08-04-2006, 05:30 AM
Quote:1. Do I have to have a cart? SmileyNo. eBay is a turnkey eCommerce system. If you choose to close your eBay store, then you "save" money but have to spend your time (i.e., time=money) addressing the many issues they handle very well. It's nothing to get emotional about, like many do. You just try to make the best business decisions specific to your situation.
Quote:2. If I create my site using Go Live or Dreamweaver, what purpose does the cart serve?The advantage of creating a cart using DreamWeaver, for example, is you can use the graphical interface to create custom features. You can make your cart look and function in a way that is far more complimentary to your business than ZenCart. Of course, it will take more time, and you will have a steeper learning curve. From simple/minimum flexibility to complex/maximum flexibility, you could say eBay->osCommerce family->DreamWeaver with WebAssist, etc->DreamWeaver with ColdFusion, ASP, PHP, dotNet->Handcoded in whatever languages you love. It's a matter of balance of development time, feature needs, custom look needs, time invested, money invested up front versus over time, expected return on investment, etc.
Quote:3. Is a cart able to function as only a payment/checkout system and NOT a catalog? Is there an advantage to this?This is sort of the role Paypal plays.
Quote:4. Which cart is easiest to install and configure?They are all pretty easy to install, for the most part. There are a few tricks to it, like you need to make sure your host doesn't cause conflicts with their specific configuration.
Quote:5. Which cart has the most attractive appearance?Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I think they are all ugly unless you fix customize them. You can generally browse what others have done, but ZenCart customizations, for example, can be up to $10,000, or perhaps more. So, just because you see a beautiful store in the "whatever cart" gallery/showcase, it doesn't mean the company didn't spend an arm & leg to get it there, or a huge amount of time.
Quote:6. Which cart is the most functional/has excellent ease of use?You need to make a list of the functions you want. You can hire BBH to write modules for ZenCart, according to popular rumors floating about. You should be able to have just about any features you want, although it's cheaper if the cart already matches your priority list. Security is always a huge concern, and it's a moving target, so you want to be sure the custom modules will work with security upgrades, and other feature upgrades. While you're at it, check into the development cycle of the carts that you find attractive.
Quote:7. How is SEO affected by the choice of a cart?SEO is largely a checklist you go through to make your site viewable by the search engines. There are a lot of people out their who are basically trying to scam Google, but this is not good for long-term strategy. VirtueMart, for example, has a gorgeous interface that allows you to type in metacrap, alt tags, and the like, without having to look at HTML. Eventually, that's where the SEO will go, no matter how it gets there.
Quote:8. Which cart do you prefer and why?I prefer a mixed eBay / ZenCart strategy based on not knowing much else about the situation. The ZenCart team is highly active in terms of upgrades, security patches, and their forum. CRE Loaded sneaks Google AdWords in their "free" version, which irritates me. I have nothing against people making money, but I get sick of all the sneaky business schemes.
Quote:9. Can you reccommend someone to install a cart?Diger might be willing to install a cart for free, but the mods can get prety time-consuming. I'm guessing Diger can't stand up right now, after all she's in Greece. Brithday's typically include 24-hours of Oozo on the nude beaches, so you or I can ask her tomorrow, or maybe in a few days.
These are my opinions based on my huge brain size and years of experience downloading nudies, playing video games, and generally slacking off.
The code changes needed to make the free mod work with the current version of CRE are minor. Read the Ultimate SEO thread on their forum and you'll be able to make the changes if you know PHP.
