cubecart

[Ethernetworks]

Hi - I'm a cubecart developer and have found that using PayPal standard and IPN with a basic PayPal mechant account offers the lowest possible integrated e-commerce solution with the right hosting platform.
I am of course biased - but I'd like to hear anyones take on any other low cost solutions.

[Dwebs-Ltd]

CubeCart v4 or v3?

[Ethernetworks]

I use V3 as I am happy to leave the copywrite notice on the footer
as an advert for cubecart plus the price is right (free) - and I am trying to pass on any savings as part of the deal to any prospective clients.
Do a google search for 'powered by cubecart' and you'll see hundreds of UK shops use V3 free version. But obviously its just a base option.

[Dwebs-Ltd]

Indeed but there are other options around plus cubecart v3 coding is far from brilliant

All though its always helpful to pay for software as it helps for future development, the fee for copyright removal is very small and shows software support i assume you actively promote that to clients.

On another note we do offer a one click CubeCart install to clients, they fill out only one form and click install. So install is totally FREE and takes less than 10 Seconds. Something which i believe is unique :)

[Ethernetworks]

Well yes - I think I see your point re: the license - but my shop is intended as a demonstration of the product (although it is fully functional and tested) and I am sure that devillion would agree that the footer is good for business either way.
Your automated install sounds pretty nifty
does it do all the necessary mods - of which there are at least 25 php,tpl and stylesheets - and do you have any working examples ?

[cdorling]

I've just been looking at cubecart (and pinnacle). We're looking for a cost effective solution, but I've noticed (I think) that cubecart 3 doesn't offer product names in the url, v4 does. 4 also has a tick against SEO, whatever that means, so both these options sure sound better with so many competitors around. So for about £65 I'm tempted to buy 4, and live with the 'powered by...etc'.

I'm a novice with carts (I built our current shop with the now ancient ecbuilder), but I'm a quick learner with most software - is it easy to make cubecart uk appropriate, customise the look, add royal mail postal options etc?

[gnaldrett]

Hi - I'm a cubecart developer...

When you say 'developer' what exactly do mean? Are you doing modifications or skinning (or both)?

The reason I ask is that I am in the middle of a rather large and complicated skin/mod of v3 for use with my new site, and would find it useful to bounce some ideas off others developing CC. I know the forums are there, and quite helpful - but they are very slow to respond, and seem to find it hard to tolerate certain problems/questions similar to previous unresolved posts.

I am just about to start on the *major* changes, and could well be asking for some help in the future if you are willing??;)

Regards,

Gordon

[Dwebs-Ltd]

I've just been looking at cubecart (and pinnacle). We're looking for a cost effective solution, but I've noticed (I think) that cubecart 3 doesn't offer product names in the url, v4 does. 4 also has a tick against SEO, whatever that means, so both these options sure sound better with so many competitors around. So for about £65 I'm tempted to buy 4, and live with the 'powered by...etc'.

I'm a novice with carts (I built our current shop with the now ancient ecbuilder), but I'm a quick learner with most software - is it easy to make cubecart uk appropriate, customise the look, add royal mail postal options etc?

Yep v4 is SEO friendly!

Yes its easy to customise and add royal mail info!

Its built in the UK so its designed for UK businesses.

We do the install FREE for clients on our hosting platform <3mins :)

[cdorling]

Thanks, I didn't realise CubeCart was uk 'based'.
So, for a relative novice like me, using Cubecart would be relatively swifter, and easier for me than maybe struggling a bit more with Zencart?

(I'm actually at the moment reading up about cubecart on their site)

[Dwebs-Ltd]

Thanks, I didn't realise CubeCart was uk 'based'.
So, for a relative novice like me, using Cubecart would be relatively swifter, and easier for me than maybe struggling a bit more with Zencart?

(I'm actually at the moment reading up about cubecart on their site)

ZenCart is ok we have clients that prefer that but and the big but its opensource so your paying nothing for it, if you hit a problem it can take a long time to fix. Cubecart is easy to use and v4 brings some very nice features!

ZenCart isn't SEO friendly without mods which you have to pay for

[cdorling]

Thanks again, Chris, I'm coming round to Cubecart :D
If I'm not pushing my luck:-

1) The cubecart templates seem acceptable in the 1st instance, but can the colour be changed?
2) If not, can I buy one (or even try and redisgn one in something like Frontpage)?
3) Can I build it on my pc to test it 1st?
4) Does the £65 buy it completely, or is it a licence for just a year?

[Dwebs-Ltd]

Thanks again, Chris, I'm coming round to Cubecart :D
If I'm not pushing my luck:-

1) Are the cubecart templates acceptable in the 1st instance?
2) If not, can I buy one (or even design one in something like Frontpage)?
3) Can I build it on my pc to test it 1st?
4) Does the £65 buy it completely, or is it a licence for just a year?

1. Yes they are acceptable
2. Yes there are plenty of people that make cubecart templates, frontpage is awful at the best of times i'd so a big no on that one. You could edit / mod a template to suit your needs.
3. Yes you can get a trial license from cubecart, if you give me a shout or will sort you out a trial hosting account on our system
4. Completely but its only for that version, i.e. v5 you will pay an upgrade fee etc.

Edit.. by the way a full license and copyright removal key bundle = £92 approx

New license includes 6 months tech support after that you can renew the tech support for a fee, but once your up and running you shouldn't have any major issues.

[gnaldrett]

Chris is right (and very helpful offering a trial hosting account!), here is my addition...


1) The cubecart templates seem acceptable in the 1st instance, but can the colour be changed?
2) If not, can I buy one (or even try and redisgn one in something like Frontpage)?


Believe it or not you can create a complete skin using a simple graphics package and notepad!! For an application like CubeCart a little bit of HTML and CSS knowledge goes a long way. If you add to that some basic PHP skills and you are free to do what you want! It is nearly impossible to use a wysiwyg editor like Frontpage due to the 'dynamic' nature of CC.


3) Can I build it on my pc to test it 1st?


Easily, I use an install called xampp (http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html). It is a complete Apache webserver with MySQL and a couple other bits and pieces thrown in. It is a *really* simple install, and you can have a standard install of cubecart up and running in less than ten minutes. You can then butcher a skin to your hearts content without anybody seeing! (works for me!!;))

If you need any pointers or help the cubecart.co.uk (http://www.cubecart.co.uk) and cubecartforums.org (http://www.cubecartforums.org) forums are active(ish) and if I can help at all, just let me know. I have been working with CC for a few months, and have some PHP/MySQL/CSS knowledge.

Good luck!

Regards,

Gordon

[Dwebs-Ltd]

Easily, I use an install called xampp (http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html). It is a complete Apache webserver with MySQL and a couple other bits and pieces thrown in. It is a *really* simple install, and you can have a standard install of cubecart up and running in less than ten minutes. You can then butcher a skin to your hearts content without anybody seeing! (works for me!!;))


Installing locally is different from the real world of webhosting, but for creating skins you shouldn't have any major issues. For real testing you need to put it on existing infrastructure, there will be performance differences and security differences.

[gnaldrett]

Installing locally is different from the real world of webhosting, but for creating skins you shouldn't have any major issues. For real testing you need to put it on existing infrastructure, there will be performance differences and security differences.

Couldn't agree more Chris, one example is that Windows forces all MySQL table names to lowercase, where as Linux is case-sensitive (caused me some problems in the past!). But for skinning and basic modding it allows a code change followed by a browser refresh to see instant results - without an FTP in between.

Regards,

Gordon

[Dwebs-Ltd]

I know this isn't the offers section but its more appropriate to post here.

A special offer for you UKBF guys :)

CubeCart v4 License
FREE Domain Registration or Transfer
2Gb Disk Space
40Gb Bandwidth (Monthly)
3 Domains
5 Subdomains
10 POP3 / IMAP Accounts
SPAM & Virus Protection (http://www.dhosting.co.uk/email/antispam.html)
2 FTP Accounts
2 MySQL 4/5 Databases
Dedicated IP
128bit Rapid SSL Certificate
99.95% uptime Guarantee
Business Support Package (http://www.dhosting.co.uk/hosting/support_packages.html)

Cost
£14.99 per month

Standard Ecommerce Package is here http://www.dhosting.co.uk/hosting/ecommerce.html (http://www.dhosting.co.uk/hosting/ecommerce.html)
So you are getting CubeCart v4 for £24 and a FREE Domain worth £7.00 :)

Only condition is you stay with the package for 12 Months then the CubeCart License will be yours for life.

Drop me a PM or Email if anyone wants it :)

[Ethernetworks]

If you are planning to buy into a cubecart deal - make sure the vendor has a working example of an installation - this way you can test that all the necessary installation mods have been done.
A cubecart store without mods and proper testing is worthless.

[Dwebs-Ltd]

If you are planning to buy into a cubecart deal - make sure the vendor has a working example of an installation - this way you can test that all the necessary installation mods have been done.
A cubecart store without mods and proper testing is worthless.

That’s why i offered a free trial :)

[Ethernetworks]

No disrespect intended DWEBS I'm sure your offers are genuine - I've spent hours and hours on cubecart mods and found alot of misconfigured shops live on the net. Platform must also support CURL as your store DB will eventually
lock up with too many unclosed connections and will require FLUSH DB priviledges too clear - so you need PHPMYADMIN/cpanel installed too if you enjoy having to unlock your shop every week.
The Linux platform is the most stable for hosting IMO - and facilitates authentication by HTTP.
peace out

[gnaldrett]

Etherworks, is the store at etherworks.co.uk/store your showcase?

It looks like a very slightly restyled 'Sherbet Blue' to me, what mods have you put into that install? Seems really standard to me.

Regards,

Gordon

[Dwebs-Ltd]

No disrespect intended DWEBS I'm sure your offers are genuine - I've spent hours and hours on cubecart mods and found alot of misconfigured shops live on the net. Platform must also support CURL as your store DB will eventually
lock up with too many unclosed connections and will require FLUSH DB priviledges too clear - so you need PHPMYADMIN/cpanel installed too if you enjoy having to unlock your shop every week.
The Linux platform is the most stable for hosting IMO - and facilitates authentication by HTTP.
peace out

We have had 0 issues with cubecart on windows

Never had any issues with unclosed connections, essentially that’s down to the iis app pool as it will recycle once every day or so (note it will only recycle when the website isn't active) closing the connection on the web side. We also have a couple of tweaks on our mysql server which stop most of the issues. Naturally we do monitor connections and i've never seen anything that will cause an issue.

Don't get me wrong though linux is excellent for certain tasks its mysql performance is awesome, uptime is excellent but when a linux box has an issue it usually is quite serious. Our cacti monitoring, offsite blog etc is all hosted on one of our Linux boxes and it works well.

We should by the end of 2008 have our MySQL instances moved to Linux boxes but for the moment they do perform well on Windows.