<p><img src="http://www.magentocommerce.com/images/uploads/gap-4-in-1.jpg" style="border: 0;" alt="image" width="577" height="356" />
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<a href="http://www.gap.com/" title="Gap.com">Gap.com</a> has recently updated its homepage to reflect an exciting new feature on its sites that allows users to shop <a href="http://www.gap.com/" title="Gap">Gap</a>, <a href="http://www.oldnavy.com/" title="Old Navy">Old Navy</a>, <a href="http://www.bananarepublic.com/" title="Banana Republic">Banana Republic</a>, and <a href="http://www.piperlime.com/" title="Piperlime">Piperlime</a> using a single checkout process for all stores.
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<b>This is a great feature that is already included in Magento’s out-of-the-box functionality.</b> We’re excited to start seeing community implementations taking advantage of this mall functionality.
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Related:
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- <a href="http://www.magentocommerce.com/blog/comments/video-creating-multiple-online-storefronts-part1/" title="Video: Creating Multiple Online Storefronts (Part 1) and ">Video: Creating Multiple Online Storefronts (Part 1)</a>
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- <a href="http://www.magentocommerce.com/blog/comments/video-creating-multiple-online-storefronts-part-2/" title="Video: Creating Multiple Online Storefronts (Part 2)">Video: Creating Multiple Online Storefronts (Part 2)</a>
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More...

According to many threads on Magento Fourm. There is no clear solution to "Multiple Stores, One Checkout" Also, In the webinar, it says it can be done, but doesn't provide clear cut instructions on how to do it. I checked the Magento Official User Guide, and again no instructions on Multiple Stores, One Checkout. I clicked on the Magento's support tab... I would be glad to pay for it...please I want to pay for it, but paid support is only available for Enterprise edition.

I've been having difficulty as well as many others, with multiple stores on one 'website' to share the cart. One IP, One Machine, Two Stores, One Website. Doesn’t matter how it’s setup..subdomains, subfolders, different domains. Tried the Magento demos. Tried storing session in db and on files; it still creates two session files. Tried the latest Magento version 1.4 rc1. I also tried 1.3 and even tried 1.02...does not share cart. And there is not one blog, forum, comment, etc.. on the web that shows this actually works out of the box. Even the official Magento Online Demo, doesn't have this feature. There is no step by step instructions ANYWHERE ON THE WEB or MAGENTO for "sharing cart" successfully, because it can't be done out of the box, period.

I see a lot of people in my situation looking to php coders (freelancers) to set this up. If someone can setup the first store... then the second store should be easy, right? But it's not (wanna know why), because it's not possible unless you hire a php coder (freelancer).

I really don’t know how Magento claims this works out of the box - Is this for publicity, a.k.a advertisement? And yes gap.com has deep pockets so they can get their developers to write the necessary codes to fix Magento.

Any insight would be nice.

Thanks

I feel like I have to apologize to Magento. After following these instructions, Magento Share One Cart, it gave me the solution. And now both sites are sharing the cart.

Hi magento,

Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us. it is very nice solution for "Multiple Stores, One Checkout".

__________________
Magento Developer

You are right that finding any information on how to setup single checkout with multiple stores is impossible. The link you provided sounded great.... but is no longer available.

Did someone with an agenda shut it down? I know that is far fetched, but seems a little conincedental.

All seems very strange this, since it is such a popular request. But I cant see Magento helping while they are lining there pockets with cash.

But perhaps as a gesture of good will and with the COMMUNITY in mind, they could release a tutorial.

Simon