Which eCommerce Solution?

[Name Trader]

I'm looking for a lightweight free (or cheap) eCommerce solution. Should I go with OSCommerce or something else? I don't need anything over-complicated, but would prefer something where a product can have several weights or colors, maybe can be grouped by style, plus a reasonable size description field (reasonable = <50 words). Allows pictures. Maybe accepts PayPal, Mastercard, Visa minimum. All suggestions are welcome.

 

[boons]

Free eCommerce Solutions OsCommerce, Cube Cart, ZenCart i tried these

 

[Name Trader]

What are the features of each and which one do you recommend?

 

[maniako]

I've implemented a couple of e-commerce websites with OScommerce, it is an effective solution ... free, simple interface, easy administration, good plugins, compatible with most payment gateways ... I recommend it

 

[Name Trader]

Thanks Maniako. Anyone else got any recommendations?

 

[Soocialler]

If you want light weight ecommerce system then OSCommerce is the best , but if you want more professional then i suggest you to must go with Magento , because it has alot of features .

 

[mhdoc]

I to have been looking for something like that, without success. I am starting to believe there is a fundamental flaw in the concept of a lightweight ecommerce system. Everyone thinks their needs are simple, and they may be, but there is no real agreement on the exact features a simple system should include. Worse, even the simplest system has to be able to handle complex issues of currency and tax rates. They also need to integrate easily with shippers API's.

A limited feature set is NOT the same as a simple system.

The developers hear from all sorts of users who want additional small changes/enhancements and the next thing you know the products get complex and hard to use.

Could you get by with PayPal buttons? Sounds kind of simpleminded, but works for some of my sites.

I have been looking at online systems (not free) because they free me from the upgrade cycle. They have all the same other problems of course.

Good luck with your search.

 

[fm1234]

The pro version of Mal's eCommerce is very easy to use and has many on/off features. A good example of 'complex' ordering features can be seen here:

Parkland Outdoor Carpet - ExpressGrass.com

The buyer enters a custom length and chooses a colour from a drop-down menu for the product, all of which is configured with point-and-click choices in the Mal's admin menu.

Mal's handles pretty much all standard payment gateways, and has an extremely easy interface to create your own interface; as long as your preferred processor has the info that the cart needs, it can pretty well create the interface on the fly even if the processor is not officially supported. Many digital currencies like Liberty Reserve, WebMoney, Pecunix etc. are supportable by Mal's in the manner, as opposed to OSCommerce and Zen which both require a third party plugin to add them. Mal's payment will also integrate with PayPal, Amazon payments, and Google Checkout, without the use of plugins.

The free service is good, the premium is excellent and only $8 per month.


Frank

 

[Name Trader]

I went with Prestashop. OK not lightweight but has good reviews. Just installed it, so I haven't done any configuring yet. Time and use will tell if it's good or not.

 

[mhdoc]

I looked briefly at the Prestashop site and this really caught my eye.

"One month after publishing PrestaShop version 1.4, we are now offering PrestaShop version 1.4.1!"

In one sense it's good they are growing and improving. On the other hand, if you have a lot of sites the the upgrade cycles get really old. Thus my interest in moving my stuff to providers that take care of the backend. I believe Mal's ecommerce mentioned upthread wouldn't require maintenance like this since all the cart action is on their servers.

I'm not trying to pick on either of these companies. They are just convenient examples.

 

[Name Trader]

I see that as a plus for PrestaShop. It's under active development.

 

[Erick Gorman]

I'm looking for a lightweight free (or cheap) eCommerce solution. Should I go with OSCommerce or something else?

Yes you can go with osCommerce because osCommerce is an online shop e-commerce solution that offers a wide range of out-of-the-box features that allows for online store setup fairly quickly with ease maybe you can see some advantages of osCommerce:
1. An active community where fellow members help each other if it finds difficulty in their use
2. Easy for administrators store to display all their products to customers with special requests from the customer's own
3. Very easy to setup its initial
4. It is not difficult to maintain the contents therein