# What is a good ecommerce software if you are willing to pay?



## Nima (Jan 19, 2008)

I think many people agree that OSC is one of the best for the fact that it is free.

But are there better softwares that you have to pay for? (under $500)


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## cookiesa (Feb 27, 2008)

I prefer Zen to OSC but that is also free (you can always make a donation to the development team if that makes you feel better)

Cubecart has a free version but version 4 which has more features you need to buy (about $129 US I think)

But if your budget is under $500 is there a reason you don't want to use the "free" software?

For $500 you could get someone to customise any of those programs to look pretty much however you want


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## Nima (Jan 19, 2008)

that is my plan right now (to pay someone $800 to customize OSC for me), but I'm willing to pay more than $500 for a good software thats worth paying for.


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## peteVA (Nov 11, 2007)

There is no "good software out there".

You have to decide what you want. If it is a basic shopping cart with worldwide shipping and taxes, offers a variety of payment processors, will handle your product and display images needs, will easily meet your requirements for size / color / price / whatever options then you need to consider it. 

What more do you want. What would you consider "better"? Gift certificates? Wholesale as well as retail pricing? An affiliate program? Mix or match pricing? Wish list? These may not come in the freebies. Do you need them?

YOU are the one who decides a "good software" by declaring your needs. Your must haves, your would likes and your don't care, but it's OK to have its. Then you look at your checkbook. Then you start column A and column B and get to work making column C equal the checkbook.

If you like the style and functionality of OSC, but want a bit more, there is X-cart. I haven't looked lately, but probably $ 300 plus optional modules. You can probably get all I mentioned above for $ 500 with them. Maybe more. 

Keep in mind you are asking a question that could come up with as many answers as if you asked "What's a good car?" Keep in mind when you ask that kind of question most people are going to mention the one they bought. They bought it, it must be good. Even if it sucks, few will admit it. Same with software. Or they have had it so long it's comfortable, but there is much better available now.

What do you want? What are your needs. Price does not equate how good software is. Don;t think you'll get any more for your money with a paid program that you will got for no money, if your needs are the standard, basic needs of most online retailers. There are probalby half a million users fo OSC and it's deriviatves. 

I'm partial to CubeCart. It seems to be popular here. It is definitely more secure than OSC which is not secure. It has a great support community and has paid support if you want it. 

I'm in agreement to get one of the freebies and spend your money on design and any little mods you might need. Keep in mind that even the high dollar ones all come out of the box with the same look and youhave to pay to change the looks of any of them.
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## cookiesa (Feb 27, 2008)

peteVA makes a lot of good points. Just a thought have you had a look at the forums for the various cart programs (most have one) they usually have a section showcasing people's store's. This is a good way to get a feel for what can be achieved with the basic store. From a simple colour change to complete layout changes are possible. I personally use zencart (although I have also used cubecart, which I think is simpler for beginners who don't intend on making changes to the coding themselve's, mods are easy to install usually even if you have little or no coding experience, (like me))

Feel free to have a look around my site. It has cost me nothing other than my time to customise it. It has the functionality of a printable price list, wholesale prices for wholesale customers once they log in, gift vouchers, gift certificates, newsletter and mailing, lable printing and invoice improvements (PDF) Australia Post shipping module and several others. Also the colours and layout are completly different if you look at the basic zencart themes. (If you place an order please use the pay by cheque option and just make a note in the comments section of the checkout process that it is a T-shirt forum test order please delete)


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

Nima said:


> that is my plan right now (to pay someone $800 to customize OSC for me), but I'm willing to pay more than $500 for a good software thats worth paying for.


What specific features or options are you looking for that oscommerce, zen cart, or cubecart doesn't have?

I've used paid shopping carts (Miva, Shopsite) and I've used free shopping carts (cubecart, zen cart, oscommerce), and honestly, if I was going to start a new online t-shirt store today, I wouldn't buy a shopping cart or use a hosted shopping cart, I'd just use cubecart.

If you just feel like paying money, or if you need more "one on one" support, then I can see how a paid shopping cart solution might be worthwhile. To me, what you're paying for is just the official technical support.

You can still get technical support from the free programs, it just comes from the community, and you have to be willing to learn from others rather than a support team that will fix your problems when you send them an email.

For some people, that paid support is important, because they don't have the time, desire or knowledge to "do it yourself".

But I think for most, if you have a few hundred dollars, you can install the shopping cart yourself and /or have someone customize it the exact way you want and it will rival just about any paid cart.


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## cookiesa (Feb 27, 2008)

Following on from Rodney, Cubecart seems to have the most "paid support" available easily if you feel that is what you need/want.

Although both OSC and Zen would be easy to get someone who knows coding to edit. Both are free source which means the code is available unlike other cart programs which comanies own the coding too, and don't make available to programmers. Both of these have forums which also list those you can pay to help you.

Most of the time though the members can answer your questions and most stuff is already covered in their forums.


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## peteVA (Nov 11, 2007)

Concerning the modifications to the software (mods), one thing I've notices with OSC is there are a lot of people (modders) editing others mods and in some cases "stepping on" or causing unintended problems with other mods. The core software has been around so long and had so many play with it, I can see how that could happen. 

I've seen none of that with the CubeCart modders. Not saying it can't or hasn't happened, but I've seen no mention of it. I'm personally just more comfortable with the modders themselves and the seeming success of the mods there.
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## guest29928 (Mar 30, 2008)

2 of the best that ive found for apparel are volusion and aspdotnetstorefront.

Volusion you pay a monthly fee and can cancel whenever.. asp, you buy the software, its not cheap, but highly customizable.

Zen is very good free one..

check those out.


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## cookiesa (Feb 27, 2008)

Cube mods still interfere with each other I think you'll find it is more to do with the fact that most of the mods you "buy" so deal directly with who wrote it to fix problems where as with OSC and Zen it is handled via the forum and so you can see it.

If your paying someone to customise these there are easy ways to integrate mods which can overwrite the same files by using winmerge or similar software, most mod writers actually label the modification they have made to the file so you can just "cut and paste" the changes if you have a mod that has already altered the file.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> Cube mods still interfere with each other


I know it _can_ happen, but I've never had to 2 cubecart mods interfere with each other.


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## peteVA (Nov 11, 2007)

I've never seen it even mentioned on the forums, but it does come up on the OSC forum.
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## cookiesa (Feb 27, 2008)

I have had a few problems previously, even with mods from the same author, but you deal with them direct to get it fixed. Never been a big problem the authors haven't fixed though.


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