TulipTools Internet Business Owners and Online Sellers Community

I was under the impression these programs where shopping carts.
Well that is not the case... it is an entire site management program and
may be useful for those who have thousands of products that need to be
tracked automatically.

There has got to be a way and I was on that path, to be able to replace the
design elements into these temples by replacing the default graphics with one's of my own.

There has also got to be away to turn of the ridiculous BS
add ons many don't need but for the life of me
I still can't figure out how to.

My site doesn't need an Affiliate Box or a News Letter or most of any of the
bells and whistles that are crammed into these programs.

I've also learned that all the information you are collecting on
your customers is YOUR responsibility and you better damn well have an SSL
or you can kiss your customers goodbye.

Also be aware that you must set up your merchant accounts, I believe via the API's
of the merchant accounts.

If I'm not mistaken (because I hadn't got that far with either osmax or Zen)
you will need a virtual terminal so you can manually enter in the cc info
your customer gives you or otherwise set it up to pass them on to the gateway.

Still from my early tests your customer seems to STILL have to enter
ALL their information right at your cart.
Then possibly have to re-enter ALL that SAME information again once at the gateway.
(Again you better be sure you have an SSL).

Honestly I'm not sure about that above so maybe someone who is
using these programs can comment.

I've built my site from the ground up starting over seven years ago.
I started playing with these programs one week ago and have virtually went no where.

As a result I've trashed both osMax and Zen.
(Still have unaltered copies of both on my system)

I've felt I was pretty good with web design and all the elements that make it come together
but these programs are having me feeling like almost day one... not knowing what or why
certain things I do will not take and do what I want them to do.

Anyway that's for me... I'm done with it.
Hope you guys can figure it out because I sure can't and I'm NOT
going to sit here for months trying to learn some new system that has
me conforming to it instead of it conforming to me and my needs.

That's NOT what computer programs are suppose to be designed to do. IMO
Sadly too many of theme out there are just like that.

[quote author=cranky_hippie link=topic=4751.msg21567#msg21567 date=1156534494]
So did you decide to just stick with Mal's, XPP? Or will you switch to something besides Zen eventually?
[/quote]

I will stick w Mals for now. I have a few simple forms that
would work with your Mal's account as well.
It's just a matter putting your information into the areas
and sticking the code where you want it on your web pages.
Simple simple.

If anyone is interested let me know.
I can have you up with shopping cart button in under 10 minuets.

Don't get me WRONG yall. I'm not trashing the cart programs, just
want to let you know of my exsperience with them so far.

Quote:I will stick w Mals for now. I have a few simple forms that
would work with your Mal's account as well.
It's just a matter putting your information into the areas
and sticking the code where you want it on your web pages.
Simple simple.

If anyone is interested let me know.
I can have you up with shopping cart button in under 10 minuets.

I will take you up on that, XPP!

If you can't "get" the shopping carts, it doesn't bode well for me because I am so far behind you that it's not funny.

I'm taking off for the weekend shortly but will PM you Monday, if I may, with some questions. Thanks, dude! 

Quote:Still from my early tests your customer seems to STILL have to enter
ALL their information right at your cart.
Then possibly have to re-enter ALL that SAME information again once at the gateway.
(Again you better be sure you have an SSL).

They only need to enter it at your site.  They never leave your site during the transaction process if you use the API method with your merchant account.  The data they enter during in your cart is passed to the gateway which then returns an authorization/or decline to the cart.

Quote:Also be aware that you must set up your merchant accounts, I believe via the API's
of the merchant accounts.

Total setup time < 1 minute.  You only need to enter 2 or 3 pieces of information - with Authorize.net you enter your login name and merchant key in the Zen admin and you're ready to go.

[quote author=xppman link=topic=4751.msg21565#msg21565 date=1156533504]


Powerful as they may be (once you can figure out how to use them)
I personally have no use for them as I don't have an inventory on hand
nor do I want my customers to have to sign up and create an account
just to shop my site. ZEN FORCES this so I've already trashed Zen.


[/quote]

just an fyi, cre-loaded does not require you to sign up to purchase something. 8)

[quote author=WebGraphicsSource link=topic=4751.msg21579#msg21579 date=1156549568]
[quote author=xppman link=topic=4751.msg21565#msg21565 date=1156533504]


Powerful as they may be (once you can figure out how to use them)
I personally have no use for them as I don't have an inventory on hand
nor do I want my customers to have to sign up and create an account
just to shop my site. ZEN FORCES this so I've already trashed Zen.


[/quote]

just an fyi, cre-loaded does not require you to sign up to purchase something. 8)
[/quote]

osCMax doesn't require it either.

The only extra information a buyer has to give with Zen when they create an account is a password...other than the password, the info they give the site is exactly the same info they would give if using CRE/osCMax's "purchase without an account" option.

Any shopping cart can be modded . . . with enough interest.

I actually like an account made - that way I don't have to enter the same information into the shopping cart, if I go back for another purchase.  Same with my site . . . since most of my customers return for repeat purchases, they just sign in and buy.  And, no, I don't save credit card information - it's passed directly to authorize.net, and then I get a receipt.  A SSL is mandatory for that, though.  They don't cost that much anymore, and provide a sense of security to your customer.

The EZ checkout mod for Zen is almost done (not done by me).  It's not the most elegant mod, but it'll make the customer checkout more streamlined.

You are right, though, XPPMan . . . the shopping cart systems are full management tools for an ecommerce site.  Most of the features can be toggled on or off by going to a settings menu, or a store configuration menu.  I'm sure there are easier systems out there, but Zen works extremely well for me.  My customers receive escalating discounts . . . the more they spend, the deeper the discount they get, over the lifetime of their business relationship with me - or are sent free promotional items based on the cost of their purchase.  That's fairly complicated to set up, but my customers love it. 

Zen can also be set up to receive gift certificate and coupon codes, automatically adjusting the customer's purchase price before processing any other payments. 

For me, Zen has helped keep my customers coming back again and again.  Each information field for checkout can be toggled on or off, to indicate whether it's required or not.  As BBH pointed out - if you toggle all the extra fields off, then the only extra thing you might have to give Zen, instead of any other checkout system, is a password.

Quote:The EZ checkout mod for Zen is almost done

http://www.bulbster.com/zcart/

By done I meant officially released, and listed as a Zen mod.

The main issue at the moment is the fact that the mod that you're showing, actually does create an account, with a randomly generated password, but implies that it doesn't. 

Such as, "Want to skip account creation? Check here and enter your name and address, and we'll proceed right to checkout."

For those that didn't want an account created, because they didn't want any of their information stored in an online database, this little routine seems deceptive.  Especially since that information could possibly be accessed if the password generation tool was not the best.

There is another mod being developed, that is almost done, that doesn't create that little bit of deception.

Well just to reiterate guys.. I'm not talking smack against any of the programs
and see they have a bounty of beneficial possibilities.

I just want to strip it down to a cart that passes off the info to the gateways
with out having to populate a data base full of product.

I know it can be done. I'm doing it now using Mal's with a simple form that all I have to do
is change a few lines on the form (that is a cart button), place that form code onto the various
product pages of my site and the form / button passes the info to Mal's where the customer only has to put their first name zip and e mail address then the customer is passed to the gateway
by selecting which ever payment method I offer.