Susie

Does anyone manage OSCommerce through the Control Panel offered by their webhosting provider? Is it fairly easy and customizable?

Does OSCommerce properly handle things like state/provincial taxes and shipping (national and international customers) and secure payments through all the usual channels? Is it a full service program?

I used to be a computer programmer so I'm not a complete dunce when it comes to this but I don't have a lot of time to devote to it as I'm busy with other things.

Thanks a bunch in advance, gang!

 

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lost1

Once you have it modified to your liking, it is very easy to control. The time it will take to mod it is dependent on your knowledge of php and what you want it to do.

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tfalk

So far I've found it to be easier than ZenCart but I wouldn't categorize it as 'easy'.

If you look at the member contributions and see the type of things they've offered, you get an idea of the shortcomings of the basic package. What drove me NUTZ was trying to do something simple like add sizes and colors to a multitude of items. I found a contribution that made it much easier but it took me a few hours to get everything set up correctly.

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Susie

I'm not up on php at all. I suppose I could enlist some help with that - for the stuff I can't get going. My provider says there's some sort of administrator area where a "non-technical" person can easily get the cart going. I'm a little doubtful of that as I have seen the add-ons etc. you can get and it looks like there's a little more to it. Mind you I haven't seen this admininstrator interface yet so I can't say how it works. I just want to make sure it's a professional, full-featured program that can do the usual stuff without being buggy or cheesy.

Thanks for your input.

 

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zhenjie

Cpanel only helps you install the basic osCommerce package. After that you need to modify it yourself. Thats the hardest part I would say, modifying it to your liking Instatlling contributions can be a nightmare sometimes. But its really just the first initial hurdle. After you have everything to your liking its a pretty simple package to admin.

 

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Promotech

I have used XTcommerce and OScommerce. I started as an absolut php newbie, but they have good forums where you get most problems solved and valuable tips. It is easy to work with both systems and the basic setup includes all important functions, but to make it really nice from the website design and adjust functions to your needs and work through the hundreds of often great add-ons it takes a lot of time.

From the webproviders control panel you can only work the installation process and use it to modify php and html codes if neccessary. For the shop itself you have an admistrator control panel inside your webshop where you adjust all shop settings like appearance, product control center, payment settings .... the whole stuff.

I have tested many opensource resp. free shop systems and my favourite choice is OScommerce and XTcommerce. Its also two of the few systems that have an easy integration for internationalization, means different languages etc.

 

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Susie

That's awesome. Great tips - thx.
Actually, I could see a future need for internationlization, so it's good to know OSCommerce has that ability.
I probably could pick up on this thing but I don't have much time for that end of things. (you know, one more thing to learn). It might be wise to for me to hire a knowledgable php dude (or dudette).

 

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Promotech

Hi Susie,

if you have enough money to spend for a pro, it can save you a lot of time and a pro can also do some difficult modifications if neccessary.
Me personally i think the system is not difficult to handle and if you have worked through it, later on you can easily make adjustments and solve any problems that occur. But it will take you a lot of time.

For internationalization you have language packs that you can download, and in the administrator panel you can set up different currencies, and shipping rates for different countries. Your website content can be managed from the administrator panel where it shows you your contents in your basic language and below it has a text field for every other language you have installed. Pretty easy to handle, similar like joomla with joomfish, if you know it.

 

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Susie

Thanks Promo. I think it's wrong to be cheap and cheesy in the shopping cart area. I mean, that's where it's at - getting 'em to actually check out. I will probably go the pro route once I define what I need. I think it would be money well spent.

 

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