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neato · July 5th, 2006

Well, I finally finished my second site yesterday. I decided to ditch the shopping cart this time, since it was such a chore to customize, and just go with a paypal shopping cart.

I think it's going to work ok. I just don't like the actual shopping cart page. It screams 'PAYPAL'. How can I customize it to blend with my site? Has anyone done this? I want the purchase to be, or at least seem, seamless.

skulltshirts · July 5th, 2006

Hey Neato,
I like your second site alot. Noticed a small typo on your FAQ page...

"However, if you would like to exchange your shirt for a different size, color, or style, please return the shirt, along with $5 S & H, and a note explaining reason for return as well as your shipping address to:"

You forgot to put the address where to return shirts to or just got the wording wrong..... figured you might want to fix it so just pointing it out to you so you could!

For another shirt design idea... Theres a place in Arkansas called Toad Suck Arkansas. Or maybe it was an event, anyway you could search the net and find out, but it would make for a cool shirt idea I think!

I think paypal will allow you a certain degree of custom colors and such for you shopping cart. Look thru your paypal account to find the links, Im not sure cause I never change my shopping cart around much.
I like you custom buttons you used.

Thomas

Adam · July 5th, 2006

You can make checkout templates in PayPal. I _think_ you have to have access to an HTTPS server to store your logo on for example. They call them custom payment pages - click on Merchant Tools and you will find them.

neato · July 5th, 2006

Thanks guys. I did find it. It is VERY limited though as to how far you can customize it. But it's better than nothing.

Rodney · July 5th, 2006

I think the PayPal only shopping cart isn't the ideal way to go.

It has those annoying popup windows when you add a product to your cart and it leaves the shopper with only one option. Some shoppers don't want to use PayPal or are confused by what a "PayPal" is. Using a regular shopping cart will give them more options and could be worth the extra time spent.

Just my two bits though

jdr8271 · July 5th, 2006

I think the paypal shopping cart is fine. If you find that the site is successfull, it might be worth it to switch off of paypal, to something that has some more features.

You could integrate a free javascript shopping cart, and then send the user to paypal for checkout, but youre customers who don't have javascript enabled browsers wouldn't be able to use it.

identityburn · July 5th, 2006

I'm just using paypal to see how things go because it is free. If things pick up I plan to get a shopping cart. I think paypal has been around long enough (because of ebay) that everyone but the very casual PC user will be familiar with it and not scared off.

Comin'OutSwingin · July 5th, 2006

People aren't necessarily scared of it. Some just don't like it. And some don't like it enough that it affects their buying decisions!

I think it's best to give customers options. And if free is a concern, there are a few free shopping carts available to use with a merchant account.

Rodney · July 5th, 2006

Quote:


	I'm just using paypal to see how things go because it is free.

There are a few good, free shopping carts programs out there. Some webhosts even have ones you can install with the push of a button.

identityburn · July 5th, 2006

Didn't know that, I'll have to look into it.

hostingdiva · July 8th, 2006

If you decide to stick with PayPal make sure to tell your customers that they DO NOT have to have a PayPal account to pay with PayPal. Some get concerned because they feel like they're forced to set up an account when that is not the case. PayPal will let them use their regular credit card without a problem

. Most people do not know that so it's can't hurt to point it out

.

dot7 · July 13th, 2006

Best way to find a good free shopping cart (or anything else)
Is to search “open source shopping cart” you’ll be amazed at what’s really available out there. To be more specific you’re looking for a PayPal IPN solution.

PS. almost anything available commercially is also available for free (Open Source)
Just do some google’n for it

Vtec44 · July 13th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by identityburn


	Didn't know that, I'll have to look into it.

We've been using OS Commerce for our stores a while now, it's completely free. Check it out on http://www.oscommerce.com. The software will capture all the necessary information, ie name, address, email, price, subtotal, tax, total, etc. At the very end, it will forward you to PayPal and return once the order is completed. You will need a host with mySQL and maybe just a bit of HTML/PHP knowledge to modify it.