shopping cart

[gwlubin]

anyone ever install a shopping cart?

------------------
Graham
www.loobie.com (http://www.loobie.com)
graham@lubin.com
"Was she so loved because her eyes were so beautiful, or were her eyes so beautiful because she was so loved?"
Anzia Yezierska

[hearts]

hey graham.. if ya notice, with most codes (cgi scripts) you aquire from the net, they have excellent readme files. (atleast the ones I have downloaded.) Take the time to print it, and read it.

What I did the first few scripts I did, was open them in word pad, and color the text of the important info.. like cmodding and the paths that needed to be specified and other variables that needed to be taken care of.

After it is printed, use it for like a checklist. As you go along, you can check off what you have done.

Then your html's will have to be customized as well.

IF you haven't got one, and are seeking one, we all seem to recommend www.cgiresources.com (http://www.cgiresources.com) to aquire scripts.

You have excellent html skills, so I am confident you can follow through on the directions that come with them scripts. http://www.aota.net/ubb/wink.gif

------------------
~~~ hearts ~~~

Heartistic Designs www.heartisticdesigns.com (http://www.heartisticdesigns.com)

Hearts www.heartsangels.com/hearts (http://www.heartsangels.com/hearts)

Heartistic Wishes www.heartsweb.com/heartisticwishes (http://www.heartsweb.com/heartisticwishes)















[This message has been edited by hearts (edited 03-01-99).]

[Paul]

Binky:

And to build on suggestion by Graham...
Try here.. http://www.wilsoninet.com/HyperNews/get/forum/money.html

A place to start, anyway.

[MG Doran]

Hi gwlubin,
I am constantly experimenting with shopping carts - always looking for something better than what I currently use with the latest features. I'm currently playing around with:
http://www.lecart.com

I've looked at UShop - yes - many nice features.

"this is one occasion when I am not looking for help, I wanted to discuss the relative merits of different carts."

I would be happy to share what I know - just let me know what your curious about:
cookies/no cookies
regular html/on the fly database pages
database import capabilities/no import
etc.

If I don't know the answer I'll try to find it and then I'll get to learn something new too ..... http://www.aota.net/ubb/wink.gif

Roxie (aka MG Doran)

P.S My Credit Card processing service just went belly up this weekend (YIKES). I need to find another one fast, fast, fast (and cheap, cheap, cheap) that requires no merchant account - I need to be able to resell the service.
I'm already looking at Kagi.
Sugesstions anyone?



------------------


[This message has been edited by MG Doran (edited 03-01-99).]

[MG Doran]

Binky,
Thought I should share this with you!
There were/are many resellers for Cardhost.com
That is who I was with that folded so don't sign up with any of their resellers - Cardhost is history. Thank goodness they didn't owe me any $$$.
There are also many resellers for Magic Button - avoid it!!!
They did a similiar belly flop a few months back but I still see resellers out there. Very fishy, huh?
Hope this helps,
Roxie (aka MG Doran)

------------------

[Deb]

Just a couple of notes --

Kagi Probably the lowest cost processing company I've found to date. No set-up fees and less then 4% transaction fees..... The main reasons we chose them was due to the amount of time they had been doing on-line processing coupled with the low cost and quick setup. We weren't ready for a full merchants account yet. Kagi allowed us to take our time searching for one and getting ready.

Service -- If looking for quick email replies -- hehe don't look at Kagi. They are S L O W! If you don't have an account you'll be lucky to get a reply at all. They put very lil money into web design and 'tech support' etc.... They have paid us on time every month though (whew!) When we call them voice we're greated with friendly help.

A while back they did have a problem with refunds we had one that took them over two months to complete -- Hostilities became heated over that problem. Since that time their refund system seems to be straightened out (thank gawd).

For a low cost way of getting it done I recommend Kagi. You wont have to spend hundreds or thousands to get setup ... You don't have to pay anything to get setup http://www.aota.net/ubb/smile.gif You don't need a secure server. You don't need a merchants account. You wont pay a high percentage per sale. And you ONLY pay if you use them. There are no monthly fees.

If you use Kagi -- You wont get paid every day. They send a check once a month. You wont have real time stats. You'll get an ugly text file once a month. Email support is slow. Phone support is only available during business hours.

Now for our Merchants Account we have decided to go with Total Merchants http://www.tms2.com/005/cards.html
I'll be creating a page about them etc as this would be the company we would be referring ppl to once we're setup with them. FQuest will be building an interface to work with them via shopping carts etc...

This is a touchy area for me as it seems 'assumed' that we should 'push' Total Merchants but I honestly feel that each person has different needs and financial situations that would lead them each to needing a different type of merchant. So we'll just see how it goes as I myself learn more http://www.aota.net/ubb/smile.gif

As far as carts -- toooo many to choose from http://www.aota.net/ubb/smile.gif I leave the pro's to talk about that area... I'm still picking and choosing between what features I like and what I don't http://www.aota.net/ubb/smile.gif

Deb

[Jacob Stetser]

Here's another one I'm thinking of using.. free signup, only charged if you actually _sell_ something..

http://www.clickbank.com/

They charge 40 cents plus 10% for every sale, and you have to have predetermined prices, you can't do a shopping cart like thing, I guess http://www.aota.net/ubb/frown.gif

Anyhow.. take a look there, see if it fits what you need.

Jake

[This message has been edited by Jacob Stetser (edited 03-01-99).]

[mist]

This is a link I found somewhere on Futurequest - I've checked most of them out and if I remember correctly 2 of them will process credit cards for non merchant accounts.

http://livekey.com/promote/promotion/payments.html?

I'm getting ready to attempt installing a shopping cart called commerce.cgi - it looks fairly straight forward and flexable too. If anyone wants the URL, just let me know.

Wish me luck ... if I have it I will be silent as a clam ... if not, I may be posting a lot in the coming week or so <grin>

Janet aka Mist

[MG Doran]

I had looked at ClickBank before but didn't quite know what to make of this:
"ClickBank is a service that sells access to internet addresses. When you sign up with us, your role is to
1) Provide us with addresses to sell, and
2) Send us customers who wish to purchase access to these addresses."
Hmmm...

Janet,
As for Commerce.cgi - I've been interested in that one too. It's based on Selena Sol's Webstore which I already use on a couple of sites. I like the built in Administration features....yeah!
But I'll be danged if I can't get it to run right after umpteen tries.
"document contains no data"
Actually I did get it to run once - without graphics showing - then switched to the Beta which is suppose to be a fix for that. Wouldn't work - went back to the previous version - wouldn't work. Tried again - did the exact same setup I had done the first time - no go.
Let me know if it works for you! It's been very frustrating.
Roxie (aka MG Doran)

------------------

[Deb]

They charge 40 cents plus 10% for every sale, and you have to have predetermined prices

Kagi is just under 4% I believe... now at first glance they seem to need predetermined prices also.. what we've recently began doing is just selling "FQuest Dollars" (cost $1) and "FQuest Cents" (cost one cent) --- trying to put all of the prices in was too much of a pain. This seems to be working best http://www.aota.net/ubb/smile.gif

If you can get whomever you choose to go for that then you could set up your shopping carts however you need them and only when you have the final amount due established do you begin to interface with the card processer...

Deb

[gwlubin]

dear hearts,

this is one occasion when I am not looking for help, I wanted to discuss the relative merits of different carts.

thanks for the pointers though.

------------------
Graham
www.loobie.com (http://www.loobie.com)
graham@lubin.com
"Was she so loved because her eyes were so beautiful, or were her eyes so beautiful because she was so loved?"
Anzia Yezierska

[Binky]

I'm also very interested in this topic.

In addition, I need help finding a service that will process credit card payments for me.

I wrote to Kagi, since they handle FutureQuest payments and it seems to work pretty well, but I never heard back from them.

[gwlubin]

dear blinky,

i have just bought uShop www.ushop.com (http://www.ushop.com) it's quite cheap at $99 but surprisingly sophisticated. I have my own merchant account so I don't need to worry about credit card processing.

it'll be quite a challenging project for me as i have only just started to work with cgi stuff. but the folks round here are v v helpful, especially hearts!

ziff net have a good section on ecommerce there is also a lot of good info over at www.wilsonweb.com/ (http://www.wilsonweb.com/)

good luck

------------------
Graham
www.loobie.com (http://www.loobie.com)
graham@lubin.com
"Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.
Shine on you crazy diamond."







[This message has been edited by gwlubin (edited 03-01-99).]

[gwlubin]

if credit card processing is not important in real time, why not open your own merchant account?

it cost us less than 1 % to process transactions through VISA here in the UK

------------------
Graham
www.loobie.com (http://www.loobie.com)
graham@lubin.com
"Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.
Shine on you crazy diamond."

[Deb]

There are many factors to be considered... each person applying and each card being applied for can return different results.

A difficult thing in the states (which is getting easier now but still has a ways to go) is getting approved if you are open about the fact that you are going to be doing business over the Internet. The banks still have a lack of trust for doing business this way... they're learning though http://www.aota.net/ubb/smile.gif

For those already established with a Merchants Account -- they should be all set. For those who are just now wanting to get one and planning on doing their business strictly on the net they have a few other hurdles to over come... just depends on the situation. For us -- as a host -- we are considered "high risk" in many cases for multiple reasons -- we could 'bail out' and leave you guys and the bank with the bill, we accept payments for 12 months in advance... if you guys pay for 12 months and we bail in 6 the card company fears they will be left with the bill of refunding you, ahh I don't even remember all the different things we were told during our search for a merchants account lol.. I just know they had a number of ideas of how we could 'screw up'... some of them were quite creative hehe

Deb
--
"And did we tell you the name of the game, boy,
We call it Riding the Gravy Train."

[gwlubin]

I understand deb.

We were established in business long before we started trading on the internet.

Of the sales me make, we have a relatively high drop-out rate due to the credit card company not sanctioning the transaction.

We have also had the experience of having the sales sanctioned, shipping the goods, and then having to return the money to the bank as the card was being used fraudulently.

That hurts!

Have you ever thought of setting up a generic shopping cart for the use of all at VQ. I know that it would not appeal to all users, but right now with the explosion of interest in ecommerce, it's a powerful USP that you could use to attract wannabe entreprenuerial folks looking for a virtual server.



------------------
Graham
www.loobie.com (http://www.loobie.com)
graham@lubin.com
"Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.
Shine on you crazy diamond."







[This message has been edited by gwlubin (edited 03-02-99).]

[Paul]

"Money... it's a crime. Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie"

Okay.. I couldn't resist http://www.aota.net/ubb/biggrin.gif

---------------------------
Paul

[gwlubin]

Dear Paul,

They could certainly write a lyric!

Graham

[MG Doran]

New Version of Commerce.cgi has been released.
Located at:
http://www.careyinternet.com/main/
I downloaded this and gave it a whirl, found a bug, emailed the author - he had already found it and the current tar file will now work on FQuest accounts.
There is a cookie problem though when using Netscape.
If anyone figures this part out I would sure appreciate knowing how to fix it ..... http://www.aota.net/ubb/smile.gif
Thanks!
Roxie (aka MG Doran)


------------------

[mist]

Arrrrgh! I'm going insane! I've followed the instructions for installing commerice.cgi to the letter a number of times now and I STILL can't get the stupid thing to work! I'm uploading it as a binary per instructions, telneting in to do the untar thing ... doing the thing to the manager.access file ... and still I get the stupid 500 Internal Server Error when I try to load the /cgi-bin/store/protected/manager.cgi?welcome_screen=yes

I looked at the permissions ... I looked at the error log ... I'm now playing with paper from my printer making dunce caps <sigh>

Please oh please... can anyone help!?
The program is at
http://www.careyinternet.com/main/commerce/standard_dl.html
the set up instructions are at...
http://www.careyinternet.com/main/commerce/ReadMe.html

Mist

[MG Doran]

Hey Mist,
Did you already setup the .htaccess file in the protected directory?

If not you can do as I did just for the demo store and rename it to .htaccess.back temporarily.

If you haven't done this already then this might be the problem. If you have then hmmm, I'd have to think about this.

I'm swamped right now but if your still fighting this in a couple of days email me and we'll put our heads together.

I'm going to email you the cheksetup file I made just in case it can help.

Roxie (aka MG Doran)

------------------

[hearts]

I can happily say.. i have installed my first shopping cart, the script was a gift from a friend.. and I did it! It ain't entirely ready yet, but it works, and the client's words were:

hi again,
got in moved around no problem, That's fantabulous! ilove it!

life is good! (when scripts cooperate with ya.. and ya got a kid bro standing by to help ya out. http://www.aota.net/ubb/wink.gif ) Don't ya just love first accomplishments? *grin*

And thanks to FQ.. just for being/doing all that ya do! (that includes you too Terra!)