In over my head?

[Guest]

Hi everyone. Thanks for clicking over to what I'm sure is yet another annoying noob post.

 

I have a few concerns and figured I'd post them here and make sure I'm on the right track BEFORE i try to install, screw it up, and am tearing my hair out.

 

I tried to install oscommerce about a year ago using the autoinstall on my host's server. (I'm on a different server now.) My new host offers the same "auto install" and I've installed it from there, but am wary of getting too far into this, since last time when I came to the boards with problems people said 'well, that's what you get for getting the server to install it for you' :-/

 

Ok. Here's our deal. We run a small press comic book company. Not huge, but we have several products. We manage to do fine with a paypal cart, but of course, every time we get a new book that means a lot of HTML work for me. We also have to guess at our shipping rates and international orders are just a mess. I've also recently been told that the paypal cart I'm using doesn't work with firefox/mozilla, and that's just unacceptable.

 

I'd like a cart that would auto suggest products (if you like this, check out...) and hopefully one that will allow us to sort by artist/writer as well. Obviously the biggies are it automatically updating the store, and handling the shipping/int'l orders.

 

OSC seems to be able to do all of this, but I'm wary of whether or not I'm going to be able to get it up and running. I'm pretty html and css savy, but when it gets more complicated than that, I'm at a loss. I feel like if I have to run to my host and ask them questions about databases and all they're just going to tell me to use the auto-install..

 

Am I best just giving up and sticking with the html cart? Is there another cart program you would suggest? Is there someone who I can pay a (reasonable) fee to do all of this for me?

 

Our current store is at: http://www.youngamericancomics.com/shop/

 

Thanks for your help and advice!

-Corey Marie Parkhill

Young American Comics

[insomniac2]

Hi Corey,

 

To sum all of your questions up into one answer. YES ... oscommerce is able to do evrything you want .. plus awhole lot more. You also have a very friendly and supportive community here to help with just about anything.

 

If I were you I would not hesitate.

 

If you need any help just contact me. [email protected]

[chooch]

I give a thumbs up to what Insomniac2 (Don) has said.

 

You could easily have got unbiased views from big webistes and magazines via reviews if you had run a search engine query - infact, still do it to ga view from another angle.

 

Good luck no matter what you decide to do.

[Jodoi]

Well, as somebody that had very little html and css and no php knowledge before I installed osc, I would say go for it. Check out my site to see what I have achieved in 18 days from the stock install of osc (albeit usually 4-6 hours a day):

 

www.CustomBuildComputers.net

 

I am very pleased with it and couldn't have done it without the support of this forum. As Insomniac2 said, the support here is second to none.

 

I am also willing to give what (limited by my knowledge!) help I can...just PM me

 

Regards,

Brent.

[bobg7]

The only thing I would suggest is downloading and installing the current version and not using the hosts version, you never know how old it may be, what the host may have done to it. At least with the current version the updates have already been integrated making a lot less work for you.

[Guest]

I just wanted to thank everyone for the help so far.

 

I am going to uninstall what the server installed and do my best to start fresh with the most current version, as suggested.

 

Send me good thoughts! We are going to see what we can put together today.

 

PS: Someone emailed me saying they could do the work for $20/hour and that it'd take them 10 hours to set up. Thoughts?

 

Thanks again, everyone!!

[Cathi]

I just wanted to thank everyone for the help so far.

 

I am going to uninstall what the server installed and do my best to start fresh with the most current version, as suggested.

 

Send me good thoughts! We are going to see what we can put together today.

Good luck to you. I think you'll like osC. I used a server install, and it seems to be working just fine. I haven't even had trouble adding contributions, except for my own stupid mistakes.

 

Everyone here has been great at answering most of my questions. I guess some were just too dumb to get a response. And it didn't take that long before I was even able to answer a few basic questions for people.

 

PS: Someone emailed me saying they could do the work for $20/hour and that it'd take them 10 hours to set up. Thoughts?

I don't think $20/hour is too bad. What exactly is included in "set up", though? I'd make sure that both of you are clear as to where "set up" ends and you begin to be charged for additional work/customization.

 

The other thing is, if you do it yourself, you'll learn as you go and be able to maintain the site on your own. Though it did appear to be very daunting at first, I'm glad I ended up not hiring someone, because I understand a lot more about my website than I would have otherwise.

 

Cathi