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osCommerce

The e-commerce.

Should I use osCommerce?


LisaT

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I have been struggling to find an affordable e-commerce solution for some time now. Nothing I've tried so far really fits the bill. I want flexibility of design for me the designer, and ease of use for the site owner.

Is osCommerce restrictive when it comes to design options? My current client wants a fairly unusual layout for his store pages and I'm worried that this package will not accommodate unusual layouts.

Also, can my client process credit card payments offline - eg. with a Streamline machine?

If so, how do I set the programme up to do so [i can't see anything on the site that realtes to this method of payment processing]

And finally, do users find that osCommerce is search engine 'friendly'. Some packages I've used in the past seem to be invisible to the engines.

I've messed around with so many e-commerce programmes now and I'm really fed-up. My clients generally can't afford [or don't want] the off the shelf packages, and I would really like to find a package that I can stick with and learn inside out.

So, is osCommerce going to be the one?

Any advice/comments gratefully received.

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Is osCommerce restrictive when it comes to design options?

Since it's all in PHP and open source and many "contributions" available to you, you can do just about anything with the design side of things.

 

 

Also, can my client process credit card payments offline - eg. with a Streamline machine?

The standard CC module and a few contributions that handle CC's will capture CC info (store some of info in DB and send rest to Admin) for after the fact manual offline processing.

 

osCommerce is very flexible and the forum support (IMHO) is second to none.

 

So I say, go for it. It may seem difficult for a new user, but in the end you'll have a great core system for your clients.

 

HTH

Tom

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Hi, I have not cistomised my site to a great extent but you can I guess ciustomise it as much as you want. Have a look through the Live Stores to get an idea of how far other peopel have customised theirs sites.

I think that there is a module with the default install that provides the payment method that you want.

In terms of the search engines, it is not particularly SE friendly as the default install, but there are a few good contributions in the contributions section that make it pretty good. I have pretty good results on the search engines with my site.

 

Hope this helps

 

Mike

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Thanks for that. It does all sound good.

However, I'm a bit concerned that it might involve a steep learning curve. I'm pretty good at picking things up, but I'm so busy with projects just now that I simply don't have spare time to devote to learning a new package.

How hard is it to get up and running [bearing in mind that I will be creating an unusual design and that my expertise is designing and marketing rather than proramming]?

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Hi,

Lets get it straight out OK,

 

You are selling internet services to third parties! Nothing wrong with that. Go for it and make money.

osCommerce is 100% FREE again 100% FREE

It offers GREAT possibilities, flexibility and anything you want (maybe in time).

 

But you are a RESELLER,

Your customers want everything for less then nothing.

I am in your shoes, I do NOT want customers like that.

 

Have them explorer the commercial online shops to setup there own shop.

Are you cheaper or more expensive????

 

osCommerce will give you everything and YES you can resell your designs legally.

You can make MONEY with osCommerce,

BUT you need to learn, read and take time.

 

Your customers, pay or not pay, communicate with them.

They want it all in 1 week, 1 month for only $100.00

tell them to get real.

 

Sorry but the way I look at osCommerce GREAT and FREE possibilities,

with questions you have you are waisting out time.

 

GO FOR IT OUR NOT

AND SAY THAT ALSO TO YOUR CUSTOMERS.

 

Good Luck, Eangkarn

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I'm hearing a pretty demanding set of requirements--cheap, powerful, flexible, short learning curve... If you don't have time to get under the hood with PHP, I'd look elsewhere. But then, with your requirements and past experiences I'm not sure what better solution you're going to find... :unsure:

 

Most people can get an off-the-shelf osC shop up and running pretty easily--but that isn't going to satisfy your clients. If you need to do a lot of customization, sooner or later you're going to have to deal with code. No reason you can't do it, but it may take some time.

 

Best wishes.

"Buy the ticket, take the ride..." -HST

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The learning curve is a steep one- nearly straight up, unless you already know php (as I didn't) But you get a lot of functionality for your efforts

I have seen some site that are so well-designed you would never know they are oscommerce-based. The framework is completely invisible. I wouldn't know how to do that, myself- although, I have been able to change the layout enough to make several different clients pretty happy. And the user contributions add more flexibility than you would think possible...

psst... wanna buy a wand?

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Lisa,

 

I came into osC with a fairly strong web design background, but absolutely NO prior exposure to PHP. While the learning curve is a little on the steep side, I was able to install a few contributions with not too much problem within a matter of days. I spent a lot of time customizing my site before going live last month, but I don't know whether your customers would have the same demands that I had of myself. I knew the functionality I wanted (that my old store had been missing) and so I really delved into the code.

 

While some of it is utterly confusing, other parts are actually quite logical, and I've even managed to submit a few contributions/tips of my own.

 

The initial installation is quite simple, and there are template systems you can use to quickly change the design if you want. (I opted to NOT use one of them, but many are happy with the ease it apparently offers to make quick visual changes.)

 

I say, go for it. There are enough people on these forums very willing to help.

 

Terry

Terry Kluytmans

 

Contribs Installed: Purchase Without Account (PWA); Big Images, Product Availability, Description in Product Listing, Graphical Infobox, Header Tags Controller, Login Box, Option Type Feature, plus many layout changes & other mods of my own, like:

 

Add order total to checkout_shipment

Add order total to checkout_payment

Add radio buttons at checkout_shipping (for backorder options, etc.)

Duplicate Table Rate Shipping Module

Better Product Review Flow

 

* If at first you don't succeed, find out if there's a prize for the loser. *

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I have visually altered three stores now. plus numbers of contribs...

I don't like the template systems as they sometimes interfere with contrib functionality.

that's just FYI!

Browsing the My store" forum will give you lots of tips tho... I've visited examples that I've liked, and PM'd the store owners to ask for files. People tend to be willing to share.

psst... wanna buy a wand?

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I'm probably kind-of like you... I'm not a professional designer business-wise... but I design my own sites.

 

I know what you're talking about, because I wanted a lot of the same things, and I would say that "yes" OSCommerce is definately the way to go. I found OSCommerce when looking for something that would offer me extreme flexibility for another site I wanted to start. OSCommerce is the ONLY cart I could find that offered me several crucial features (images in cart, for one) and it offered me so much more... plus the knowledge that the only limits the cart has are either my time (I'm pretty confident I can learn anything if I have the time) or my finances (if I decide to hire someone to do what I don't have the time to).

 

One thing about PHP is that it integrates seamlessly with HTML, so if you know HTML code, then you can do LOTS with the site design end of OSCommerce without knowing anything about PHP... just find the HTML code and leave the PHP alone and you're fine. Sure, you'll need help from the forums just a little to learn which pages have which part of the HTML... whch things you change in the HTML and which things are already set so that you can more easily change them through stylesheets... but I've been working at this for only an hour or so a day for several weeks, and currently have my site design modified to look like this:

RnKsports.com

(Not readily apparant that it's OSCommerce.) I completely restructured the table layout of my shopping cart, too.

 

Like I said, as long as you leave the PHP code alone, you can do what you want with the HTML and change the locations of things, take out the parts you don't want, etc... OSCommerce's capabilities are pretty much endless, which is is priceless... especially for a free system!

 

My suggestion would be to find an installation version of OSCommerce that's already bug-free with a lot of the main contributions that you'll want to use... as a newbie to OSCommerce, it's easier to take out a feature you don't want, then to install a new contribution. If you pick an established version, you should be able to get it up and running as quickly as anything else. Then you've got as much time as you would for any other system to change whatever you want.

 

Hope this helps!

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What he means is that your configuration file is not secure.

 

Warning: I am able to write to the configuration file: /home/xxxxxxxx/public_html/c/includes/configure.php. This is a potential security risk - please set the right user permissions on this file.

 

http://www.oscommerce.info/kb/osCommerce/Common_Problems/20

"Buy the ticket, take the ride..." -HST

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Okay... yes I am aware of that, but I'm still in development, and my understanding is that I shouldn't change this until I'm done developing, and I'm ready to make the site go live. They're set to 644 right now, and I am on a Unix machine... my understanding was that, when I'm done, I need to set them to 444... but not 'till I'm done.

 

Is that wrong?

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Hi:

 

You are "live" already. As Dragonmom suggested, you should take care of that ASAP--it won't affect your ability to continue development.

 

Best wishes.

"Buy the ticket, take the ride..." -HST

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Question: Should I use osCommerce?

 

Short Answer: Yes!

 

Long Answer: Yes, Yes, Yes!

 

But seriously, if you are looking for something that will "fit the bill" then you are not going to find anything more extendable and scaleable than osCommerce.

 

That is unless you are ready and able to spend thousands of dollars on a custom solution.

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Hi:

 

You are "live" already. As Dragonmom suggested, you should take care of that ASAP--it won't affect your ability to continue development.

 

Best wishes.

besides, that directory has served it's purpose- it's only taking up valuable space on your host server that you'll want for pictures and stuff :)

psst... wanna buy a wand?

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I have been struggling to find an affordable e-commerce solution for some time now. Nothing I've tried so far really fits the bill. I want flexibility of design for me the designer, and ease of use for the site owner.

Is osCommerce restrictive when it comes to design options? My current client wants a fairly unusual layout for his store pages and I'm worried that this package will not accommodate unusual layouts.

Also, can my client process credit card payments offline - eg. with a Streamline machine?

If so, how do I set the programme up to do so [i can't see anything on the site that realtes to this method of payment processing]

And finally, do users find that osCommerce is search engine 'friendly'. Some packages I've used in the past seem to be invisible to the engines.

I've messed around with so many e-commerce programmes now and I'm really fed-up. My clients generally can't afford [or don't want] the off the shelf packages, and I would really like to find a package that I can stick with and learn inside out.

So, is osCommerce going to be the one?

Any advice/comments gratefully received.

 

 

Some reasons I give u to choose Osc.

 

- It is FREE

- Has one of the best online support community

- It supports multi-language stores and support

- Yes you can Use STS templae system to customize your store the way you want.

- Stylesheets willplay a vital role.

- It comes with pre-built logic and many contribution are available for any customization.

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