2 replies to this topic

[hostricity]

I took over a an OSCommerce 2.2 site and moved it to our servers a year ago. I've added a number of modules, but the code is a mess due to what was done to it before we took it over.

We have some continuing problems with checkout, so I've added some code to track the issues, but ultimately I get bogged down in a mess of hacks by the previous sevice provider.

The site works, but it seems very clumsy, and honestly I'm just a little bit frightened by the fact that I don't know everything done to it.

My customer's business is doing well and now is the time to get better control of the shopping cart so that we can manage it better.

We use the separate pricing per customer module for wholesale and retail. We accept orders for distributors who have payment details on file. We accept wholesale orders where we authorize the sale through authorize.net, but don't actually run the charge until the order is packages and we know the shipping costs, and we have standard retail run in normal OSCommerce fashion.

I'm thinking that I'd like to move the site over to something like the Loaded Commerce 6.5 B2B system with the idea that we could at least start out with a known code base and it does seem to have most of the modules installed that we need

http://www.loadedcommerce.com/loaded-commerce-65-b2b-full-p-316.html?CDpath=187_214_216

It doesn't appear to have a provision for extra pages or for the article manager, which we do use - but which we could give up if we had to.

http://addons.oscommerce.com/info/7720/v,23
http://addons.oscommerce.com/info/8490/v,23

Here's what I want to know:

Is there any other OSCommerce "Loaded" version or branch I should look at?

If we buy one of these packages, are we really getting a known, well-commented and properly coded product?

Authorize.net works fine, but we have the Paypal problem in which the customer fails to return to our site to complete the order. Are there any better integrations of PayPal in OSCommerce that resolve this issue?

Are there other carts we should be looking at? I can write a database loader to move to anything we wanted to use.

Anybody have any experience with Magento?

What about OScommerce 2.3?

Assuming we stay with OSCommerce, at a minimum, we will create a new install of the code base and convert our data.

We're technically competent, so we can do what we need to do. We'd like to stay with PHP and mySQL if possible.

Geoff

[DunWeb]

@hostricity

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Is there any other OSCommerce "Loaded" version or branch I should look at?

There are many forks, but they aren't discussed on this forum.

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If we buy one of these packages, are we really getting a known, well-commented and properly coded product?

Not usually, this forum for the original osCommerce is the best support forum for information.  You will find the original version offers the best product available.

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Are there other carts we should be looking at? I can write a database loader to move to anything we wanted to use.

Anybody have any experience with Magento?

This forum is strictly for osCommerce, we can't comment on other carts.  Seek information about the other available carts from their support forums. (good luck)

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What about OScommerce 2.3?

osCommerce v2.3.1 is stable and has no known security issues.  It is easily managed and is configurable to do most anything you can code.


Having said all of that.  I DO NOT suggest you offer osCommerce services to your client if you are not FULLY versed in the software.  Your customer would be unhappy and osCommerce will be presented as an unusable product to the client.  JMO

Chris

Edited by DunWeb, 11 July 2012 - 06:42 PM.

[MrPhil]

hostricity, on 11 July 2012 - 06:32 PM, said:

We accept wholesale orders where we authorize the sale through authorize.net, but don't actually run the charge until the order is packages and we know the shipping costs, and we have standard retail run in normal OSCommerce fashion.

Be careful there. Are you storing wholesale customers' credit card information in order to run it later, or is authorize.net holding it for you? If the former, you have to be PCI-DSS compliant at the proper level of security. Don't even think of using one of the old osC sample credit card routines that hold numbers and CVV2s for you. If the latter, presumably this is authorize.net approved?

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I'm thinking that I'd like to move the site over to something like the Loaded Commerce 6.5 B2B system

Well, you'll forever be at their mercy, hoping that they keep patched and up to date. At least, make sure they're not still based on the ancient osC 2.2 code base! Frankly, you're not going to get support here for that fork.

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Authorize.net works fine, but we have the Paypal problem in which the customer fails to return to our site to complete the order.

I've heard of problems going from osC 2.2 to 2.3.1 where PayPal has to be configured to return to a different routine. If you search on this forum, it's been discussed many times.

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Are there other carts we should be looking at?

Do you really expect an answer from here of anything but "NO!"?

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Anybody have any experience with Magento?

From what I've heard from others, slow, resource hungry, expensive to update, but nice looking and feature-rich.

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What about OScommerce 2.3?

Much, much better than 2.2. Any new store should be based on it. If an add-on is lacking for it, you may be able to update it to work on 2.3, or ask the author to if it's still actively supported. Do not get confused with osC 3.0, which is still in development and should not be used for production stores.