OMO: Web shops advice

[Brettus]

Morning All,
I've got offered a task of creating two web shops (for different people, just co-incidentally within the same week) one is to sell artwork, the other to sell prefab domes to begin with, expansion to other things later.

My current plan is to stumble around the internets looking at free php based web stores and see if any fit my needs but I thought I'd ask here and see what advice you guys have, shops to use, payment methods to accept etc. or if its best to do it through an existing merchant until you reach a certain size etc.

Any and all advice appreciated.

[christopher]

I despise eCommerce. But if you're looking to do it yourself then Magento (http://magentocommerce.com) is brilliant. There's a learning curve, but there'll be a learning curve with whatever you choose if you've not done it before.

If you're looking for smaller/easier options there is the likes of Shopify (http://shopify.com) which has a monthly cost associated to it, but is very simple to setup and use.

[TamSV]

PM JamesMio. I'm sure he's done that sort of thing before.

[Berlin]

I started with Actinic (rubbish and very labour intensive) and moved on to Mal's E Commerce linked to Worldpay because you can run multiple sites through one cart..

I Dropped Worldpay because they're rubbish (really rubbish and very greedy) and moved on to Paypal cart on Mal's E commerce (great back office system for this). Then Upgraded to Paypal Pro for each site.

It all depends on what exactly you want the site and cart to do and handle. Do you want it so new products can be easily and quickly added? Do you want it so a few items can be easily ordered? Do they need to process Credit cards over the phone. etc. Are there going to be a lot of special offers? International shipping?

C

[Brettus]

Hi Guys,
Thanks for the feedback so far! lots to ponder on.

A quick outline, the artwork one needs to be easy to update and add new products. I don't think special offers will be too frequent on either so not a problem if it isn't supported but its certainly not an essential feature.

the other site will need to order an item with a combination of extras or something along those lines. Seems straightforward enough.

Paypal seems to be the logical way to go, especially if they are better than worldpay and the like. I don't think credit cards over the phone will be required for either one. Although the non artwork one might need to support cash on delivery option perhaps.

Not entirely sure myself at the moment, just had it suggested so want to work out what it'll cost and if it's worthwhile doing.

thanks for all the input so far!

[Berlin]

Well there's a free Paypal service that covers up to 25 products so maybe that one will do. I used Pro as it allowed Phone credit card payments. and also take payments at trade shows over Wireless or 3G dongle and a laptop.

mal's E commerce is great and comes with an order management system. You can link this directly to paypal and comes with a button generator, which you copy and paste into your site. As does Paypal. Paypal also insists you display terms and conditions as a requirement to have the cart. Go to a site that already runs paypal and use theirs with a few tweeks.

Here's the link to Mal's E Commerce (http://www.mals-e.com/) If you go this way use the secure link generator so people can't change the code in the address bar.

Paypal Pro is here (https://merchant.paypal.com/ca/cgi-bin/marketingweb?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=merchant/wp_pro&nav=2.1.1&mid=sN76HqUgq;13059290322;paypal%20pro;e;;eu84e2fp i0&mplx=AGID_CA_GSR1_TM_PPSBGen_EX_Pro_KWID_KYWD_ADID _13059290322&mpch=ads&mplx=3484-158110-2056-0) and Paypal Std is here (https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/paypal-payments-standard) There's also Paypal Advanced which is new to me here (https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/paypal-payments-advanced)

I now search out sites that take paypal as a payment method so the Paypal cart, rather than looking amateurish in the past, now attracts customers.

C

[Berlin]

and here's a breakdown (http://www.zippycart.com/free-shopping-carts/mals-expert-review.html) of the different shopping cart options for comparison..

[JamesMio]

Hey up, I can almost certainly help you here but I've been at the rugby all afternoon so probably best if I reply properly in the morning...

[madnlooney]

opencart i had a play with have a check http://www.madnlooney.co.uk/store/ i got bored on some annual leave and thought id have a go at doing a mock up