Nightmare with e-commerce

[AdamH_LWG]

Hello,
My name is Adam Haworth, I run a small business in IT. I have have been looking at this forum for a while but decided to sign up tonight as I feel I need so help from like minded people.
I'm 19 years old but please don't judge me because I'm young, yes I don't have years of experience in business... well I have been running businesses since I was 14, but Lakewood IT Support is my first official business.

I have a tonne of questions to ask because I've had no help with my business, even from Business link. But I will start with something I'm stuck with right now.

I understand I can't post a link to my site but please google Lakewood IT Support to see it so you can see what I'm looking for.

The website at the moment has been built and developed by myself over the last year along side running the business. I have been sourcing suppliers for hardware parts and components, and I already have a range of desktop PC's that we are currently selling online and in person.
What I want is an online store section to the website, with a cart and extra options, postage cost options and so on.
The website is on wordpress and I don't want to change that, the rest of the site can stay the same atm, I just want a store section.
Currently I'm using paypal buttons to allow online payments, which works but isn't very user friendly or effective.

I have been looking at using worldpay to process online transactions and reoccurring payments, but again I have no idea how I would incorperate this into the website.

 

[Josh_Farmer]

Hello,
My name is Adam Haworth, I run a small business in IT. I have have been looking at this forum for a while but decided to sign up tonight as I feel I need so help from like minded people.
I'm 19 years old but please don't judge me because I'm young, yes I don't have years of experience in business... well I have been running businesses since I was 14, but Lakewood IT Support is my first official business.

I have a tonne of questions to ask because I've had no help with my business, even from Business link. But I will start with something I'm stuck with right now.

I understand I can't post a link to my site but please google Lakewood IT Support to see it so you can see what I'm looking for.

The website at the moment has been built and developed by myself over the last year along side running the business. I have been sourcing suppliers for hardware parts and components, and I already have a range of desktop PC's that we are currently selling online and in person.
What I want is an online store section to the website, with a cart and extra options, postage cost options and so on.
The website is on wordpress and I don't want to change that, the rest of the site can stay the same atm, I just want a store section.
Currently I'm using paypal buttons to allow online payments, which works but isn't very user friendly or effective.

I have been looking at using worldpay to process online transactions and reoccurring payments, but again I have no idea how I would incorperate this into the website.

Hi admin your best bet in my view would be to add a ecommerce package then link to it, and have the ecommerce on a subdomain.

 

[snakeeyes121]

Hi admin your best bet in my view would be to add a ecommerce package then link to it, and have the ecommerce on a subdomain.

that would be the best and easiest option, any half decent cart would be
easy enough to skin like the op's site.
I would recommend something like cs-cart, I know I kow I keep plugging
this cart put its avery good cart for the price.
And it would be very easy to skin.

On a side note have you thought of getting a voip 'local landline' number
for free from somewhere like sipgate.co.uk instead of having a mobile number
as the only means of contact.

Many people will hit your site and run seeing just a mobile number.

If you have a smartphone, android, iphone etc there are many softphone
apps that you can link with your sipgate account and get the calls to
your 'landline' number sent to your mobile for free, well for a few mb of
data usage per minute

 

[bargainmania]

Hi Adam

Go with Zencart mate.. Ideal solution for what you will need..
Very easy to skin to look the same as your WP and free OS
Or we can do it for you for about £100 sorted.

Alistair

 

[jamieclick]

Just have a look at different ecommerce packages. I know people have tried but no one can tell you the perfect solution for this as they don't know 100% what you need. I certainly don't know h ow someone has quoted :-s

There are plent of open source platforms that can be skinned to look the same as your current site and linked I to it.

The platform we use a lot and really like is OpenCart but do have a look round. Others rare presta, magento to name a couple.

Jamie

 

[CharityClear]

Hi Adam,

If you're looking at Worldpay then consider CharityClear too as we offer more competitive rates and integrate with many of the leading shopping carts out there http://www.charityclear.com/merchant-account-payment-gateway/shoppingcarts.php.

We can also assist you with the application for a merchant bank account. Good luck.

Regards,

Marc.

 

[AdamH_LWG]

that would be the best and easiest option, any half decent cart would be
easy enough to skin like the op's site.
I would recommend something like cs-cart, I know I kow I keep plugging
this cart put its avery good cart for the price.
And it would be very easy to skin.

On a side note have you thought of getting a voip 'local landline' number
for free from somewhere like sipgate.co.uk instead of having a mobile number
as the only means of contact.

Many people will hit your site and run seeing just a mobile number.

If you have a smartphone, android, iphone etc there are many softphone
apps that you can link with your sipgate account and get the calls to
your 'landline' number sent to your mobile for free, well for a few mb of
data usage per minute

I have created an account with sipgate but I have no idea how to link it to my blackberry??

Or my landline for that matter, the trouble with linking it to my landline is I'm moving at the end of this month.

What I want is an 0800 number that get forwarded to my phone? is that possible

 

[snakeeyes121]

I have created an account with sipgate but I have no idea how to link it to my blackberry??

Or my landline for that matter, the trouble with linking it to my landline is I'm moving at the end of this month.

What I want is an 0800 number that get forwarded to my phone? is that possible

You can forward the calls to your phone / mobile by going to
the settings in sipgate (too right corner) and going to call forwarding.
https://secure.sipgate.co.uk/user/settings.php
The problem with this is you will need to topup your account and pay for
calls to be forwarded to whatever number you choose.

A better way to do it if you have a data plan is to download a softphone
like the one below

http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/19585?lang=en
To configure this whilst logged in to sipgate go to

https://secure.sipgate.co.uk/user/configreader.php?show_conf=phonerlite

In one of the images you will see a username, password and a domain / server
this is usually sipgate.co.uk

Go to the settings on the app you downloaded and wherever you add a new
account, enter the details above and it should work.
People will phone your sipgate number and they will be sent via the app to
your phone. Getting these calls will use up some internet usage so only do
this if you have a data plan it it could workout expensive!

If you do want to just use the forwarding go to your sipgate account, I think the
forwarding costs the same as they charge for an outgoing call, just under 10pp
to a mobile and just over 1p to a landline
http://www.sipgate.co.uk/user/tarife.php

 

[AdamH_LWG]

I decided to bite the bullet and get a 0845 number which is now live and set up to go straight to my mobile.

It cost £6pm inc VAT and cost £9.99 to set-up, the only problem is it cost 16p per min. but its a price worth paying for now, plus its not a contract so I can cancel it when I find better options.

I just created a subdomain so waiting for that to go through with 1&1 then hopefully i can set up this online store section. I will probably use OS-commerce, but I have no idea how to start haha.

 

[snakeeyes121]

I decided to bite the bullet and get a 0845 number which is now live and set up to go straight to my mobile.

It cost £6pm inc VAT and cost £9.99 to set-up, the only problem is it cost 16p per min. but its a price worth paying for now, plus its not a contract so I can cancel it when I find better options.

I just created a subdomain so waiting for that to go through with 1&1 then hopefully i can set up this online store section. I will probably use OS-commerce, but I have no idea how to start haha.

Sipgate would have given you a free 0845 number, no monthly cost and
you could have diverted it to your mobile for 10ppm

Just curious, did someoe message you with this offer?
If so they should be named and shamed for the ripoff merchants that they are

 

[AdamH_LWG]

Sipgate would have given you a free 0845 number, no monthly cost and
you could have diverted it to your mobile for 10ppm

Just curious, did someoe message you with this offer?
If so they should be named and shamed for the ripoff merchants that they are

No I found it, the problem with Sip was that my signal is rubbish and there is no way I could stream data. I need a really reliable provider.

 

[wilwong1971]

Hello,
My name is Adam Haworth, I run a small business in IT. I have have been looking at this forum for a while but decided to sign up tonight as I feel I need so help from like minded people.
I'm 19 years old but please don't judge me because I'm young, yes I don't have years of experience in business... well I have been running businesses since I was 14, but Lakewood IT Support is my first official business.

I have a tonne of questions to ask because I've had no help with my business, even from Business link. But I will start with something I'm stuck with right now.

I understand I can't post a link to my site but please google Lakewood IT Support to see it so you can see what I'm looking for.

The website at the moment has been built and developed by myself over the last year along side running the business. I have been sourcing suppliers for hardware parts and components, and I already have a range of desktop PC's that we are currently selling online and in person.
What I want is an online store section to the website, with a cart and extra options, postage cost options and so on.
The website is on wordpress and I don't want to change that, the rest of the site can stay the same atm, I just want a store section.
Currently I'm using paypal buttons to allow online payments, which works but isn't very user friendly or effective.

I have been looking at using worldpay to process online transactions and reoccurring payments, but again I have no idea how I would incorperate this into the website.

Hi Adam;

Bit off topic but very professional looking website there, for someone who is 19 with a IT service company looking like this hats off to you mate.

Wil

 

[j600com]

I think you need to re-structure the online store so that its apparent thats what it is. Like others have said, if need be bolt in an off the shelf platform just to get you started, but ideally it needs far better navigation if its going to work for your business. It doesnt look/feel/act like an online store, its really hard to navigate and thats because you've combined a shop with a cms site, resulting in a site that is ideal as a brochure but not right for ecommerce.

I'd stick it on a seperate url/sub domain and make the shop section look like a shop. You need a clear and obvious navigation, a search, a basket, filters, promo units and a clear path for buyers to follow (which at present its lacking). You also need to introduce some fundamental retail rules such as cross-selling, up-selling, objection handling and clear call to action.

You have done a great job though, and the feedback above is stuff that many agencies miss let alone a sole trader with no previous experience.

Hope this helps.

ps. take a look at our portfolio, view the sites and you'll be able to pick up some good tips on how to lay a shop out.

 

[ashenko]

Hi Adam

Seriously consider your options before going with OS Commerce, I have 10 years of experience with E Commerce software and honestly OS Commerce is just old hat now. I would seriously suggest going for Storesprite. I have 9 stores with them. The guys who own it are fab and they will quite happily do some extra coding if required to suit your needs. It also seems to have a very good SEO benefits

 

[garlex]

Hi admin your best bet in my view would be to add a ecommerce package then link to it, and have the ecommerce on a subdomain.

Just as an aside, you say you are building PC's for sale? If so, are they fully tested and comply with all legal requirements and regulations. EMC for instance being just one?

I'm not trying to put a spanner in the works but one of the things we did as a company many years ago was to do just that and also networking and contract maintenance.

The changes in the regulations and legal implications are what made us decide to revert back to our core business.

 

[j600com]

Hi Adam

Seriously consider your options before going with OS Commerce, I have 10 years of experience with E Commerce software and honestly OS Commerce is just old hat now. I would seriously suggest going for Storesprite. I have 9 stores with them. The guys who own it are fab and they will quite happily do some extra coding if required to suit your needs. It also seems to have a very good SEO benefits

I agree OS is old hat, I've never heard of Storesprite (which for me would be a concern) and there are a few things that would put me off them...

firstly, I've Google "powered by Storesprite" and having gone through the sites on that platform am yet to find a "decent" looking site (the ones I'm seeing are awful) and the majority don't even have the basics right. Also the SEO and Online Marketing side of the sites I've reviewed is really weak and outdated, and several of them actually giving more promotion to the term (Powered By Storesprite.com) than the sites products. Search in Google for this and you'll see for yourself... site:riversideoutdoor.co.uk the navigation is weak, the checkout process is weak and I could go on and on (but I won't, I don't want to offend).

The other thing I don't like is when the platforms own site hides (or even worse doesn't have) a portfolio/show case of sites that are on it so you can see examples of what you can achieve (it's usually a sign that they either don't have many good examples, or don't have many live sites). In this case my guess is that they don't have many good examples after the ones I've seen on the "powered by" search on Google.

But as I said, I do agree that OS isn't the answer.

 

[Deleted member 119173]

Just a quick one but if you want to stick with wordpress there is actually a cart plugin called wp-Ecommerce. Might be worth looking at to if it fits your needs.

 

[ashenko]

You can only evaluate ecommerce software as you find it. I agree you found a bad example and I know that there are other bad examples of Storesprite stores. However the ones which say powered by storesprite cannot even be proper businesses. You have to pay around £50.00 to remove the copyright info off the page and I think we would all agree that if they can't even do that then they may as well give up now.

have a look at site:theandroidshop.tv which seems a better example in terms of design etc... and still uses the storesprite software.

I just think its worth trying out the free software and see if it fits your requirements. Like I said before the major plus point for them is that its active and evolving. The guys who own it work on it every day and are bring new features all the time.

I sound like I work for them. I don't but like I said I have used it and found great success and have a couple of sites doing more than £250,000 per annum using their software

 

[AdamH_LWG]

Just as an aside, you say you are building PC's for sale? If so, are they fully tested and comply with all legal requirements and regulations. EMC for instance being just one?

I'm not trying to put a spanner in the works but one of the things we did as a company many years ago was to do just that and also networking and contract maintenance.

The changes in the regulations and legal implications are what made us decide to revert back to our core business.

All components we use are compliant with EMC regulations, I did go through the Laws involved.

I am taking Zencart for a spin at the moment so wish me luck.

I will always keep Lakewood IT Support as my service info website and store.lakewooditsupport.co.uk will be the online store.

When I have enough money to have the sites professionally done I will but it will have to do for now.

 

[j600com]

Just a quick one but if you want to stick with wordpress there is actually a cart plugin called wp-Ecommerce. Might be worth looking at to if it fits your needs.

Its awful though, if you want to do it right - you need a completely separate ecommerce platform/shop to your CMS site. Even if they are linked via navigation/sub-domain a blog is the completely wrong platform to base your online store upon.

 

[j600com]

have a look at site:theandroidshop.tv which seems a better example in terms of design etc... and still uses the storesprite software.

Hmm it's better, buts not great - I'm not sure of what this site cost, but if it was sub £1000 or £20pm then yeh thats good value for money. Still could be improved significantly (on all levels not just design) and if you are the owner of this site PM me and I'll give you some free guidance/tips on how to improve things.

 

[garlex]

All components we use are compliant with EMC regulations, I did go through the Laws involved.

I am taking Zencart for a spin at the moment so wish me luck.

I will always keep Lakewood IT Support as my service info website and store.lakewooditsupport.co.uk will be the online store.

When I have enough money to have the sites professionally done I will but it will have to do for now.

Well done Adam

I sincerely wish you every success.

Regards

 

[Ronald]

Hi Adam,

I really like your word press, site and am impressed with what you have managed to do with the software.

I would like to offer you a sponsored site for the next version of our software, since I am confident that you could create some thing pretty amazing.

If you google "pound for health" you will see one of our sites.

And you can find lots of others unfortunately mostly less attractive at ukplc net

Best Regards
Ronald Duncan
UK PLC

PS Our site is pre integrated to world pay and the rest, and will generate your buy now buttons to add to your existing site.

However, it is much better to use an ecommerce site for ecommerce.

We are just launching a couple of sites at the moment.

gem ac uk and Cloud-Start-Up com

 

[Ronald]

Hi Adam,

I really like your word press, site and am impressed with what you have managed to do with the software.

I would like to offer you a sponsored site for the next version of our software, since I am confident that you could create some thing pretty amazing.

If you google "pound for health" you will see one of our sites.

And you can find lots of others unfortunately mostly less attractive at our site

Best Regards
Ronald Duncan
UK PLC

PS Our site is pre integrated to world pay and the rest, and will generate your buy now buttons to add to your existing site.

However, it is much better to use an ecommerce site for ecommerce.

We are just launching a couple of sites at the moment.

gem ac uk and Cloud-Start-Up com

 

[Ronald]

It would not accept domain names, and it took a while to get something acceptable.

We provide an ecommerce marketplace along with our own ecommerce software. Since we use our ecommerce software to sell Companies, Domains and some other start up services we have a reasonable understanding from both sides.

On the ecommerce marketplace we need to connect buyers using any system into suppliers using any system and so have written shopping cart/basket plug-ins in almost all commonly used web languages.

• Asp
• Php
• DotNet
• Java
• Python
• Perl
• C/C++

And have some other integrations that use modules written in the above languages.

We first created our plugins about 6 years ago, and I did quite a few of the integrations on ASP and DotNet.

Most of the carts/baskets are still around, and there is a really big range in functionality and performance.

The other thing that was surprising was how long it took to get most systems working since they are often broken after doing a standard install, so that we could have a test system. However, the research is now very out of date.

At the moment we are doing an integration for a US customer on Zen Cart, and I know Zen Cart is still actively maintained.

We will write a module for Magento at some point, but have not yet had any customer demand. Not previously encountered Storesprite, but will add it to the list.

Regards
Ronald
UK PLC

 

[Ronald]

Off topic, but I am interested in working with Tim's design co.

Regards
Ronald
UK PLC

 

[AdamH_LWG]

It would not accept domain names, and it took a while to get something acceptable.

We provide an ecommerce marketplace along with our own ecommerce software. Since we use our ecommerce software to sell Companies, Domains and some other start up services we have a reasonable understanding from both sides.

On the ecommerce marketplace we need to connect buyers using any system into suppliers using any system and so have written shopping cart/basket plug-ins in almost all commonly used web languages.

• Asp
• Php
• DotNet
• Java
• Python
• Perl
• C/C++

And have some other integrations that use modules written in the above languages.

We first created our plugins about 6 years ago, and I did quite a few of the integrations on ASP and DotNet.

Most of the carts/baskets are still around, and there is a really big range in functionality and performance.

The other thing that was surprising was how long it took to get most systems working since they are often broken after doing a standard install, so that we could have a test system. However, the research is now very out of date.

At the moment we are doing an integration for a US customer on Zen Cart, and I know Zen Cart is still actively maintained.

We will write a module for Magento at some point, but have not yet had any customer demand. Not previously encountered Storesprite, but will add it to the list.

Regards
Ronald
UK PLC

I'm struggling to see what exactly it is your offering, but I have just started designing a new store on zencart. I'm still working on the design And think it will be a week or so until launch.

 

[Ronald]

B2B Zen Cart integration.

We integrate with a lot of shopping baskets/carts including Zen Cart, if at some point in the future you want to connect your Zen Cart site into a B2B system then we can do this.

The sort of B2B systems I am talking about are SAP, Oracle, Cedar/ABS, Agresso, Sage along with Marketplaces such as ourselves (at)UK PLC and ariba.

Regards
Ronald
UK PLC (there is an (at) symbol at the front of our name.
Sadly not yet allowed by the forum.

 

[Ronald]

I'm struggling to see what exactly it is your offering, but I have just started designing a new store on zencart. I'm still working on the design And think it will be a week or so until launch.

If you want to get up and running more quickly, then you could use our SiteGenerator ecommerce software and shopping basket. This will provide you with a list of buy now buttons to add to your site.

However, as discussed earlier in the thread, it is much better to create a full ecommerce site rather than a CMS site with buy now buttons.

We can do both, and since I am looking for people that will create goods sites I am happy to provide you with a free site, to promote the next version of our ecommerce software.

Regards
Ronald
(at)UK PLC

 

[j600com]

Off topic, but I am interested in working with Tim's design co.

Regards
Ronald
UK PLC

What is it you guys do? How could we help?

Ps we are a full service eCommerce agency you know (not just design)

 

[Ronald]

What is it you guys do? How could we help?

Ps we are a full service eCommerce agency you know (not just design)

I know I had a look at your site. We are more of a B2B version of Amazon/Ebay, and would fit with your multichannel retail.

Do you use your own ecommerce software, or pick different types of software for different jobs?

If you use different type's we would like you to look at ours.

If you use your own we would like it to integrate with us.

 

[j600com]

Hi Ronald, just drop me a PM - sorry for hijacking the thread everybody

 

[shopintegrator]

Hello Adam,

I like the look of your website.

If you want to keep as much of your WordPress website as is, and just swap out your PayPal buttons and basic PayPal shopping cart with an alternative ecommerce solution you copy and paste in place of the PayPal buttons with minimum change to your existing web site, then please consider the ShopIntegrator hosted shopping basket add-in solution.

ShopIntegrator allows you to add-in built-in or custom Add to Cart, Add to Basket, Buy Now, Checkout buttons, in-page mini-basket for easy shopper review, multi-currency shopping. You may then create multiple shipping plans to offer your customers, which may be fixed cost by country, variable cost by total order weight and country, and variable cost by total order cost and country.

You also have other features such as SKU stock control, special offers, discount codes, customer order manager etc.

There is also a ShopIntegrator WordPress ecommerce plugin which places a ShopIntegrator button in to your WordPress Pages and Posts editors to allow you to point and click place your ecommerce buttons and widgets in to your WordPress Pages & Posts. Also, there are ShopIntegrator WordPress ecommerce widgets that you may drag and drop in to your WordPress site sidebar.

At this time, your ShopIntegrator shopping basket checkout allows you to process debit and credit card payments through PayPal, Sage Pay and eWay. Currently our checkout doesn't connect to the WorldPay payment gateway, so if your 100% set on using them for your online processing, then a new WorldPay connector would need to be created for you which I'll discuss further by PM if you are interested. Otherwise, have you considered Sage Pay for taking online payments as an alternative to WorldPay? Even if you have your merchant account with RBS and that is why you are looking at WorldPay, you can still connect Sage Pay to your RBS merchant account in place of WorldPay.