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May 8, 2006 :: Volume 2, Issue 4
Next Issue: May 2007

Software: Ecommerce/Carts Resources Archive

Some things to keep in mind when you evaluate shopping carts: how easy (or tough) it is to change page layout, ability to export data to QuickBooks (if you use that software), whether or not the buyer has to register before they see their cart (or can you turn off registration), and whether or not the cart works with your payment processor.
  • FishCart: an Open Source E-Commerce Solution: http://www.fishcart.org
    I've looked at carts since 1997 and just stumbled on this cart (in 2005). Looks like a good alternative to OSCommerce.
    Related Categories (if any): Software: Ecommerce/Carts
  • OS Commerce: http://www.oscommerce.org
    Excellent open source tool for building ecommerce sites. Includes plug-ins for shipping, pricing, and so on.
    Related Categories (if any): Software: Ecommerce/Carts
  • PerlBill: http://www.perlbill.com
    Good low cost tool for automated billing for customers, subscribers, and the like.
    Related Categories (if any): Software: Ecommerce/Carts
  • Shopping Cart Reviews: http://www.shopping-cart-reviews.com
    A good to great Australian site that tries to keep its information up to date. If you don't know, there are a number of sites that claim to have comprehensive lists when, in reality, their sites hawk a small set of solutions. This site appears to offer a neutral take on a broad set of possible shopping carts.
    Related Categories (if any): ECommerce , Software: Ecommerce/Carts
  • Squirrelcart: http://www.squirrelcart.com/
    They have the cutest mascot for any shopping cart, a hobo squirrel. Lots of features and links to payment systems. The only weakness is lack of QuickBooks export capability, if that matters to you. Price is sub $500 USD. Uses PHP and MySQL.
    Related Categories (if any): Software: Ecommerce/Carts
  • X-Cart: http://www.x-cart.com/
    Great price (sub $500 USD), great features, but building and changing your site design requires light coding (which is easy to learn but beyond many non-technical people). That said, the coding is much less complex than that required to maintain your page design than osCommerce.
    Related Categories (if any): Software: Ecommerce/Carts
  • Zen Cart: http://www.zen-cart.com
    Looks like a cleaned up version of osCommerce, another open source shopping cart that uses PHP and MySQL.
    Related Categories (if any): Software: Ecommerce/Carts
  • digiShop: http://digishop.sumeffect.com
    This is the cart I currently (2006) recommend to my clients. While no cart is perfect, the digiShop interface is easy to use and has a lot of features and flexibility. And while they have templates you have to change, it's only four compared to many more with other carts. And they provide an online widget that takes your page design, adds their code, and generates the templates. Their pre and post sale support is excellent and thorough. After 90 days, you have to pay for support but that should not be a problem for most users. Both the cart and support are reasonable, below $1,000 USD.
    Related Categories (if any): Software: Ecommerce/Carts
  • osCMax: osCommerce Cleaned Up)(: http://aabox.com/ms2-max.html
    A hosting service offers both a free cleaned up version of osCommerce (the open source shopping cart that has a few problems) and hosted carts.
    Related Categories (if any): Software: Ecommerce/Carts