cryptic Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Hello all:I was curious to know all the different types of shopping cart solutions you all use. Please let me know if you are using osCommerce, XCart, Mal's Shopping Cart, PayPal, or any other shopping cart. I would like to make a list and compare all of them to see what would suit my needs, thank you!Dee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islandgirl Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Love Mals... It's free and works well.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justrightcandles Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Really? I have mal's and I hate it!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islandgirl Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Really? I have mal's and I hate it!!Why??I find it easy to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justrightcandles Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 i can't figure out how to get the real time shipping, you where they just type in their zip code and it figures it out for you based on where they are. and the guys takes forever to email me back. i paid the $24 a year for the premium but i don't see a difference.what is your website, island girl? i love your avitar. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShellyT Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 JustRightCandles,Have you tried their message board? I know there are alot of people there that could help you and you may even be able to find the question already answered there. I know the owner of Mals is in a different country and it does take him awhile to get back to you but as far as I know, he does reply back. But try the message board and that may give you help faster!Also, are you sure you got the premium account with mals? Because it's alot more then $24.00 a year. Maybe you just did the 1st quarter?From Mals site: $8.00 US per month, payable quarterly in advance.You can pay Premium fees by credit card or PayPal. I offer a 10% discount for those who wish to pay on an annual basis, $86.40.Shelly TDIYeStores.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
my3lilrugrats Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 I'll be using something similar to oscommerce..my husband's web guy is in the process of developing my site..(I'm so bad, I'm drawing a blank on the name). He is developing the custom software for me ...I pick the things I want and he programs it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justrightcandles Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 JustRightCandles,Have you tried their message board? I know there are alot of people there that could help you and you may even be able to find the question already answered there. I know the owner of Mals is in a different country and it does take him awhile to get back to you but as far as I know, he does reply back. But try the message board and that may give you help faster!Also, are you sure you got the premium account with mals? Because it's alot more then $24.00 a year. Maybe you just did the 1st quarter?From Mals site: $8.00 US per month, payable quarterly in advance.You can pay Premium fees by credit card or PayPal. I offer a 10% discount for those who wish to pay on an annual basis, $86.40.Shelly TDIYeStores.comOh heck no! and i can not even figure out how to use it!I PM'd you Shelly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpowell Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 I am using ZenCart. It is similar to oscommerce. I find it easy to use and haven't had any problems with it at all. The few questions I do have are answered within minutes on their forum. Best of all it's free, works with paypal and many other payment options and has many choices for shipping options, and you can easily change products, make sales to start and end on set dates, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islandgirl Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 i can't figure out how to get the real time shipping, you where they just type in their zip code and it figures it out for you based on where they are. OK.. I will rephrase my orional quote:Mals is easy when you just use the basics.... LOLI don't use the real time shipping... But now I am worried... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShellyT Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Mals is a Great option for those that want a basic shopping cart. It's not a website builder (2 different things). And the company has been around for MANY years! I used Mals when I first got started online about 11 years ago! So it's been around for awhile!If you use Mals you will still need to create a website either by hand with code or a website software like frontpage and insert the shopping cart codes OR you can use a website builder that connects with Mals. So just depending on what you are wanting, it may or may not be the best option for you!Shelly TDIYeStores.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShellyT Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 If you are wanting to do your own thing, you also might want to look into http://www.OptionCart.comThat is a basic website builder that connects with Mals. You can purchase it yourself for like $45.00 and then the software is yours and you can install it on any webhost. So if you wanted to use Mals but also wanted a website builder to create the actual website, then it would work for you. Hope this helps! Shelly TDIYeStores.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgcurtis1961 Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 We are working on getting my website up and running and signed up for mals premium because we also wanted real time shipping through the usps. We were having a hard time getting it to work and finally figured out you have to sign up for an account through the usps but then you have to call them to have the account activated before the real time shipping will work. Once they activated it it worked like a charm. We didn't try getting it set up for ups or fedex. Hth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crafty1_AJ Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 I used to use PP's but now I use Mals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiverStreetDesigns Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 I've used Feature Cart, Mals, OsCommerce and recently bought the software for Squirrel Cart. I'm really enjoying learning new software all over again and plan to launch my gourmet site with the new software by March 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sudsnwicks Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 OK.. I will rephrase my orional quote:Mals is easy when you just use the basics.... LOLI don't use the real time shipping... But now I am worried... What are you worried about? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinInOR Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 I used mals free version for the first 2 years I had my site. I worked hard to get the shipping close to the real time charges - it was pretty close. I did a lot of analysis of the UPS shipping tables.I grew enough that it was getting too hard to maintain my site with all my pages, even though it was data base driven, so I changed to osCommerce for the extra features it gave me. I've heavily customized it so it acts like I want it too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cryptic Posted February 10, 2007 Author Share Posted February 10, 2007 Awesome responses...thanks all! Please keep them coming. I've used osCommerce a few years ago, and I remember it being a headache. Just want to gather some info before getting into that one again. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cryptic Posted February 10, 2007 Author Share Posted February 10, 2007 I've used Feature Cart, Mals, OsCommerce and recently bought the software for Squirrel Cart. I'm really enjoying learning new software all over again and plan to launch my gourmet site with the new software by March 1.Hi, out of all of the shopping carts you've used so far, which one do you like the most? Which one do you think is most useful? I've designed web sites for about 9 years, but just wanted to get an idea of you all use on your sites.Thanks all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristineG Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 I am using ZenCart. It is similar to oscommerce. I find it easy to use and haven't had any problems with it at all. The few questions I do have are answered within minutes on their forum. Best of all it's free, works with paypal and many other payment options and has many choices for shipping options, and you can easily change products, make sales to start and end on set dates, etc.I've had nothing but problems with the ZenCart. 3 Days ago, I had my "old reliable" website that used Mals Premium replaced with my new site using ZenCart. Been out of business since. Attributes won't load....it's not me, it's the cart....technical errors. It's clumping all my products together unlike my old site that had everything neatly listed...I had a web designer/developer, who handled my old site, do the new site. I'm stuck with the new site, just sitting there....only my candles are loaded, 2 body products out of many are up but can't even get the flavors or fragrances loaded on those two. I did read the support site...which by the way, as far as being helpful, has only received 2 stars out of 5. I'm not a techy....but it seems there help is geared towards developers with experience. I'm surprised you're not having any problems with it. Did you handle yours yourself or did you have a web developer handle yours? Just trying to figure this out...I've gone from frantic to tears and back for the last 3 days working on this. Last nite I worked on it all day till midnite...then back up at 4:30am and still....nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eugenia Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 I'm using Mal's free cart and the real time calculators through USPS and UPS and it works perfectly. You have to sign up through USPS and UPS and get them activated in order for them to work. I have not tried Fed-Ex, but I assume it would be the same. I think you need to go back to the shipper's websites and investigate there. There are several steps involved in setting up the calculators. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiverStreetDesigns Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 Hi, out of all of the shopping carts you've used so far, which one do you like the most? Which one do you think is most useful? I've designed web sites for about 9 years, but just wanted to get an idea of you all use on your sites.Thanks all!So far, Squirrel Cart would get my top vote. Feature Cart I used for a number of years and I like it a LOT more than Mals or OsCommerce. I've just grown and needed some more features that Feature Cart doesn't currently provide although the programmer is always adding to it.Squirrel Cart is not FREE but the support and feature are well worth the price in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherl Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 I use Zen and love it. The host I started with had an older version of the cart and I did have some issues. Changed hosts and got one that was setup for Zencart and redid the site. Have had no problems and there is a lot I can do with this cart should I desire. Was told on this board that OS was a bit more technical and even though I enjoy computers I had no desire to spend a lot of time learing something new. I found Zen fairly user friendly, the forum has a lot of info and free was definately attractive. I really wanted real time shipping calculators and this cart gave me the calculators and an attractive store as well. Check out several websites that use the carts you are interested in. Do they have a look and feel that you can live with. Find the cart you like then find a host that knows and supports that cart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nodtveidt Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 We tried ZenCart, osCommerce, Agora, PayPal's little system, and CubeCart. None suited our purposes. So, I just wrote my own. I know this isn't an option for most people but if you can get someone to write you a shopping cart that suits your needs specifically, it's the best way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justrightcandles Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 I'm using Mal's free cart and the real time calculators through USPS and UPS and it works perfectly. You have to sign up through USPS and UPS and get them activated in order for them to work. I have not tried Fed-Ex, but I assume it would be the same. I think you need to go back to the shipper's websites and investigate there. There are several steps involved in setting up the calculators. i thought you needed the premium to use the real time shipping? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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