and we wish you every success with your business :)