# Ecommerce, schm-ecommerce! I don't know what do to!



## jerassica (Jul 28, 2010)

Helloooo....

We currently have a t-shirt shop up through Godaddy.com, they are the host and I used quick shopping cart, however we are unimpressed. Seems very limited. 

I think we've hit a wall. I do not know any code whatsoever... php, html, css, I don't even know what they mean! haha. I would like to have a smooth, clean, modern looking site, to sell strictly t-shirts We thought about using zen cart but I hear it is PHP intense and works best with Linux? What about Joomla and virtuemart? Is that very code intensive? Any other suggestions? help a newb!


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

jerassica said:


> Helloooo....
> 
> We currently have a t-shirt shop up through Godaddy.com, they are the host and I used quick shopping cart, however we are unimpressed. Seems very limited.
> 
> I think we've hit a wall. I do not know any code whatsoever... php, html, css, I don't even know what they mean! haha. I would like to have a smooth, clean, modern looking site, to sell strictly t-shirts We thought about using zen cart but I hear it is PHP intense and works best with Linux? What about Joomla and virtuemart? Is that very code intensive? Any other suggestions? help a newb!


If you don't want to deal with any of the code stuff (and assuming you don't want to hire someone to do it for you), then you'd need a hosted shopping cart system like corecommerce, monstercommerce, yahoocart, etc

What *exactly* were you unimpressed with when you used GoDaddy's cart? That will help us suggest alternatives that better meet your needs.


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## EpitomeClothing (May 12, 2010)

If you want to edit your cart whatsoever you're going to need to know some bit of code, whatever language it may be. Unless you have money to buy a great content management system that is visually editable. Unless someone else has come across something I have not... anyway a lot of online t-shirts use Big Cartel - Simple shopping cart for artists, designers, bands, record labels, jewelry, crafters[/url] if you want to do just basic edits you have to tinker with it, but if you want to do serious edits you need some programming knowledge.

Rodney, let me know if it's not ok to post links like that... I'm not affiliated or anything.


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## dmongiello (Jul 29, 2010)

I agree with Rodney, we will need to know what functions you did not like about godaddy's shopping cart to lead you in the right direction. 

also if you have a hosting account with godaddy by default they give you a linux hosting account. zencart is run off the server and you will need to learn html and php to get zencart up and running on your hosting acount. You do not need linux on your own computer! Just on your hosting account. 


Hope this helps

-David-


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## mads (Jul 31, 2010)

As the other posters have pointed out: If you don't want to deal with code, *use a hosted system*. When you use a hosted system, you couldn't care less if it's run on Linux or Windows, if it uses PHP or ASP on the server-side, etc. As long as it's a good shop.

I have never done any T-shirt shop designs for clients before, but I have used Shopify for setting up very simple storefronts. You can use pre-built themes or create your own look and feel with HTML and CSS. They have a 30-day trial, so you can check it out and see what you think.

There is also BigCartel, which is used by one of my favorite T-shirt shops: Ugmonk. I have never used it myself, so I don't know how easy things are to set up, but a lot of online T-shirt shops are using it. That sometimes speaks for itself.


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## jerassica (Jul 28, 2010)

Rodney said:


> If you don't want to deal with any of the code stuff (and assuming you don't want to hire someone to do it for you), then you'd need a hosted shopping cart system like corecommerce, monstercommerce, yahoocart, etc
> 
> What *exactly* were you unimpressed with when you used GoDaddy's cart? That will help us suggest alternatives that better meet your needs.





Rodney said:


> If you don't want to deal with any of the code stuff (and assuming you don't want to hire someone to do it for you), then you'd need a hosted shopping cart system like corecommerce, monstercommerce, yahoocart, etc
> 
> What *exactly* were you unimpressed with when you used GoDaddy's cart? That will help us suggest alternatives that better meet your needs.


Thanks for your help. I will check into those...

Grievances with GoDaddy:
*Poor selection of Templates, customization options
*Not able to have an elastic shipping rate (i.e. first shirt is $5 shipping, $2 more for every shirt thereafter...)

Support was lacking... in one instance, I had to be transferred 3 times and was on the phone for no less than 45 minutes about the elastic shipping thing.... this tech guy didn't know, so he had to get this other techy, several times over, blah blah blah, to finally get to the guru, who informed me that it is not possible to do such a thing with their present system.... oy. 

Aside from that, I'm trying to avoid "monthlies" to keep cost down, but I think that is probably not going to be possible given my level of expertise, or rather, the lack thereof. :/


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## jerassica (Jul 28, 2010)

dmongiello said:


> You do not need linux on your own computer! Just on your hosting account.
> 
> 
> Hope this helps
> ...



Shows what I know.... BAHAHAHA. Fool. I saw Linux OS on the sidebar at my hostgator cPanel, I was a little confused. I said "But I have windows!" hahahahaha. This is why I need help!!


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## jerassica (Jul 28, 2010)

mads said:


> As the other posters have pointed out: If you don't want to deal with code, *use a hosted system*. When you use a hosted system, you couldn't care less if it's run on Linux or Windows, if it uses PHP or ASP on the server-side, etc. As long as it's a good shop.
> 
> I have never done any T-shirt shop designs for clients before, but I have used Shopify for setting up very simple storefronts. You can use pre-built themes or create your own look and feel with HTML and CSS. They have a 30-day trial, so you can check it out and see what you think.
> 
> There is also BigCartel, which is used by one of my favorite T-shirt shops: Ugmonk. I have never used it myself, so I don't know how easy things are to set up, but a lot of online T-shirt shops are using it. That sometimes speaks for itself.


A good shop. Precisely what I'm looking for....  It appears that we seem to have expensive/complex taste. lol. 
Ugmonk is great! I really dig their shirts... Definitely ordering "& then I woke up!" haha. it's the story of my life... thanks!


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## chobay (Aug 4, 2009)

I agree with some of the other posters, you probably need to look at hosted ecommerce like bigcartel. An option that can reduce the pain is to get an oscommerce or zencart ecommerce template, then modifications would be minor compared to starting a zencart from scratch. 

Zen Cart Templates | Zencart Templates | Zen Cart Skins | Template Monster

Another option is to pay a developer to customize your cart, can be $500 & up though..


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## jerassica (Jul 28, 2010)

Another Problem with GoDaddy Shopping cart....

You can't keep inventory according to size, only style. Like If I sold a Red sailboat tee, and had 20 in stock, I could list that, but not how many of each size, which complicates things.


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## zoiko (Oct 21, 2007)

Like a few posters have said above... take a look at BigCartel, I also have a BigCartel site and I have done everything so far and I am in no way a web designer / developer. We are also using go daddy for hosting on the new site my son is building but will also keep the BigCartel site up. For the $19.99 monthly fee I think it works perfect, plus I get a few hits and some sales from the BigCartel community. 

Same here Rodney, if this is inappropriate to post please let me know.


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## jerassica (Jul 28, 2010)

Thanks for all your help... Big cartel sounds promising....  I appreciate it!!!


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## jerassica (Jul 28, 2010)

Must you use paypal with BigCartel? hmm...


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## playera (Aug 13, 2010)

I think paypal is the only option I might be wrong though from last time using it. Bigcartel is a good option for you just starting up since you don't want to deal with coding and design but it is also expensive and very limited. But some people do a good job using bigcartel.


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## plan b (Feb 21, 2007)

You might want to take a look at ecwid,, up to 100 items free ,, uses a bunch of different credit card handlers and also live shipping rates,, its great because you can use it on any website and if you have more than one site you can use the same cart,, its widget style


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## jerassica (Jul 28, 2010)

Big Cartel only has two themes? I'm not having a lot of luck finding others... And I have to use paypal? oh geez. 

Has anyone used Big Commerce? Any thoughts?


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

jerassica said:


> Big Cartel only has two themes? I'm not having a lot of luck finding others... And I have to use paypal? oh geez.
> 
> Has anyone used Big Commerce? Any thoughts?


You may want to search through the forums to see if there are other threads on BigCommerce.

With BigCartel, you can customize the themes to look however you want (or hire someone to do it for you if you're not familiar with HTML). I think they offer the basic themes to get you up and running as soon as possible.

If you don't want to use PayPal, you have to have your own merchant account. Once you have your own merchant account, you can use just about any shopping cart (like CubeCart, Oscommerce, Magento, etc


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## PPop (Jan 18, 2009)

I've been researching this.

I've found that Top10 Reviews is a great place to find information and comparisons of Shopping Carts:

Shopping Cart Software Review 2010 | Online Shopping Cart, Ecommerce Shopping Cart Software | Best Shopping Cart - TopTenREVIEWS


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## Zillaprints (Apr 26, 2010)

Hey Try these guys there awesome. And they can do anything. At a very good price. And mention Blue Shark Press sent you, and they will lower the price even more.
high end web development | business web design


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## johnbol1 (Aug 19, 2010)

CS Cart,

I was complete newb toecommerce 1 year ago and like you no knowledge at all, now I have 7 sites learning curve but mine alll miiiiiineee ah aha h.

and cs cart have a good cs cart forum of users to help you out and they have about 20 themes.

(no I am not part of cs)

JOhn


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## gruntstyle (Aug 11, 2009)

OScommerce is a free open source platform for ecommerce. I find that is does have a pretty big learning curve if you're not familiar with PHP, even if you know HTML fairly well. You can also download free templates at templatemonster and other websites for a cost. But you'll still need to have a basic knowledge of php to install and setup the site. But once it's up and running, it's pretty easy to maintain.


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## plan b (Feb 21, 2007)

Here is another cart that I have used, its very easy to use,

OpenCart - Open Source Shopping Cart Solution


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## johnbol1 (Aug 19, 2010)

Open cart is a good one too, easy to set up and maintain, similar to CS cart. And free

John


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## PPop (Jan 18, 2009)

Well....

After spending 80+ hours on this, I am also effin not concluded.


I do like Volusion, but it doesn't integrate with Quickbooks Merchant. SO I would have to switch / use Volusions Credit Card Processing...

I also very much for some reason like BigCommerce, except that it is $150 a month as I need 2500 products... It does work with Quickbooks Merchant Services, exceot that the $150 is %600 per year too much... 
(petty?)

GoDaddy is $50 per month, but ...

I've been told that Joomla/VirtueMart is fine from my Initial Web Guru, except that so far I don't like the way it looks...

So, I would wait, except that I need to rebuild my 1995 era site NOW for many reasons...


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## gruntstyle (Aug 11, 2009)

OScommerce and 'open cart' are free and great to use. I've used both. If you're not sure what you're doing use 'open cart'. It's an easy install and the admin portion is very friendly. If you need help with it, you can PM me. I'll be happy to help, I've set up over a dozen stores (just one of them is actually mine). OScommerce is what I prefer because of the flexibility, but it's much more complex if you don't know what you're doing. Setting up your own custom store with it's own custom look on 'open cart' would take me about two hours. Just ask if you need help brother.


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## gruntstyle (Aug 11, 2009)

I've never seen a store that looks great from Volusion or Godaddy. They are pretty cheap, but if there's something that's free and looks professional, why pay for less?


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## retro_lad (Jul 6, 2010)

johnbol1 said:


> Open cart is a good one too, easy to set up and maintain, similar to CS cart. And free
> 
> John


Can I ask, what hosting company you recommend to use with open cart?


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## plan b (Feb 21, 2007)

retro_lad said:


> Can I ask, what hosting company you recommend to use with open cart?


I use a couple hosts but Hostgater I like the best.


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## retro_lad (Jul 6, 2010)

plan b said:


> I use a couple hosts but Hostgater I like the best.


Thanks. I see Open cart also have a partner (Arvixe) who offer very cheap hosting.

Without wanting to drag this thread off topic. Can you (or anyone) explain if there are any complexities with setting up open cart with regards Recieiving Payments. As I have just a paypal account. Is that all I need to recieve funds?


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## plan b (Feb 21, 2007)

retro_lad said:


> Thanks. I see Open cart also have a partner (Arvixe) who offer very cheap hosting.
> 
> Without wanting to drag this thread off topic. Can you (or anyone) explain if there are any complexities with setting up open cart with regards Recieiving Payments. As I have just a paypal account. Is that all I need to recieve funds?


Thats all you need


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## retro_lad (Jul 6, 2010)

plan b said:


> Thats all you need


Thanks...it sounds easy


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