My first OSC store, comments and suggestions welcome!

[Guest]

Hello everyone,

 

I have been working on my OSC store for the last 2 weeks. I had a static html site that I decided to abandon in favor of OS Commerce. I had never worked with PHP before attempting this project, so the entire site was initially quite intimidating. After working with it for the last 2 weeks things are becoming a lot more understandable.

 

My site keeps the basic layout of the stock store but I modified it to suit my products. The most significant mod for me was morepics so that I could add up to 7 images of each of my products. I did a lot of little modifications to change the text here and there and got the site fully operational by intalling the shipping and payment modules that I wanted to use. Another mod that I really liked and installed was the featured products box on the front page instead of the new products box.

 

Please have a look and tell me what you think, the URL is:

www.playitagaingames.com

 

Thank you for any comments or sugggestions you may have!

Mike

[Conny Schlicht]

Hello, im look your shop. ( sorry for my bad englisch - i german)

yuor Categories is very long. you have a mistake of image in the footer.

 

Your Message in the middle of your is very big.

 

*

SEARCHING for that favorite game you played so many times as a child?

 

LOOKING to replace a game that is no longer made?

 

NEED a fun and unique gift?

 

*

I wish you a happy Chrismas

 

 

your Underground ist nice

[Guest]

Hello, im look your shop. ( sorry for my bad englisch - i german)

yuor Categories is very long. you have a mistake of image in the footer.

 

Your Message in the middle of your is very big.

I wish you a happy Chrismas

 

Hello Conny,

 

Can you describe what the mistake of image is in the footer? Is it in the banner at the bottom of the page? Is the little image missing over on the left side of the banner?

 

Also I view my site at 1280 x 1024, what resolution are you viewing it at?

 

Conny what did you mean by this "your Underground ist nice"

 

Finally I need all of those categories for the navigation to be correct.

 

Thank you,

Mike

[Conny Schlicht]

I mean, shop the background with the cube am a nice idea. With the Naviagtion can you times on my shopseite look. Sorry, the error was indicated only with the first time. A picture in the banner in the Footer was missing.

[Guest]

I mean, shop the background with the cube am a nice idea. With the Naviagtion can you times on my shopseite look. Sorry, the error was indicated only with the first time. A picture in the banner in the Footer was missing.

Thank you.

 

I took a look at your site and you have 25 top level categories. On my site I have 31, that is not much more than you have. Mine do not have sub categories though, each links directly to that category of game.

 

I am aware of the banner picture misssing sometimes on the first load, it is hosted somehwere else and I do not know why this happens.

 

Thank you for you feedback!

 

Mike

[Guest]

Thank you.

 

I took a look at your site and you have 25 top level categories. On my site I have 31, that is not much more than you have. Mine do not have sub categories though, each links directly to that category of game.

 

I am aware of the banner picture misssing sometimes on the first load, it is hosted somehwere else and I do not know why this happens.

 

Thank you for you feedback!

 

Mike

Hello all,

 

I am open to and would appreciate any feedback you may have.

Play It Again Games

 

Thank you,

Mike

[Guest]

Personally, I don't think it's enough to say 'we charge only actual shipping'. I mean, I want to know HOW MUCH before I get too involved in looking around for something I might want to buy.

 

Perhaps you could come up with a flat rate of some sort for the first item, and X-more for each additional item. In order to find out how much, I'd have to create an account and make an attempt to buy something. I'm not going that far without knowing up front...how much.

 

And you say nothing about what form of payment is accepted. Do you take PayPal? Do you accept credit cards? Either I skipped over it or...it's not there. Again, I'd have to create an account and put something in the cart and go thru checkout to find out how much shipping is AND if I can pay this way or that way. These things need to be understood up front, I feel.

 

As for cosmetics....I would change the mouseover color on your links. The color they turn into almost makes the text disappear from the page. Too light. Throw some color in there.

 

Personally, I would do away with the category counts. It would be different if you had hundreds of items in each category, but...showing you only have 1 of this and 4 of that just doesn't sit well with me. And, frankly, there's no decent reason I can come up with to justify having these numbers there to begin with. Just my opinion. Maybe if you had a bigger inventory it would look decent, but, only having a little of this and a little of that doesn't look well. Make 'em click on the category to see what's in there. Good luck!

 

Andrea

[Guest]

Personally, I don't think it's enough to say 'we charge only actual shipping'. I mean, I want to know HOW MUCH before I get too involved in looking around for something I might want to buy.

 

Perhaps you could come up with a flat rate of some sort for the first item, and X-more for each additional item. In order to find out how much, I'd have to create an account and make an attempt to buy something. I'm not going that far without knowing up front...how much.

 

And you say nothing about what form of payment is accepted. Do you take PayPal? Do you accept credit cards? Either I skipped over it or...it's not there. Again, I'd have to create an account and put something in the cart and go thru checkout to find out how much shipping is AND if I can pay this way or that way. These things need to be understood up front, I feel.

 

As for cosmetics....I would change the mouseover color on your links. The color they turn into almost makes the text disappear from the page. Too light. Throw some color in there.

 

Personally, I would do away with the category counts. It would be different if you had hundreds of items in each category, but...showing you only have 1 of this and 4 of that just doesn't sit well with me. And, frankly, there's no decent reason I can come up with to justify having these numbers there to begin with. Just my opinion. Maybe if you had a bigger inventory it would look decent, but, only having a little of this and a little of that doesn't look well. Make 'em click on the category to see what's in there. Good luck!

 

Andrea

 

 

Wow thank you for that, all things I had not even thought about. 1st I have fixed the mouseover color to underline a link that you are hovering on. Next I will work on adding a lot more detail about payment methods that I accept, I totally missed the fact that a customer would not know until after account creation.

 

As far as the category counts go I have beeen around the block and back 10 times on this one in my mind. A friend of mine said to leave em so I did, but I am not sure if I like them. I do have a LOT more inventory to add yet so they will grow. that said I just turned the counts off.

 

Thanks for the input and any more ideas are definitely welcome and appreciated.

 

Mike

[Guest]

I like it. The background for your site is very cool. My only complaints on it would be that you have to register an account to shop there. That was the first thing I changed in oScommerce because I personally HATE doing that lol. I'll go to another site first if that's the case. So, could be just my personal issue but I do know that it could potentially cause you to lose some customers.

I first used the PWA contribution which worked great. Later on and many changes later lol... I had taken it out and couldn't get it to work again when I re-installed, now I use the fast easy check out. Was harder for me to install but I like it overall. I have a very heavily modded site though. So it may be easier for you still to do either contribution if you like the idea.

 

2nd? Get SSL! Even if on paypal, when people create accounts they are still putting in personal info, and that little locked box seems to mean a lot to some people :)

 

Other than that, I like! Very nice.

[Guest]

I like it. The background for your site is very cool. My only complaints on it would be that you have to register an account to shop there. That was the first thing I changed in oScommerce because I personally HATE doing that lol. I'll go to another site first if that's the case. So, could be just my personal issue but I do know that it could potentially cause you to lose some customers.

I first used the PWA contribution which worked great. Later on and many changes later lol... I had taken it out and couldn't get it to work again when I re-installed, now I use the fast easy check out. Was harder for me to install but I like it overall. I have a very heavily modded site though. So it may be easier for you still to do either contribution if you like the idea.

 

2nd? Get SSL! Even if on paypal, when people create accounts they are still putting in personal info, and that little locked box seems to mean a lot to some people :)

 

Other than that, I like! Very nice.

Micholas: Thank you for the feedback. I have been wondering alot about the registration issue. Most people I have spoke to (admitedly not web design people) tell me that they expect to have to creat e an account when they shop online. That said I do understand your point and have thought much about installing a no registration mod. The honest truth is that installing anything to me is a bit intimidating. If one of the mods you mentioned is easy install then I will go for it. SO hte PWS contribution is easier to install? But it offers similar functionality to the fast easy check out? Do these mods simply bypass acocunt creation but leave all my other modules operational? That is my shipping methods and payment methods will not have to be altered? I could use some insight here.

 

Secondly, could you give me a brief primer on SSL? I know the basics but a little guidance on links and where to get what you are mntioning would be great.

 

Thanks again for the kind words and the positive feedback, it is greatly appreciated.

 

Mike

[Guest]

Micholas: Thank you for the feedback. I have been wondering alot about the registration issue. Most people I have spoke to (admitedly not web design people) tell me that they expect to have to creat e an account when they shop online. That said I do understand your point and have thought much about installing a no registration mod. The honest truth is that installing anything to me is a bit intimidating. If one of the mods you mentioned is easy install then I will go for it. SO hte PWS contribution is easier to install? But it offers similar functionality to the fast easy check out? Do these mods simply bypass acocunt creation but leave all my other modules operational? That is my shipping methods and payment methods will not have to be altered? I could use some insight here.

 

Secondly, could you give me a brief primer on SSL? I know the basics but a little guidance on links and where to get what you are mntioning would be great.

 

Thanks again for the kind words and the positive feedback, it is greatly appreciated.

 

Mike

Well I have implemented many iof the suggestion that have been made in this thread. I updated my payment and shipping page to be more descriptive of how it all works on my site. Then I installed PWA.

 

One thing I am struggling with is search engine indexing. It seems that many bots have visited my site but very little has been indexed. Googlebot has come 4 times and I only have 1 page indexed that I can find only if I type my actual URL (www....) into Google. Yahoo has indexed a few more pages, about 12. One thing that happened and I do not know if this may be part of the problem is that Google and Yahoo indexed an older version of my site that I had live before my OSC store was finished. Could this be contributing to the problem? All those old links are now dead, maybe I should put a redirector page where each of those is, I just thought of that-should have done it before.

 

I do truly appreciate the feedback and would welcome any more comments and suggestions you may have.

 

Thank you!

Mike

[Guest]

Hi Mike,

 

I see you've added the methods of payment that are accepted and I'm very pleased!

 

However, I'm still rather stuck on the fact that I have no idea what the shipping costs will be until I checkout. Maybe it's just me...maybe it won't be a problem for others...I don't know. I would still like to be able to do some math in my head and have an idea of how much I'll be paying, in total, before proceeding thru checkout.

 

Why did you install PWA? Did these geeks talk you into that?

 

When I add an item to my cart and proceed to checkout, I chose the PWA method. And, you know what? The title in the bar says 'Create An Account' and the only thing missing from the real deal, is the creation of a password.

 

I don't know why people suggest this contrib. It does not shorten the checkout process at all and frankly, it's the on-line scammer's contribution of choice. I don't want to know anything about you! Just tell me where to ship it and pay me and I promise you'll get it soon!

 

I think it's the most overrated piece of crap contribution there is.

 

People are accustomed to creating accounts. There's not one single LEGITIMATE website on the Internet that does not require account creation to make a purchase.

 

You will not sell more for having this. Your items will not be more 'attractive' for having PWA. I really wish someone would jump up here and back me up.

 

On that note, good job in installing it. It's a big contrib. I'm more of the mind to recommend the Credit Class/Gift Voucher contrib where you could throw your new customers a few bucks off in a coupon code in their welcome e-mail that they could redeem in one click during checkout, but, oh well. Now that you've installed this monster, you'll have a time installing the other. Same files, could be a mess.

 

The only thing I have left to add is that I find the tiny black font on your info pages...against those dice...to be hard to read. I'm having to lean forward and concentrate to read them. I'd make the font larger.

 

All in all, I like your site. Makes me want to dig my old Nintendo system from the early 90's out of my closet and play some Tetris again. LOL. Good luck!

 

Andrea

[Guest]

Hi Mike,

 

I see you've added the methods of payment that are accepted and I'm very pleased!

 

However, I'm still rather stuck on the fact that I have no idea what the shipping costs will be until I checkout. Maybe it's just me...maybe it won't be a problem for others...I don't know. I would still like to be able to do some math in my head and have an idea of how much I'll be paying, in total, before proceeding thru checkout.

 

Why did you install PWA? Did these geeks talk you into that?

 

When I add an item to my cart and proceed to checkout, I chose the PWA method. And, you know what? The title in the bar says 'Create An Account' and the only thing missing from the real deal, is the creation of a password.

 

I don't know why people suggest this contrib. It does not shorten the checkout process at all and frankly, it's the on-line scammer's contribution of choice. I don't want to know anything about you! Just tell me where to ship it and pay me and I promise you'll get it soon!

 

I think it's the most overrated piece of crap contribution there is.

 

People are accustomed to creating accounts. There's not one single LEGITIMATE website on the Internet that does not require account creation to make a purchase.

 

You will not sell more for having this. Your items will not be more 'attractive' for having PWA. I really wish someone would jump up here and back me up.

 

On that note, good job in installing it. It's a big contrib. I'm more of the mind to recommend the Credit Class/Gift Voucher contrib where you could throw your new customers a few bucks off in a coupon code in their welcome e-mail that they could redeem in one click during checkout, but, oh well. Now that you've installed this monster, you'll have a time installing the other. Same files, could be a mess.

 

The only thing I have left to add is that I find the tiny black font on your info pages...against those dice...to be hard to read. I'm having to lean forward and concentrate to read them. I'd make the font larger.

 

All in all, I like your site. Makes me want to dig my old Nintendo system from the early 90's out of my closet and play some Tetris again. LOL. Good luck!

 

Andrea

Well I found your comments most interesting. First I modified the background on the main readable area from the dice to a light gray which matches my color scheme. I kept the dice as the background header and I think it looks good. Product page readability has skyrocketed though, you were right.

 

Then I got thinking about the purchase without account. I realized that if I could show the shipping cost before checkout I probably don't need it. I am working on installing a contribution to do that. Once that works I'll probably deinstal the PWA mod.

 

Thanks for the feedback and please continue!

 

Thanks,

Mike

[Guest]

Well I found your comments most interesting. First I modified the background on the main readable area from the dice to a light gray which matches my color scheme. I kept the dice as the background header and I think it looks good. Product page readability has skyrocketed though, you were right.

 

Then I got thinking about the purchase without account. I realized that if I could show the shipping cost before checkout I probably don't need it. I am working on installing a contribution to do that. Once that works I'll probably deinstal the PWA mod.

 

Thanks for the feedback and please continue!

 

Thanks,

Mike

Further update, it occurred to me that if I could change my backgound to light gray to improve readability why not just lighten my dice background? That's what I did and I think the result is very effective, it is easy to read the product pages now and I don't have to sacrifice my dice background.

 

Next I uninstalled the purchase without account mod because I just didn't see what sense it made. The person already has to enter all their personal info, the only thing it daves them from doing is coming up with a user name and password. Instead I installed the Ship In Cart modification which calculates shipping for them without requiring any personal information, just add to cart and the shipping appears on the same screen.

 

Please have a look at my changes and let me know if there are any others that would help, all feedback is very appreciated.

 

Mike

[Guest]

Further update, it occurred to me that if I could change my backgound to light gray to improve readability why not just lighten my dice background? That's what I did and I think the result is very effective, it is easy to read the product pages now and I don't have to sacrifice my dice background.

 

Next I uninstalled the purchase without account mod because I just didn't see what sense it made. The person already has to enter all their personal info, the only thing it daves them from doing is coming up with a user name and password. Instead I installed the Ship In Cart modification which calculates shipping for them without requiring any personal information, just add to cart and the shipping appears on the same screen.

 

Please have a look at my changes and let me know if there are any others that would help, all feedback is very appreciated.

 

Mike

Tonight I added a guestbook contribution which was fantastically easy to install and works great!

 

I would still appreciate feedback, please visit my site; Play It Again Games

 

Thank you,

Mike

[Guest]

Now I'm happy, Mike! :)

 

I can read it...and that's a very cool contribution you have, the one that calculates shipping in the cart. I like it a lot!

 

Andrea

[♥MYC267]

You have no SSL.... not good and doesnt say much about the value you place on securing your customer data.

 

Any web savvy user will stop at the create account screen once they see it is not in a secure environment.

 

You can have the best site in the world but without the magical gold padlock (SSL) you are really just shooting yourself in the foot.

 

 

 

 

I was looking at your privacy policy and read:

Our Commitment To Data Security

To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

 

Well really without SSL how can you really secure the information you collect online?

 

 

Get SSL ASAP!

[Guest]

You have no SSL.... not good and doesnt say much about the value you place on securing your customer data.

 

Any web savvy user will stop at the create account screen once they see it is not in a secure environment.

 

You can have the best site in the world but without the magical gold padlock (SSL) you are really just shooting yourself in the foot.

I was looking at your privacy policy and read:

Well really without SSL how can you really secure the information you collect online?

Get SSL ASAP!

Good point, I did not realize that the privacy policy contradicts what I have in place. My host offers a private SSL certificate for $75 per year, here is a quote from their site: "We sell Comodo 128 bit certificates for $75 a year and include free installation"

 

Is that a good deal and is it the way that I should go about adding SSL?

 

Eagerly awaiting your reply,

Mike

[Guest]

Another question: I only accept, cashier's checks/money orders and PayPal. Since PayPal itself is secure, what advantage does a SSL certificate really offer me? Is it in the protection of their personal data? Is that what they are concerned about?

 

Thank you,

Mike

[kabuca]

Another question: I only accept, cashier's checks/money orders and PayPal. Since PayPal itself is secure, what advantage does a SSL certificate really offer me? Is it in the protection of their personal data? Is that what they are concerned about?

 

Thank you,

Mike

 

Nice site! You have to remember most people see the lock before the even think about paying.. They are giving out name/address etc etc

 

www.godaddy.com has them for $twenty something a year.

 

I did notice something strange when I tried to create an account.. you do not ask for my state. And unless you plan on doing most of your business over sea, change the post code to zip code. ( I think this is why my auto filler missed that line)

 

Good Luck,

Jason

[Guest]

Nice site! You have to remember most people see the lock before the even think about paying.. They are giving out name/address etc etc

 

www.godaddy.com has them for $twenty something a year.

 

I did notice something strange when I tried to create an account.. you do not ask for my state. And unless you plan on doing most of your business over sea, change the post code to zip code. ( I think this is why my auto filler missed that line)

 

Good Luck,

Jason

Ok latest update. I just signed up for an SSL certificate with my host company, it should be active within the next 24-48 hours. I am more than convinced at this point that it is something I should have.

 

Next I changed the Post Code: text to read Zip/Post Code and I added the State field which I thought was simply a weird omission in OSC. But like so many things after a little digging around I found it in the admin panel and it was just turned off. So now my create account page reads:

 

Your Address

Street Address:

Zip/Post Code:

City:

State/Province:

Country:

 

This is MUCH better but I think I would actually like to reorder these, however I do not know where to find this code. Here is how I would like it to read:

 

Your Address

Street Address:

City:

State/Province:

Zip/Post Code:

Country:

 

I want to thank everyone very much here for your kind and continued assistance,

Mike

[Guest]

This critique of your site is getting really tedious now, huh?

 

Personally, I think you're getting robbed. My webhost is a reseller of SSL certificates...as most are, I presume...and I paid $49 per year for mine. The seller is advertising $39...and my host charged me $49 to acquire and install mine. Just something more for you to chew on, I expect.

 

The beauty of it is...if you have no clue how to install such things, like me...it may very well be money well spent.

 

But, I do find the amount your webhost is asking to be too much.

 

Andrea

[Guest]

This critique of your site is getting really tedious now, huh?

 

Personally, I think you're getting robbed. My webhost is a reseller of SSL certificates...as most are, I presume...and I paid $49 per year for mine. The seller is advertising $39...and my host charged me $49 to acquire and install mine. Just something more for you to chew on, I expect.

 

The beauty of it is...if you have no clue how to install such things, like me...it may very well be money well spent.

 

But, I do find the amount your webhost is asking to be too much.

 

Andrea

Thank you for your opinion Andrea. A friend of mine who is in the IT industry told me it was a good deal, especiially because they ocnfigure it and all the support is through the same company that hosts my site. Even if it is a bit overpriced that was worth it to me.

 

I seem to be refining the site every day, a little here and there. I am not sure I will ever stop tweaking it either.

 

I'm hoping one of these days I might actually get indexed on Google, that seems to be a slow process.

 

Mike

 

P.S. I installed the guestbook contribution last night and welcome any forum members to stop by and sign it!

[Guest]

Thank you for your opinion Andrea. A friend of mine who is in the IT industry told me it was a good deal, especiially because they ocnfigure it and all the support is through the same company that hosts my site. Even if it is a bit overpriced that was worth it to me.

 

I seem to be refining the site every day, a little here and there. I am not sure I will ever stop tweaking it either.

 

I'm hoping one of these days I might actually get indexed on Google, that seems to be a slow process.

 

Mike

 

P.S. I installed the guestbook contribution last night and welcome any forum members to stop by and sign it!

Well SSL is installed! My host made it absolutely painless! I have one question of ranyone out there familiar with OSC SSL configuration. In my configure.php file tech support at my host advised me to change

define('HTTP_SERVER', 'http://www.yourdomain.com');"

 

to:

 

define('HTTP_SERVER', 'https://www.yourdomain.com');

 

He said this extra s in the HTTP define server line would force OSC to use HTTPS all the time. Is this correct and what did he mean exactly? Everything seems to be working fine, but I would appreciate some feedback from anyone who gives it a shot.

 

Thank you,

Mike

[Cameo1968]

If you offer other methods of payment besides credit cards, you may still need the ssl.

It has alot to do with the purchase/s or lost sales. I wouldn't buy something on unsecure sight or one I felt was a little shaky.

You will see alot of people feel confident from buying from a sight that was secure. But I do understand your question. the choice is really yours to decide.

Good luck!