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aspdesigner
Junior Member
165 Posts |
 Posted - 26 June 2001 : 03:08:57
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What is your opinion on the best ASP-based shopping cart program out there? I am looking for something with the following traits -
* rock-solid reliable
* full-featured
* full source code
* ASP / database-based
* able to customize / interface with other ASP software
* does not require components or EXEs that I have to register or execute on the server to install
Prefer something that I can get unlimited license at a reasonable cost, or shareware/freeware, if good enough. Basically, I am looking for something of the same quality as Snitz, but in the shopping cart area.
What packages do you like? Why?
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inworg
Junior Member
Italy
153 Posts |
Posted - 26 June 2001 : 04:28:56
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Coding a shopping cart is very hard, 'cause every customer needs different solutions to Show and sell his products. Each SC must be an integrated part inside the domain not just a code apart. The only common problem is to create a "collector" of requests (it's simple!) for each user. Each other part (design layout, payment mode, max or minimun price allowed, ecc. ) must be fully customizable.
Edited by - inworg on 26 June 2001 04:29:32 |
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marc
Junior Member
Belgium
175 Posts |
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aspdesigner
Junior Member
165 Posts |
Posted - 26 June 2001 : 23:53:01
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Thanks, Marc.
I have read some negative things about vp-asp, however. I have read that while this package is feature-rich (and well-liked by end-users), the programming is not that great, and that you have to do a lot of work to it to make it look professional, that the store looks amateur "out of the box".
An exerpt from one of the reviews I read...
quote:
"Yes many features (for this i gave 1 star) but really POOR programming! Make any modification it is really impossible, many redundant functions, variabled declared and not used, session too many variabled, no comments... this is the classical SPAGHETTI PROGRAMMING."
Another one -
quote:
"Its a low price for this kind of cart but it has to be said that it is fairly basic and I would want to hack it quite a bit to get it looking nicer."
I took a look at their on-line demo store on their web site, and must say I was not very impressed with the appearance!
Also, important features appear to be either not included or not supported. For example, credit-card provider interfaces are NOT included with the package, you have to ask them to E-MAIL you the one you want, and you can only request one of them! Why is this not included in the package?? What happens if you change credit card providers, do you have to pay them extra $???
Another example - shipping calculations. To calculate UPS shipping, you either need to download a DLL (provided "AS-IS"), which you have to register on your server! The other option is a UPS shipping price table, which they do NOT keep up-to-date, in fact, they are not even sure if it was accurate at the time it was created! I was amazed when I read this on their web site -
quote:
"We do not plan to maintain these tables. It will be up to you to obtain any updates directly from UPS. All the tables were supplied by our customers and we do not verify their accuracy."
I will look into it further, by my initial impression is that this package is not suitable for my needs. The negative comments regarding the programming are particularly worrisome, as I need something that I can customize / interface with other programming easily, so it needs to be rock-solid code.
Anyone have any other suggestions for a good ASP-based shopping cart package?
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Doug G
Support Moderator
USA
6493 Posts |
Posted - 26 June 2001 : 23:59:50
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There is a free asp based cart here, haven't used it but it seems promising.
http://www.comersus.com
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Doug G
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big brother
Starting Member
27 Posts |
Posted - 27 June 2001 : 05:27:15
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I would say custom build one. then it can do exactly what you want?
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redbrad0
Advanced Member
USA
3725 Posts |
Posted - 27 June 2001 : 08:07:39
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to custom build one will give you exactily what you want, but i it takes awhile. i just looked at http://www.comersus.com and it looks like they have a great shopping cart. i wish i would of saw that before i spent all the time building mine
Brad |
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marc
Junior Member
Belgium
175 Posts |
Posted - 27 June 2001 : 15:15:02
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quote:
the programming is not that great
I don't agree with that. I can't find something easily in the code but it's normal because I didn't write it ! However, when I ask where I can find something to the support, they answer the questions very well and very fast and there is no problem, I can start customize the code.
quote:
you have to do a lot of work to it to make it look professional, that the store looks amateur "out of the box".
Yes, I too find the "out of the box" store "amateur". I hope they are going to improve this in a future release. However there are a lot of usefull parameters to customize the store.
quote:
What happens if you change credit card providers, do you have to pay them extra $???
No you don't. Just ask what you need and you will receive it. For example, I received several language files withour paying anything...
quote:
Another example - shipping calculations. To calculate UPS shipping, you either need to download a DLL (provided "AS-IS"), which you have to register on your server! The other option is a UPS shipping price table, which they do NOT keep up-to-date, in fact, they are not even sure if it was accurate at the time it was created! I was amazed when I read this on their web site -
What's the problem here ? I don't see any.
You receive a great package with a lot of features and great support for a very low price. What else do you want ?
quote:
regarding the programming are particularly worrisome, as I need something that I can customize / interface
Why don't you just try it and examine the code ?! You can dowload a sample store on their site !
Marc Valentin
Edited by - marc on 27 June 2001 15:15:57
Edited by - marc on 27 June 2001 15:16:44 |
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aspdesigner
Junior Member
165 Posts |
Posted - 27 June 2001 : 18:21:00
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Sorry Marc, didn't mean to upset you. I was simply repeating what I had read others say in reviews about this product. If only one person said something negative, I might has attributed it to "sour grapes". However, a number of people made such negative comments, and, more importantly, these criticisms were all consistent with each other. The comment about "redundant functions", for example, was made by multiple people.
It is not normal to be unable to find anything in a properly-structured program just because you didn't write it yourself. The whole purpose of writing properly structured, well commented and documented programs is so that someone else can easilly find and change things, without having to consult the original programmer! My god, what happens if the programmer dies?
You yourself admit to having difficulty finding things in their code. You also agree that their package looks amateur "out of the box". Why should I have to wait for a "future release", or do their work myself, when I could just use a package that looks professional to begin with?
With regards to credit card support, they say on one of their web pages that you are only allowed to request one of them. But even if you can get additional ones for free, why don't they include credit card support with the program itself? Their competition does!
With regards to UPS shipping support, the problem with using a DLL is that you have to register it with the server! (which violates one of the requirements stated in my original post). The DLL does not include source code, so you're not getting full source code either (strike two). The UPS table approach seems to be the better alternative, but they make it quite clear that they do not update or support it!
Why are they so lax in their support of UPS shipping? Maybe it is because they are located in Australia? There, or in Europe, UPS might not be a big deal. But here in the United States, support for UPS shipping is a very important feature, as that is the way many companies ship their products here!
With regards to their demo program, my understanding is that it is "crippleware", missing most of the functionality of the "real" version, so you can't really judge the quality of the final product based on the demo.
What I have read so far about this product seems to indicate that it does not meet four of the six requirements I stated in my original post. I am keeping an open mind until I have all the facts, and am looking further at this product as you suggested. However, the initial indications are that this product is not suitable for my needs.
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aspdesigner
Junior Member
165 Posts |
Posted - 27 June 2001 : 18:39:46
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Brad is correct. I will build one myself if I have to. But why re-invent the wheel? A full-featured shopping cart is a LOT of code! Imagine trying to write a program like Snitz, with all the bells and whistles, from scratch! I would much prefer to find a good package that I can build on, rather than spending a lot of time starting from scratch.
I am looking into comersus, Doug, and agree with you and Brad that it looks promising.
The base shopping cart is free, although the back-end management program and add-ins are not. That may be OK, though. The only critical feature I found so far that is not included in the base model is support for off-line credit-card transactions (which you have to pay for)
The only concern I have is that there may be a licensing restriction against redistributing "modified" versions of the source code.
I am checking into this program further, and will let you all know what I discover.
Anyone have any other shopping cart suggestions? |
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redbrad0
Advanced Member
USA
3725 Posts |
Posted - 28 June 2001 : 08:28:02
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in case you want to look at the shopping cart i was building, you can view it at http://www.exhibitparts.com
Brad |
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big brother
Starting Member
27 Posts |
Posted - 28 June 2001 : 09:38:32
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Yeah... redbrado, quite nice. I like..
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lancepr
New Member
73 Posts |
Posted - 28 June 2001 : 15:35:15
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Not sure what your budget is but this is a nice looking cart.
http://www.webcortex.com/site2000/index.asp
I will be buying a new cart in the next 6 months and leaning on this one right now.
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aspdesigner
Junior Member
165 Posts |
Posted - 30 June 2001 : 05:36:33
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Brad, yours looks nice! The overall appearance is much better than the VP-ASP demo site! (which is suppose to be a commercial product!) A couple of suggestions to make it even better, IMHO, you might consider providing a way to include thumbnail photos in the catagory view, also maybe make a little graphic "button" around your "Add to Cart" graphic. I especially like how you did that multi-level file folder icons navigation at the top, did you get that idea from Snitz? Looks very nice on a shopping cart!
Lancepr, I am looking into WebStores 2000 product you referenced. It has gotten some fairly good reviews, although I hear there were some memory leaks and performance problems with the earlier version, they claim that these problems are now solved with V3.
You are right that it is a little on the pricy side compared to other products. The lowest version that includes source and the resulting ability to customize (Developer version) runs about $1,500. They also have an "unlimited" version for about $3K, but if you read the fine print it is not really unlimitted, it is only a 1-server license. And while their developers section screams "No DLLs!" in bold letters, a check of their page at -
http://www.webcortex.com/site2000/asp_tech1.asp
(see bottom) reveals that they DO use some DLLs, including for such necessities as handling credit cards!
What I found a bit disturbing, however, was their strict NO REFUND policy, which states that even a still sealed package is considered "open" and non-refundable the instant they ship it to you. (This policy seems to be the EXACT OPPOSITE of the "satisfaction guaranteed" that many internet software companies offer! ) Considering you have to shell-out well over a thousand dollars to see a source code version, this seems a little scary.
I am curious, Lancepr, you indicated that you were leaning towards purchasing this product. What attracted you to them, given that they seem to be priced much higher that the rest of this market?
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lancepr
New Member
73 Posts |
Posted - 02 July 2001 : 19:54:13
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It seemed to get the best reviews and I like the fact that it uses very few DLL and is open so I can customize it easily.
Right now we host about 20 shopping carts on our server, and I don't want to buy a new license everytime someone wants to sell something.
Writting a shopping cart from scratch would cost way more than 3k of man hours so the 3k price tag really isn't even an issue to me.
The no refund makes sense, you could open it copy all the code reshrink wrap it (hey I used to do it all the time when I worked at Babages), change the file names and they could never prove it was their code without actually looking at the souce asp code.
And the main reasaon is I am tired of messing with my 2 year old frankenstein asp shopping cart I wrote 2 years ago! 
Lance
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