# Recommended Ecommerce Platform



## Miner2510 (Mar 7, 2015)

hey everyone, just noticed the ecommerce builder i was looking at doesn't allow the t-shirt to be viewed in different colors. I know when i see a design i like, i like to be able to click through the colors offered to see how it looks before i commit. 

Can you all point me in the right direction to somewhere that offers that ability. I am an upstart so trying to do things right the 1st time, almost wasted time working somewhere without this feature!

Thanks everyone!!!


----------



## NoXid (Apr 4, 2011)

Uhm, can't you just have a List control with a list of colors and photos of the shirt in each color and the control loads the selected color/photo for viewing? Would take 1 minute to write it in HTML. It shouldn't be harder just because you are using some "easy to use" site builder thingy 

I don't think there is any "magic" utility that "fakes" having separate photos in different colors; one fakes that in Photoshop not on the web page. If there is such a thing, it seems more bother than it is worth, perhaps ...


----------



## Miner2510 (Mar 7, 2015)

NoXid said:


> Uhm, can't you just have a List control with a list of colors and photos of the shirt in each color and the control loads the selected color/photo for viewing? Would take 1 minute to write it in HTML. It shouldn't be harder just because you are using some "easy to use" site builder thingy
> 
> I don't think there is any "magic" utility that "fakes" having separate photos in different colors; one fakes that in Photoshop not on the web page. If there is such a thing, it seems more bother than it is worth, perhaps ...


You could be 100% correct on what you said. However, I am an underground miner just trying to start a little t-shirt selling business to keep sane on days off. I don't have "code" writing skills, so although it maybe second nature to some, not the case for me. I'll take your opinion and see what i can do, thanks!


----------



## NoXid (Apr 4, 2011)

I write my own stuff directly in HTML/CSS/Javascript, so answered from that rather antique perspective. You should probably mentioned the ecommerce tool you are looking at. Perhaps someone with experience in it can make more useful and specific suggestions than my own. You might also try searching for the name of that tool and see what topics show up. 

Welcome to the site!


----------



## Miner2510 (Mar 7, 2015)

NoXid said:


> I write my own stuff directly in HTML/CSS/Javascript, so answered from that rather antique perspective. You should probably mentioned the ecommerce tool you are looking at. Perhaps someone with experience in it can make more useful and specific suggestions than my own. You might also try searching for the name of that tool and see what topics show up.
> 
> Welcome to the site!


Not a problem big guy all is well!, I was looking at Wix just cause its easy for a dummy like me trying to build a decent looking website ha ha.

However, took your advice and looked into this again and turns out that if i want to offer a certain design i have to upload a picture for every color i would offer. I've been to other sights where they have one image and you just scroll over the color you like and the image then shows that color.

Thats what i was after to avoid having to upload multiple colors, since i am going to have live models wearing the shirts for my website images. Which then creates the problem i would have to buy every color in order to make this happen.

I looked at shopify and that seems to be the same way unless you use the mercify app which i didnt like because a basic t-shirt is like $30 after shipping costs, i don't know many people who would pay that much for a t-shirt, could be dead wrong but if i wouldn't i assume most won't.

However you did help me in the end to figure out i had to upload every color in a separate image so now i know that much haha. Thanks again for the helpful advice!


----------



## NoXid (Apr 4, 2011)

Actually, mousing over the color is triggering an OnMouseOver event that uses a bit of Javascript to load the correct photo
(onmouseover Event).

These platforms coverup the underlying HTML/CSS/Scripts with their own "easier" to use layer so you just have to learn how to use their tool rather than everything under it. Basically start with a template close to what you want and tweak it as needed. It is how most people build sites these days, and probably what I would do if I hadn't already learned the from-scratch way. Also, the tools built around a database have advantages for some use scenarios, so no claims my way is the best way ... it's just the best way for me 

You can probably find a forum specifically about the platform you are using (https://www.wix.com/support/html5/forum/), or at least specific to using such tools in general. Stick with it. There is a learning curve with anything. Basically just gotta play around and learn by doing things wrong


----------



## jerrymaguire (Mar 9, 2015)

Hello,
I think BigCartel would be just what you need, i am using them for my online shop, i am pretty happy with it, you can try the free version to see if it's what you want.


----------



## Miner2510 (Mar 7, 2015)

jerrymaguire said:


> Hello,
> I think BigCartel would be just what you need, i am using them for my online shop, i am pretty happy with it, you can try the free version to see if it's what you want.


I spent the better part of last night looking at that place as well as shopify and other similar places. I jumped on shopify and they to required me to upload the separate images of different colors. But now that I've been given some great info maybe I'll learn it or get someone who knows how and spend a little to make that function happen.

I'll have a look again at BigCartel though, thanks for your advice also!


----------



## tchandler52 (Sep 17, 2012)

You could always just upload several photos of that shirt in the different colors under that product that you would like to sell. With Photoshop it can be easily done.


----------



## Miner2510 (Mar 7, 2015)

tchandler52 said:


> You could always just upload several photos of that shirt in the different colors under that product that you would like to sell. With Photoshop it can be easily done.


Ok, great I don't have Photoshop but saw it was a subscription based program now so I should probably look into it I suppose. Thanks for your help appreciate it.


----------



## lvprinting (Sep 23, 2014)

There are plugins for this in WooCommerce and it works in OpenTshirts.

Choose a color from the options, a swatch appears or the shirt changes colors to match.

Sent from my SM-G900T using T-Shirt Forums


----------



## Miner2510 (Mar 7, 2015)

lvprinting said:


> There are plugins for this in WooCommerce and it works in OpenTshirts.
> 
> Choose a color from the options, a swatch appears or the shirt changes colors to match.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G900T using T-Shirt Forums


Ah, I'm gonna check that out, again thank you!


----------



## EricDeem (May 7, 2011)

Woocommerce is an excellent platform to use...especially if you are already familiar with WordPress.


----------



## Wilsonss (Aug 11, 2015)

You can also try Sellbeing, I think there are too many features and it's easy


----------



## Preston (Mar 21, 2006)

X-Cart can do it with what they call "detailed images"


----------



## ejtipi (Jul 6, 2015)

Litecart with little modifications will do that  I need only two images for every product in my shop - first is mockup or real picture and second is my pattern on transparent background - you can check how it works on my website.


----------



## Stewart Gill (Jun 23, 2018)

While selecting framework for your E-commerce project first understand basic need such as if you are providing multivendor facility then oscommerce provide the best feature, if you are trying to get maximum advantage of SEO values then Magento is best. Moreover, overall featured framework are Bigcommerce and Volusion.


----------



## TABOB (Feb 13, 2018)

Miner2510 said:


> I've been to other sights where they have one image and you just scroll over the color you like and the image then shows that color.



This is my field (my other job), so I know exactly what you mean. There are many ways to achieve this, but the best would probably be using what is called "HTML5 canvas". 

So let,s say you sell T-shirts. You only have to upload the white one with transparent background. Then you can use JavaScript to to colorize the shirt when the mouse moves over a color option, and apply a design on a specified position. Any number of colors, with just one photo. Opacity, rotation and many other things can also be manipulated. 

So basically you can take one t-Shirt photo, and create 1,000 multi-color products with it, or as many as you want really. Technology is great... no?

*The bad news...* I don't think you can find a ready made one. These things are usually custom made, and fairly expensive. You'd be looking around $2,000 for the canvas system alone, and probably another $1,000-$2,000 for platform integration.


----------



## orbisbrand (Jun 24, 2018)

I Use Deco network which is great for what I do, I can have people design their own stuff there as well as a store by itself If i want to.


----------



## orbisbrand (Jun 24, 2018)

Another one like deco would be ink soft its decos competition really good as well, just more $ upfront than deco network


----------



## TABOB (Feb 13, 2018)

These should work OK, for those with not much technical knowledge.

The upfront cost is unreasonably high, and the monthly fee is obviously an extra overhead, which has to be added to the price of the shirts indefinitely, and there is the risk of the company discontinuing its service.


----------

