We need help! We have a website and a shopping cart currently. We are using merchant manager but the design is so very limited. I think our shopping cart (www.sassysigns.com) looks terrible! We need to completely redesign it and make it much more user friendly. We also want to create our site so our shopping cart and website are one site (currently you go to our site, click order now and it takes you to a shopping cart). There are SO many shopping carts / ecommerce solutions - I need help! what is the best shopping cart to use? We don't want to change again in 1 year because we choose the wrong one. I need it to do the obvious functions - coupons, customer database, reporting, add /change product etc....

Any advice? What are the best shopping cart/ecommerce solutions and why? We don't have a huge budget but we don't want to waste money buying a cheap one when we should have spent the extra cash right away for a good one.

ANY advice would be much appreciated! I have googled reviews on shopping carts and there a million saying good things about all kinds of different carts. I need actual users/experts to tell me what they think! thanks so much!

Why spend any money purchasing cart when you could use
zencart or oscommerce...either do what you have outlined..
zencart has better forum help..number of forum members
here have switched..best of all...both are FREE..all you
require is webhosting that supports php.

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and
Unusual and Special Gifts

Hi,

Most Ecommerce solutions provide all of the core features, it sounds like you need to consider what type of solution would best suit your needs.

As dezina said, open source is a good solution in terms of it being well supported but its not really free - that's a bit misleading.

In addition to finding and paying for reliable hosting, the 'free' open source installations are very bland, if you want a distinctive design and feel to your shop then you will need to pay for someone skilled in PHP to modify your open source installation.

If you would rather spend your time running you business instead of worrying about technical issues then a hosted Ecommerce solution might be the way to go.

There are plenty to choose from and typically charge a monthly subscription in return for taking care of all the techy issues, and provide you with a web based admin system to manage the contents of your shop.

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Regards,
Dave

Internet Retailer eCommerce shops . Geran SEO search engine optimisation

Cost of zencart = £0.00
Cost of hosting = Between £15.00/£50.00 per year
Domain Name = Around £3/£6 per year
ZenCart Template = Free £0 from zencart downloads
OR
Custom Template = Around £50.00/£150
depending on requirements

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and
Unusual and Special Gifts

Ah the eBay version of eCommerce, you recommend people who want to use your service consider a £0 template used by a gizillion other shops before?

And here was me wondering why all the major retailers don't use Zencart

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Regards,
Dave

Internet Retailer eCommerce shops . Geran SEO search engine optimisation

Incorrect..design/use other shopping carts..
Information just shows what can be done on limited budget..
Major Retailers have unlimited resources...average new shop
owners do not...
Original Poster requested help/advice..I provided one
option because as they posted

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and
Unusual and Special Gifts

Yes the software licence is free but your clear implication is that using open source eCommerce software is free, which is misleading and is an often repeated mantra by those who make money reselling free software.

And even then it is not free unless you want an identikit shop which looks like many thousands of other straight out of the box installations.

And the idea that you can get a truly unique and professionally designed website or template for as little as £50 is, again, a tad misleading

__________________
Regards,
Dave

Internet Retailer eCommerce shops . Geran SEO search engine optimisation

Incorrect

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and
Unusual and Special Gifts

I think zencart and escommerce is best.Most Ecommerce solutions provide all of the core features, it sounds like you need to consider what type of solution would best suit your needs.Free shopping carts arelikely not be the best choice if you are new to ocommerce.Trying to do everything yourself.
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How To Get Approved For a Merchant Account

You are new to ecommerce and could use a helping hand, so a hosted solution like Quickshop suggeted would be a wiser choice. Getting a website set up is only the start, you will need free advice on how to make it work to your advantage.
Take up lots of free test site offers and see which suits your needs.
The Puresilva option is very customisable and free updates are always being added.
Lots of helpful info on the site, worth a bit of your time reading. Help is always available. www.puresilva.com

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easy websites with blogg and forum option
eveningbags, bridal and special occasion handbags

AJ Shopping Cart Software is the best shopping cart software which is having an exclusive user friend features.

• Cogent Management of the Store , Inventory & Shipping
• Efficacious Order , Billing & Order Tracking
• Revenue earning Marketing Features like Coupons , Volume Discount, Price Comparison, Product Variation , Product & Price Comparison, Cross Selling etc..
• Effective Newsletter Marketing Features
• Informative Tax Related Features
• Google Analytical reports in the Dashboards
• Potent Control Panel Features
• Choice of both On line & Off line Payment Gateways
• Option of Email /Print invoices or orders
• Video uploads for Products
• Cancellation of Orders in the admin side
• Expedient Stock Control Management

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Shopping Cart Software
Article Directory Software

Your self-promotion is not going to do very well if all you claim of your software is that its cogent, efficacious, effective, informative, potent and expedient

May I suggest a thesaurus to help you with your next advert

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Regards,
Dave

Internet Retailer eCommerce shops . Geran SEO search engine optimisation

I dint find nothing good feature in your suggestion(thesaurus). Make sure whether your suggestion will be helpful or not.

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Shopping Cart Software
Article Directory Software