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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 the mals-e
processor to run the cart 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 once you signup
and spend hours getting everything
just right, 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 |
