HELP....Need a new full turnkey eCommerce solution for my online business

[noupf]

Hi All,

I'm new to the site and I need some suggestions. I have a small online business thats been set up and maintained by a buddy of mine for a couple years. The site was very basic and only used the paypal shopping cart software. Since then I have grown and expanded to the point where i'd like to get a nicer and more legitimate looking site up and running. Currently I am hosted with 1and1.com and I decided to try there ecommerce package. All in all its not bad, but it has a couple things that bother me.

1) I can not make bullet points for product descriptions. No matter how I do or try to make bullet points, it just goes into a paragraph form when its published.

2) I can not make coupon codes for new customers. I can only make codes for customers who have already purchased from me....IF the created a customer profile....WHAT A WASTE!

3) For some reason, all international orders are being charged sales tax....and 1and1 has no idea how to stop it from happening.

So, with that being said, along with a couple of other small annoyances, I have decided to look for another hosting / ecommerce solution for my site needs and wants.

Does anybody have any experience with the following or perhaps can offer some other suggestions?

I found this review site, but can’t really find any "reliable" reviews from customers/users.... http://ecommerce-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

1) goEmerchant

2) 3Dcart

3) Volusion

4) Corecommerece

5) ProStores

Thanks in advance for any help!

Lee

[c2uk]

Magento - just to add a free & open source alternative to the mix

[noupf]

Magento - just to add a free & open source alternative to the mix

Thanks.....but I am not really a savy enough to be able to do these open source ones.....i have no idea how to make it and add it to my web address. I dont mind spending $30-50 a month for something that has an easy interface and publishes itself for me. I just need to find the best one ( easier said than done i guess ).

thanks though.

[Sellbits]

I would recommend using an open source cart like oscommerce, zen-cart, etc just because it would save you the $30-50 a month. It's pretty easy to use all you have to do is upload the code to your host. If you don't have a host, find a cheap one and just point your domain to the hosts nameservers. If your friend can, have him take a look at those and see if he can incorporate your design into that. That's just my recommendation..Good Luck!

[c2uk]

i have no idea how to make it

no need to make it, it's already made, just like any other software.

add it to my web address

upload it to your webspace, if you have other content there that you don't want to lose, then place it in a subfolder.

has an easy interface

have you checked the demo? it has a pretty easy and clean interface.

publishes itself for me

got no idea what you're talking about here.

I just need to find the best one ( easier said than done i guess ).

Good luck, there is no such thing as the best one - and sometimes only after using something for a prolonged time, do you find faults with it that are not good for your business. Magento at least you can try out for free, but I guess you don't want to invest that time, fair enough.

I dont mind spending $30-50 a month

well, you could always buy the Magento handbook for $25 or hire somebody to set it up for you as well. Free & open source software doesn't mean that there is no paid support available, difference is that you don't need to pay that monthly fees for products that often times don't come close to what open source alternatives can provide - particularly when it comes to software for the web.

But at the end of the day, it's your call.

[CS-Cart]

Speaking of hosted solutions, you may try to find something at shopping-cart-reviews.com using the desired parameters. However, I agree that shopping carts that come with an open source code are in general more flexible.

Speaking of installation and configuration, paid shopping carts usually offer such services as a part of technical support, so this should not be a problem.

By the way, what kind of store do you have, how many items does it contain? Do you have any specific requirements?

[Avactis]

> I found this review site, but can’t really find any "reliable" reviews from customers/users

Here is the biggest listing of the ecommerce platforms with many reviews:
http://www.hotscripts.com/category/p...hopping-carts/

If you are interested in "full turnkey eCommerce solution", I suppose that you interested not only in professional support services but also in ecommerce hosting from the shopping cart company itself?

[noupf]

I have a small, but high revenue generating business based on just a coulpe of niche products. I will be expanding into a couple more products in the not to distant future. In all, I will only be selling 10-15 products all together within the next two or three years.

I just want a clean, professional looking site that offers me the ability to have a nice store front, customizable with many templates, ways to arrange it the way I want, the ability accept multiple forms of payment while hosting my web address and email. Like I said, right now I am on 1and1.com as my hosting and email service and I also have a store front and ecommerce shop that they offer. I just am not a fan of it and I am looking for something better. I am looking for a package that can do all the above (obviously there is a lot more that I need with my eShop than what I mentioned, but you get the idea) for a fair price.

I am not looking to add a shopping cart to my exisiting site.....I am looking for something that will create my site using templates already made while also provinding shopping cart software and accepting payments. I just want to add my products, descriptions, prices and start selling.

The names I mentioned above ( goEmerchant, volusion, 3Dcart, corecommerce and ProStores ) are what I found via a google search and I was just curious if anybody uses them or can recommend some others.

[Amy Carczak]

Take a look at the cart I use as you sound like
you're in the same basic position I was in a short
time ago.

One really big item you missed was how to gain more
revenue from each customer.

To accomplish this, you need a really strong "up sell"
functionality. I suggest you consider this strongly, although
few speak of it, it's an extremely powerful technique.

After all, ever buy a burger at McDonalds and NOT have them
ask, "would you like fries with that"? That's an "up sell" and it
really works well ...so if a 16 year old with his 1st job can do it,
shouldn't you be doing it too?

Anyhow ...check it out here: PremiumWebCart (dot) com

Also, there are more cart reviews at ScamDetective (dot) com

I hope this helps you.

[osix]

Did you checked osCommerce?

[roxics]

You might want to add BigCommerce and Shopify to your list to check out.

Both are hosted solutions that are similar to your examples.

[rob999]

There are easy to use plug and play solutions to that comes at an affodable price but it all depends on your demands.

[Kepela]

> I found this review site, but can’t really find any "reliable" reviews from customers/users

Here is the biggest listing of the ecommerce platforms with many reviews:
http://www.hotscripts.com/category/p...hopping-carts/

If you are interested in "full turnkey eCommerce solution", I suppose that you interested not only in professional support services but also in ecommerce hosting from the shopping cart company itself?

How come Magento is not on that list?? Seems odd.

[Miraculix]

Seems odd or smart?

[Killer Tofu]

Many hosts (hostgator for example) has fantastico, which has OScommerce 1 click install which is VERY customizeable and VERY secure

[bluedreamer]

How come Magento is not on that list?? Seems odd.

Probably because Varien haven't submitted it to Hotscripts. It's not unusual not to submit to directories