What do you recommend?

I have used Miva before and it seems to do the trick... but I became aware of OS commerce recently because I was looking in to c-panel and it seems to be bundled with that (auto install) I'm not on cpanel.. but anyway.

Who has used the 2 programs to compare them? I noticed that OS commerce seems to have a lot of the options already installed that are "purchased modules" for miva.

Also as a hosting providor am I allowed to charge for the software? I know some programs allow you to do so. I suppose I can just charge for the install but I would prefer to get a monthly revenue.

Thanks for the input guys :D

Jesse J

LJHost: I haven't used Miva's software but have used osCommerce. I really liked it. It's easy to setup, use and administer. You can customize it fairly easily as well. I would suggest you not charge for osCommerce itself. It's an open source software but it cannot be resold for profit. It should be OK to charge an installation fee, or if you do the actual customization work on the cart, then charge for that.

Thanks for the input.. I really appreciate it!

Also do you know if you can take off certain features.. like "reviews". In this case I don't think many folks would be giving reviews... at least not at first and I don't think. Has anyone used both? I would like to hear a comparason.

But I would also love to hear for OScommerce users. If you have a url to an OScommerce site that you may admin that would be great too.. than maybe I could ask particular questions.

Thanks,
Jesse J

LJHost: yes you can take off certain features like reviews. You can take out pretty much anything you want to. All those "boxes" can be moved around or removed. It's actually recommended that you take out the useless ones like the "reviews" box you mentioned. I've recently worked on building an osCommerce site for a client. We're not done yet,some minor work needs to be done. The site is www.shivaii.com To go straight to the cart, go to www.shivaii.com/catalog Let me know if you have any other questions. You can also visit forums.oscommerce.com and readup on some posts there and do searches if you have specific questions.

I have used both (My speciality is creating motorcycle related stores)

OSC is great for a smaller store on a budget.

Miva Merchant is much more professional on both the front and back end.

I've setup a lot of "starter" stores on OSC and then when they are ready to spend the money they all moved to Miva Merchant.

What features in particular to you prefer on Miva... as I have setup miva before and it seem like have the features you want you have to buy modules for. And it seems that OScommerce already has a lot of them working. Plus all the modules are free for OSc so if you want to add or change something it's free. Seems like a draw to me.

I've used Miva and I've been happy with it.. well I think the back end is a pain. (too much clicking to get where you need to go sometimes) But it a great store.

Does OSc come with a feature that allows you to e-mail all your current customers? Sounds simple but with miva you need to pay a monthly fee for miva mailer which seems really outragous.

Thanks for you input guys :D

-Jesse J

osCommerce is great and has worked perfectly for my clients and myself.

You might want to take a look at OSC2Nuke also, they basicly took phpnuke and oscommerce and combined them, it looks like a pretty feature packed set up.

http://osc2nuke.org/

Originally posted by LJ Host

Does OSc come with a feature that allows you to e-mail all your current customers? Sounds simple but with miva you need to pay a monthly fee for miva mailer which seems really outragous.

Their is a newsletter feature that will do that I belive.