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Jumping into the internet world
takes a lot of pre-planning. Where
do I go, what do I research, what do
I need to look for, what do I need
to watch out for.... All of these
are questions that we can answer.
We've compiled a list of shopping
carts out there and are putting out
the blunt facts about each. It's
not a biased opinion and it's not
intended to put a negative light on
any cart out there. This is
valuable information from those who
have years of experience in the web
design and web hosting field. We've
seen a lot in the past 12 years in
this field - good and bad. We're
passing along our experience in
hopes to save you a lot of money,
time and frustration. (Coupon code
info below)
Agora Cart: This cart is
written in cgi. It's a good cart,
but not for the novice. It's very
basic and is simple for the site
visitor to process through. This
cart does look nice and clean on a
site when created by an experienced
designer. You would need a designer
with cgi experience to create a
custom template and setup the cart
which is all edited through the
code. There is no admin interface
with this cart.
DIY Shoppes: This cart is like
several others online using the Mals-e
processor. It has an admin
interface where you can add all your
products, create sales, coupons,
turn items to out of stock and so
on. It is search engine friendly.
The template itself is easy to setup
with code inserts and duplicates
itself throughout the site for you.
So you only need a one-page design!
The best part is this cart is only
sold by license at a one-time fee of
49.99. The license fee is sold to
you and not rented out to you.
Those companies that rent this cart,
buy the license up front at 49.99
and charge you 12.95+ per month
making up their license fee and a
whole lot more. We install this
cart for free for our hosting
clients who are also Mom Pack
Members - just ask.
DIY Shoppes Deluxe: Newly
released with all of the features
listed above with some exciting
additions. This cart offers added
bonuses such as a built in
sitebuilder that comes with 32
pre-installed web templates that you
can use. Many added features such
as a gift registry, affiliate
capabilities, wholesale options,
global updates and much, much more.
This cart is a one-time license fee
of $99.99 and even has a monthly
payment option for twelve months to
cut down on the out of pockets. You
can check out the demo for yourself
at
http://www.diyshoppes.com
Zen Cart: Awesome cart! It
is written in php, but don't let
that scare you. The admin interface
is extensive and can look
overwhelming at first, but this is a
very stable shopping cart and highly
recommended for those that want
something good, capable and best of
all... it's free. You would need a
designer with php experience to
create a custom layout for you. The
included layout is very generic, but
is useable. The features are
fantastic and is everything you'd
need for ecommerce online. The Zen
cart developers are very good at
releasing the security updates that
you need. This cart is a
one-click install from your hosting
control panel if you choose to host
with us.
Wahm Shoppes: There are many
people online using this option, but
even more that are unhappy and those
are the ones that beg to get out of
the trap. This cart uses
host-owned processor to run the cart
(restricting you from leaving) and is
promoted with fluff words like
"easy, simple, instant, online
tonight, for the wahm" and so on.
The url strings that you have to
deal with are a search engine
dead-end nightmare. No one ever
mentions that during signup and you
end up spending hours getting everything just
right only to find out you cannot make a backup copy
of your site at all. Everything
that you pay for is simply rented
and you are completely dependent on
one guy not losing all your data.
We have found that the only ones
promoting this cart option online
are those that are given free
hosting strictly to refer others or
want you to click through their link
to signup so they earn a buck and
certainly are not thinking about
your success online or they wouldn't
do this. This cart is also promoted
under the name DIYestores with even
more fluff words to bait you.
OsCommerce: Another very
good cart written in php. It does
have great capabilities and also a
featured packed add-on called
CreLoaded. The admin interface is
extensive and may seem overwhelming,
but well worth looking at. The main
concern would be the difficulty in
editing the included design and
would require hiring a designer with
php experience to create a design
you would like. This cart is not as
stable as the Zen cart and is a
little buggy at times especially
when you start adding some of the
add-ons that are out there. This
cart is a one-click install from
your hosting control panel if you
choose to host with us.
Yahoo Stores: A template driven
shopping cart. It's easy to create
and easy to maintain. But, that
comes with a price. For 10 items in
a store, it will cost you a $50
setup fee and $19.99 per month and
also a 2% transaction fee on all
your sales. They will process
everything for you, but why? You
can do all of that yourself. You
cannot make a copy of your site -
yahoo owns what you create.
Mals-e: You can create your
site design by yourself and use Mals-e
as your processor. If you have html
knowledge or are using a sitebuilder,
you can do this! You would setup
your free account with Mals, enter
your information, add your products
and copy/paste the codes into your
web site.
Paypal Cart: This is a quick
and easy option for those that want
to do it all themselves as well.
You can use a sitebuilder online or
any html editor that you may have.
You would login to paypal, enter
your product details and basically
copy/paste each item over into your
site. Remember, this cart is
manual. So every time you have a
product out of stock, you have to
remember to remove it. You do not
have a sale-maker, coupon options,
etc. That costs additional at
another site as an add-on. We do
not recommend using their Virtual
Terminal. It's quite pricey
especially when you can get the same
for a lot cheaper. We show you how
under "Merchant Account" if you
choose to have your own.
In a
nutshell: There are many shopping
carts available online. The costs
can be anywhere from free to $10,000
and we didn't even evaluate the
expensive ones for you. Most
important is to find out if you own
the cart or not. If you cannot
download a FULL backup of your cart
and web site, look at another
option. It is VERY important to own
your cart and not be surprised one
morning when you logon to your site
and find that the company that owns
your cart or both - is gone. It's
happened many times before from
even places that have been online
for years.
From
the search engine ranking aspect,
unless you plan to only self promote
your site and skip the search
engines altogether, you'll want to
stay away from a wahm shoppe. We
know how exciting it is to 'open
shop' online. Don't let that
excitement distract you from getting
trapped into something you'll later
regret.
It is
also very important to make
your site a portion of your site and
not the entire site. Meaning, if
you are using the zen cart or
oscommerce, be sure to install it in
a subdirectory or folder on your
site called something like /cart/ or
/shop/. This way you can optimize
your site accordingly. This way,
you can have your site and then your
shopping area. You can match your
zen cart's design to your site or
your zen cart to your site so they
both look very similar. If you do
this, you'll thank yourself later.
If
you do plan to use a sitebuilder
built into your web host and use one
of the cart options from above that
allows you to copy/paste products
into it, make sure that you own what
you create. We've seen some real
horror stories happen when people
use a sitebuilder only to find out
that the web host shut down business
and their entire site is gone. Or
their web host starts having a lot
of server issues and they cannot
take anything to another host. If
you pay for a sitebuilder and
shopping cart all-in-one and did not
buy a license, without even looking
I can tell you that you do not own
your web site. To run your business
you must stay with that host. Any
good business person knows it's not
a good idea to put all your eggs in
one basket! Protect yourself!
We're
always available to answer any of
your questions. If you are looking
for a web designer, we have a long
list of many talented designers that
would be happy to give you a quote!
Best
of luck to you and your business.
The Mom Pack & The Design Shoppe
Staff |
