ecommerce help required

[confusedxx]

I have a strange type of ecommerce need. I think it is strange as I have not seen anything that uses this model for ecommerce yet, but hopefully you all can prove me wrong and either:
1. Tell me what package or solution may meet my needs
or
2. Tell me how I can get this built and created.


I am looking to an ecommerce solution that does not LOOK and feel like the typical store front. Rather I like the look and feel of some of the classified software packages ( like constrictors.com/Available/showcat.php?cat=40 ).

Anyway, the major drawback with the classified software is I am not auctioning items. I am selling pedigree dogs and cats. I want to list what I have for sale and let people buy the items. Since I am dealing with animals, most people want to put a downpayment on the animal to hold it in thier name and then pay off the balance in installments or pay it off and pick up the animal at a show.

That is where my needs differ from the ones used here constrictors.com/Available/showproduct.php?product=339&sort=2&cat=40&page=1

Since he sells for the full selling price on the object. I want to enable the user to either (1) buy for the full price, or (2) put a 25% down payment on the animal.

Does anyone know how this can be done?

[awebapart.com]

The deposit issue is the easy one to sort out, since most (not all, but most) advanced ecommerce systems support product options which affect price, just set up a product at the full price (say £400), then 2 options:

Pay full price now
Pay 25% deposit now (-£300)

The Pay full price now can be the default option, but the buyer can opt to just pay the deposit for now. This can also be tied into stock control, to prevent people buying the same dog.

The main issue you will have is with product listing display. Most off the shelf ecommerce systems have pretty standard and generic ways of displaying products in lists, showing product title, price etc. If you want items listed in table format with more specific columns like age, sex (like in the example), perhaps even searching on these too, then that is more difficult with off-the-shelf systems, and is usually worked around by use of categories and displaying the information in the generic product fields like title, description.

[confusedxx]

Thanks awebapart.com

I agree the standard store software packages have a standardized look and feel and are not really how I want to present my anmials. Secondly, there is no stock that is being carried. I have only 1 of each animal and each dog or cat is sold as an individual with the proper papers. So inventory control is not needed.

The classified presentation of photopost Classified and as seen in the link of available animals at constrictors.com is pretty much a good front end for what I wanted to present.

I do not know if they support support product options which affect price. Is there a standard industry name for what this type of functionality? I know with version 3.0 (beta now), they are incorporating Paypal IPN.

Do you know of any Classified Software programs that support product options for the price?

[awebapart.com]

Secondly, there is no stock that is being carried. I have only 1 of each animal and each dog or cat is sold as an individual with the proper papers. So inventory control is not needed.
Yes there is only 1 of each 'product', but without stock control (even for item stock totals of just 1), or some other automated way of making the product unavailable for future purchases, you wont be able to prevent other people purchasing an animal once the first buyer has made the purchase.

[awebapart.com]

Do you know of any Classified Software programs that support product options for the price?
Aren't classified software programs aimed at websites where users are selling to users, in which case whose account does the payment end up in, and whose terms and conditions apply?

Classified software programs with ecommerce are C2C (consumer-to-consumer) ecommerce systems, which are usually the most complex out of all the types of ecommerce systems, e.g. ebay.

The more common off-the-shelf ecommerce system is B2C (business to consumer) where the visitors are buying from just the one business.

Which type of business model are you aiming for?

[awebapart.com]

I do not know if they support support product options which affect price. Is there a standard industry name for what this type of functionality? I know with version 3.0 (beta now), they are incorporating Paypal IPN.
There is no industry standard name for this feature. Some ecommerce systems call them product options, some call them product attributes. The important feature is the ability to set a price, or a plus or minus amount, against the option. The end result is you can have product options which affect the price.

I know with version 3.0 (beta now), they are incorporating Paypal IPN.
What is the name of the software/system you are referring to?

[confusedxx]

There is no industry standard name for this feature. Some ecommerce systems call them product options, some call them product attributes. The important feature is the ability to set a price, or a plus or minus amount, against the option. The end result is you can have product options which affect the price.


What is the name of the software/system you are referring to?


The software I am referring to is Photopost Classifieds. I will ask around on the forums there.

But if you know any good carts or classified software that has those product options, please let me know.

[garysumpter]

Hi Confusedxx.

We can probably help with this, feel free to email me at gary@sitewonders.co.uk

Your post caught my interest as the website style you like actually sells snakes and we have several reptiles sites on our profile and several more in development!

Regards

Gary Sumpter
Sitewonders Limited

[awebapart.com]

The software I am referring to is Photopost Classifieds
OK, I've had a look at the photopost site and forum, and I can now see that the constrictors site is using photopost.

Photopost is primarily a photo sharing community gallery system allowing website visitors to set up their own galleries (Photopost - post your own photos?). It also has a classifieds section, allowing visitors to post their own ads (a bit like www.loot.com (http://www.loot.com)). If you don't need any of these features, and you just want to set up your own website to sell your own animals, then you should consider that photopost might not be the the most appropriate tool for the job. If however you want other people to place ads and sell on your site then it might be a better match.

Since PayPal buy now buttons and PayPal add to cart buttons are designed to be added to any website, it is possible for any website, or any specialist website system (e.g. a forum, a photo gallery, a blog, a brochure website) to add these to its system in order to add simple online shopping facilities. However if the primary aim of your website is to be a B2C (business to consumer) online shop where it is just you the business selling to customers, then you are probably better off looking at more standard and more advanced online shop software. PayPal buy now buttons and PayPal add to cart buttons do not support product options which affect price (the photopost system might not support paypal options anyway), so unless the system supports 2 paypal prices/buttons per ad (one for full price one for deposit) you might have problems, the other trickier issue will probably be automatically making the item unavailable once a purchase is made.

The PayPal IPN mention in the next upgrade on the photopost site might be more to do with visitors paying for registration/subscription (so they can post their own galleries) or visitors paying so they upload their own ads.

But if you know any good carts or classified software that has those product options, please let me know.
Our ecommerce solution (http://www.awebapart.com) which is based on our own sitebuilder content management system (also applicable for photo galleries) and our custom version of osCommerce (advanced ecommerce system) is worth a look if you are mainly looking at B2C (business to consumer) ecommerce, but not C2C (consumer to consumer) ecommerce. Our system supports product options which affect price, and stock control. Our system does not support the ability to set up custom product fields and display product listings in table format with these custom product fields as columns, however there are a number of workarounds and alternative solutions for this feature. If you would like to discuss this further, please contact us (http://www.awebapart.com/home/Contact_Us).

[Holland Risley]

Hi,

If you want help with any bespoke Content Management System or E-commerce solutions please contact us..

Holland Risley

Head of Mentor Digital

Mentor Communications Consultancy Ltd.
25 Lower Redland Road
Bristol BS6 6TB

Web: mentordigital.co.uk

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