I Need A Very Simple Shopping Cart (Full Version)

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RickP -> I Need A Very Simple Shopping Cart (2/27/2008 5:21:42)

I am currently designing a site which has a grand total of 5 products to sell. Clearly a full-blown e-commerce solution is not the thing I need. The client has a PayPal account and I had planned to use PayPal shopping cart...

I have used single payment options with PayPal before and like it's ease - if a customer is not a PayPal account holder they can simply enter their details and pay by credit card with no obligation to signing up for a PayPal account.

From what I've just read on the PayPal site regarding their free shopping cart it sounds like customers do have to sign up for a PayPal account (!?), which could prove off-putting. Maybe I've got it wrong, I've not tested the system yet.

Does anyone use the PayPal shopping cart? Would anyone recommend any other very simple shopping cart solution that would fit the bill here?

Thanks



Tailslide -> RE: I Need A Very Simple Shopping Cart (2/27/2008 5:25:51)

I've used paypal buttons and no, the user doesn't have to sign up for a Paypal account in the UK so you should be fine.

If they've only got 5 products and aren't planning on increasing that then a full scale cart would seem like overkill.

Cubecart and Zencart are probably the easiest that I've seen although there are some nice looking hosted options (but it's expensive). If you choose Cubecart then you need to buy a VAT plugin as it can't manage VAT out of the box.

For 5 items though... I'd do Paypal.



RickP -> RE: I Need A Very Simple Shopping Cart (2/27/2008 5:57:19)

Thanks Tailside

I've just got a little further on here and realise that the checkout is the same as for single payment options like you say - time they updated the website blurb!

I've tested cubecart in the past but never had occasion to use it.

Can I ask you one question about the PayPal cart system... The 'buy' buttons open a new window to the Paypal cart - do you think it would affect much if I used javascript to make those new windows 'chromeless' and sized smaller? I think this would look neater and less confusing to buyers.



Tailslide -> RE: I Need A Very Simple Shopping Cart (2/27/2008 6:23:46)

You know me Rick.

Personally I wouldn't mess with the window... Who's to say what might happen. For me, for example it opens a new tab not a new window. Someone else might have it set up to open in the same window. So messing with the window itself might cause more trouble than it's worth (imagine if their current window controls suddenly disappear - not sure if that would happen with what you're suggesting or not to be honest but you see what I mean).

You can style the Paypal end slightly so that it looks vaguely like the client's site.



RickP -> RE: I Need A Very Simple Shopping Cart (2/27/2008 6:39:54)

OK - seems like sound advice

One more ... please...

Just noticed that the button code includes the account email address - not good for spam (bots) of course. My single payment buttons used on other sites are encrypted and don't give away the emaill address but I can't find that option on PayPal for these 'cart' buttons. Do you happen to know if this can be done with the shopping cart buttons?

And thanks for your input this morning [;)]



jaybee -> RE: I Need A Very Simple Shopping Cart (2/27/2008 7:20:45)

I think there's an option within the Paypal button creator to encrypt the details.



Scotty -> RE: I Need A Very Simple Shopping Cart (2/29/2008 21:21:51)

Secure Net Shop has a free, 50 item max, shopping cart option, that I find very easy to use and simple to set up...remarkable customer service.
Regards, Scotty



RickP -> RE: I Need A Very Simple Shopping Cart (3/1/2008 7:37:30)

Thanks Scotty - I'll have a look at that ;^) - might be back to ask you more... !

Regarding encrypting PayPal buttons - I have discovered that only the "buy now" buttons are encryptable - "add to cart" (i.e. the shopping basket system) does not offer encryption off-the-peg so to speak. There are some details about a more complex encrption method that can be used - it looks like a lot of work though!



shosh -> RE: I Need A Very Simple Shopping Cart (3/13/2008 6:31:25)

hi,

have you check out / compared paypal to the google checkout , using buy now button or ordering via email.

I have a simmilar dilema as yours but my website contains many items.

In any case do you need to maintain a database with cat # or availability?

How is the shipping cost calculated on line?

do I need to add the html code for each item on my website?

thanks
shosh



RickP -> RE: I Need A Very Simple Shopping Cart (3/13/2008 7:19:59)

Hi Shosh

I have now gone with PayPal and for this particular situation it suits fine.

The site is: exercisehoop co uk

This is a simple scenario where there are just five items for sale, no stock numbers to update - just fixed items on a fixed price.

The shipping options using the PayPal basket are fairly simple:

free postage.
one-off flat rate.
Postage based on percentage of sale.
postage based on total weight of items.
1st item so much - subsequent items at smaller (fixed) amount.

I think that's it.

I used the last choice but its drawback is that the additional items cost only kicks in on additional items of the same item bought - i.e. If I buy one hoop and decide also to buy a second 'different' one then the full postage is charged again. Not very good but in this case we only expect people to mainly buy single items from the site and there will be a note to contact the sellers for certain orders - especially overseas.

During my recent investigations I came across 'Roman Cart', which similarly is a third party shopping basket plugging into an existing site - for a site with more items, and needing more flexibility it may be just the ticket!?

BTW - has anyone used GoogleCart? I too would be interested to know how it compares with PayPal for small sites.

Anyone used RomanCart?



jaybee -> RE: I Need A Very Simple Shopping Cart (3/13/2008 9:29:43)

I tried out Roman Cart but decided against it for a reason that now escapes me. I went with Zen instead. This may well be down to functionality rather than Roman being a pain to work with.

Google cart I also looked at. I think the reason I didn't use it was due to all the sign up being only available for the US at the time.



shosh -> RE: I Need A Very Simple Shopping Cart (3/13/2008 11:06:19)

Hi Rick,

Thanks for your comments, very helpful.

your comments have solidified my descision to use paypal shopping cart.

By the way Google has no shopping cart just a payment checkout interface , that is why I sugested the buy now or email orders , due to the fact that you have just a few items.

My site includes art items which change constantly . Each is one of a kind but there are many items.

From what I was reading the Google full solution will interface with a shopping cart incorporated in the website.

The free shopping cart that came on top from my search was the Zen , which will interface with google checkout.

I could see from your site code that for each item the form code for the shopping cart is added separately.

To incorporate this in my website I will need to dig back into my head to create one html page with the shopping cart form and send in the parameters for the form from each item . I am not a professional in web design but my knowlegeablwe instincs tell me it can be done.

When I figure it out I will let you know.

Thanks again and heave a greet evening ( I guess it is almost evening in UK now)

Shosh

Shosh



shosh -> RE: I Need A Very Simple Shopping Cart (3/13/2008 11:15:18)

Hello,

Thanks for the comments ,

See my reply to Rick for my thoughts.

What payment system did you use with Zen, Is it PayPal, if so why did you need a shopping cart on top of what PayPal offers?

Do you have any comments on the idea of calling the form from each item ( sending into it the data as parameters) so I don ot need to repeat the shopping cart for each item separately?

Thanks

Shosh



Tailslide -> RE: I Need A Very Simple Shopping Cart (3/13/2008 11:57:50)

A proper shopping cart offers much more flexibility than Paypal does - the un-technical client can easily upload new stock items and monitor sales plus offer various discounts without ever having to go near the code. Plus there is much more flexibility on various options for the item itself.

The advantage of Paypal is that it's quick to put in place and is excellent if you only have a couple of items and they don't need a lot of options.



jaybee -> RE: I Need A Very Simple Shopping Cart (3/13/2008 12:54:17)

Yes Paypal was one option. The reason I used it instead of Paypal cart is that my client has around 5000 products all with different options. Zen allows her to add all her own info, keep track of stock etc.

Paypal isn't sophisticated enough to do that.



jaybee -> RE: I Need A Very Simple Shopping Cart (3/13/2008 12:55:11)

Errr yes, what Tailslide said. [&:] Plus, my client also takes other payment options, cash, cheques, Nochex etc.



shosh -> RE: I Need A Very Simple Shopping Cart (3/13/2008 16:52:43)

ok, ok, ok , I got you

I don't see at this point that anything moer then a simple transaction will be needed.

I will start with PayPal and see how it works out.

thanks for all the insight

Shosh



RickP -> RE: I Need A Very Simple Shopping Cart (3/14/2008 9:31:56)

One question on CubeCart/ZenCart...

I've installed the former (free version) to look over and notice that on checkout the customer has to register - this may be OK with certain payment options but if you use PayPal to collect the card details the customer has to fill in all of their details again - or so it seems.

Am I missing better configuration options in CubeCart?

Does ZenCart insist on the buyer registering with the site?

Also I'm not sure about the different PayPal options - Pro, Standard & something else - can anyone summarise?

BTW, Excellent blog/discussion here on shopping carts:
http://www.scriptygoddess.com/archives/2006/12/28/cube-cart-vs-zen-cart/




coreybryant -> RE: I Need A Very Simple Shopping Cart (3/18/2008 15:25:20)

I know I am a bit late unfortunately on this, but have you see MetaLinks? A "client" of ours was using it and loved it. It was very basic and even easier to skin since there were only a few pages and not that much code



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