# Oscommerce & Paypal Website Pro



## mark78 (Jun 18, 2007)

Hey folks,

How's everyone doing? I'm Mark and this is my first official post. 
Hope you are all well. 

I'm about a week into the arduous process of doing the actual implementation of a tee-shirt website. I'm a j2ee developer by trade but most of the experience I have alas is not front end stuff but more back end db interaction stuff so the vast majority of the technology I'm trying to come to terms with is fairly new to me so apologies for any no-brainer questions..

So far I'm this eh.. far :-
Domain Reg & Hosting account :- Godaddy linux economy account.
Shopping Cart :- Oscommerce
Php 4.3.11 Mysql 5.0 Apache 1.3.33 

( Sorry for taking so long to get to the questions but I thought I'd give ye a little background first. Here we go.. )

From the background research I've done thus far, it seems feasible that I can forego the merchant account and payment gateway in place of integrating OSCommerce with PayPal's Website Pro. Even so far as to say that I don't need to purchase an SSL cert ( which I sadly have alas but sure what about it. ) I should be able to accept credit card payments without the user having to have a paypal account themselves? We're an Irish based enterprise. Could that be a problem with PayPal? 

I was hoping I could get your guys opinions on this?? Does it sound too good to be true? Has anyone any experience with it and how does it perform? 

Also I've scoured for a good decent into to the OSCommerce php framework but so far no good. Would I be better off learning php from scratch or is there anything out there that would give me a gentle intro to both? 

Thanks a million for your time. There seems to be a great atmosphere on this forum. I look forward to chewing the fat with ye.

Thanks,
Mark.


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## tcrowder (Apr 27, 2006)

Have you looked at zencart.com ? It's php based with multiple payment abilities.


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## mark78 (Jun 18, 2007)

Hey there tcrowder. I haven't really looked at it yet.
I was hoping to continue with the OSCommerce option as I've put quite a bit of time into it so far and if needs be I'd trawl through the code to figure out what's going on. 
Is zencart.com free?


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## tcrowder (Apr 27, 2006)

Yes it is a free program.


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## mark78 (Jun 18, 2007)

Hey but is zencart like Oscommerce in that if you can amend the underlying code and tailor the site youself if needs be? 

Thanks,
Mark.


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## tcrowder (Apr 27, 2006)

Yes, you can manilulate the code to change the look and feel to match your website. There are templates and add ons available to those that know how to do some coding. It sounds to me like you would have no problem with it.


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## mark78 (Jun 18, 2007)

Sounds pretty good tcrowder. Is it also done in php? 
Is there any development comparison done between it and OSCommerce that your aware of?


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## tcrowder (Apr 27, 2006)

I have not worked with OS, yes it is php


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## geekfitters (Jun 30, 2007)

Oscommerce is not a bad way to go because it gives you the most flexibility later on the process. As a piece of open source software, everyone uses it and most people make their code available for others to use, which is awesome.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

Also look into Cubecart, it's much easier to customize than oscommerce.


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## SomeSailor (Jun 29, 2007)

I was running OSCommerce, then switched to Zen Cart. I've also installed Cube Cart, and used it with Paypal fo awhile. But by far, Zen Cart and authorize.net have been the best.

I get an email at the end of the day as the website cashes out and a few days later the money is in my account. Never had a glitch.

BUT... I would suggest you have a SSL Cert. They're relatievely cheap, and MANY people are smart enough not to use a site without one. Also, if you get blacklisted by Visa or MC for a SOX violation, you'll be stuck with nothing.


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## camscam (Apr 1, 2007)

Some sailor can you tell me more about a "SOX violation" ans what that means? Why would you get that without an SSL Cert?


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