Cart Advice

[seaweasel]

I'm thinking of expanding my business with an online shop and would appreciate some feedback from UKBF users about carts. I have operated a small online store previously with Prestashop, and have a web development background, though I haven't done this commercially for a few years. Here is what I'm looking for:

• Preferably OSS, however I don't have much time for configuring complex solutions like Drupal/Ubercart or Magneto, so am open to SaaS dependent on cost
• Support for Google Checkout, PayPal and UK Merchant Accounts for later (hopefully!)
• Separate Trade/Wholesale Pricing
• Multiple Shipping Options including Royal Mail and DPD
• Decent templates out the box, or reasonable selection of free/cheap templates available, or editable/custom template system that's not overly complicated

Hopefully this isn't asking for the moon on a stick and some of you have some experiences to share! Thanks.

 

[TotalWebSolutions]

Have you looked at OpenCart at all? It seems to be becoming more and more popular with developers and merchants alike. If you are looking at open-source then this could be an option to consider.

Best of luck!

 

[sykotik]

im the same boat, with less experience! It appears that opencart is the OSS preferred choice!

 

[Websitehandyman]

Cs-cart do free version, it may meet all your needs but also offer greater options for the future right out the box.

As you have a development background you might like is as you can do anything with it if you know a bit of html or php. Template is build on a grid system so you can more or less anything anywhere on the page.

 

[seaweasel]

Thanks guys. I had been looking at OpenCart, however I've read that it's a bit short on free modules (even some basic ones), I'll check out CS-Cart too.

Although I'm confident I can set up most types of cart systems, the issue is having the time to do so. As much I prefer to use OSS when possible, I'm at the stage where I'm juggling a FT job and my business, so for another system I needed, I ended up going with proprietary SaaS for the sake of a few pounds a month.

I'm thinking along similar signs for the new retail idea - I want something quick to configure (which Prestashop wasn't, though decent enough) but that I can tweak if necessary (wholesale accounts for instance). There's also things like SSL certs - I'm hoping this part of the business will take off, but if not, a managed solution might mitigate some of the startup costs.

I had been looking at Shopify and Volution, but both had their pros and cons as with anything. The former doesn't seem to be good at dealing with wholesale prices and I can't remember if Volution wasn't great with UK localisation (could be wrong though).

 

[faradaykeynes]

Zencart or prestashop are very user friendly and comprehensive

 

[Simple Servers]

Hi Seaweasel. Of course we prefer Magento however we do cater for most carts. We offer a month trial at £1 and a one click installer with most of the popular carts such as magento, zen, open ... you are free to install as many as you wish so would be a good place to test them out before you decide on your favourite .

 

[CharityClear]

Zencart seems to be very popular with our merchants just now.

 

[mit74]

Zencart seems to be very popular with our merchants just now.

zencart is outdated and certainly wouldn't recommend it over CS-Cart (easiest to use, elegant backend) or OpenCart (strong community, good plugins).

 

[gordi555]

+1 for Opencart. The community behind it help you to get it just right for your needs.

 

[Harvest]

I'd recommend eshop - it's free, easy to add/change shipping options and quick to get up and running.

 

[EWR]

I use nopCommerce open source it's free and easy to configure, I use it all the time for my clients, and never had a problem yet, either with hosting or developing.

 

[OnlineShopRental]

There are a number of things to take into account when choosing a cart, whether or not you want to manage the hosting, development and designing also if you need a Content Management System or not, sometimes you are better off just letting someone else do those jobs, and then you can concentrate on what you do best, and it does not have to cost a fortune.

 

[Magento Modules]

I'd recommend Magento - it's free, easy to add/change shipping options and quick to get up and running. also SEO Friendly shopping cart so it's good for a new building e commerce websites...

 

[antropy]

I've reviewed quite a few OSS carts, and found OpenCart to be the best for quite a few reasons including; speed, ease of use, flexibility, code quality.

Here's the review: http://www.antropy.co.uk/blog/shopping-cart-review/

I've also had clients who want to move to OpenCart because of problems with other platforms. One client's Zen Cart store was being constantly hacked due to holes in Zen Cart until she moved over to us, although admittedly we secured her Zen Cart rather than transferred everything to OpenCart.

But still, OpenCart is the way to go IMO!

 

[cinkevs]

he tools you get on your site now is the integrated buttons for paypal so you do not have to add HTML and all sort of code.

With regards to the other shopping carts you may try and use other software provided by an external source but we will not be able to provide support for this

You could still ask questions here but the tech team would not be able to answer a query of that source.