Hi,

I have retail sports/outdoor store and try to open online store.
I carry Canopy(outdoor carport, show booth, pop-up tent and etc), tarps and hardware items.
We carry more than 2,000 different items.
I have very little knowledge on eCommerce or Web Design, but do have some knowledge on Frontpage (html)…
I already purchased Merchant account and payment gateway with Authorize.net, purchased the domain name from Godaddy, and in the process of obtain web hosting company(if I decide to get shopping cart software).

Here is what I need;
I’m looking for Shopping Cart software or hosting company who offer easy to implement, easy to use, rich in quality/look, and do not need any programming or skill in php or other complicated language…
The online store sells to USA address only and no international order.
The Shopping must offer;
* Excel® import/export, QuickBooks Integration
* Basic and advanced product searches
* Upload multiple images on same page
*Product Category and Sub-Categories.
* Determine discounts and sales periods
* Identify upsell/cross-sell products
* Feature products or specials
* Same item but different color –choose color from drop down menu or multiple add to cart button?
* Quantity discount – offer quantity discount on same page, ex) 1 = $5.00, 5 = $4.00, 10+ = $3.00)
* Accepts coupons with expiration date. ($5 off $30, 10% off $100 and Free shipping over $250.00)
* Send auto custom confirmation emails to customer after order placed
* View/search/sort/print orders
* Print customer invoices/receipts
* Accept phone/mail/fax orders
* Track order status – customer log in and see the stage of their order with auto email when the item shipped.
* Shipping via UPS, USPS and FeDex
* Integrate to UPS OnLine® Tools and Worldship software.
* Flat-fee , Weight-based shipping and Special handling charges for bulk item
* Free shipping option
* Unique "Bill to" and "Ship to" addresses
* Collect state sales tax
* Accept Visa, Master, American Express, Discover, eCheck, Money Order and paypal
* Accept Phone/fax/email orders
* Real-time payment processing, Card verification & validation
* PayPal® and Authorize.net-certified payment gateways
* Capture only mode and Offline credit card processing and POS terminal
* Customer Management (Registration/profile, order history, order status, Password recovery)
* Inventory Management (In-Stock/Backordered, Discontinued/Clearance items)
* Reporting (Orders/sales reports, Shipping/tax reports, View/sort/print/export)
And wish there are some type of royalty program built in for repeat customer but not a must…

I have tried OsCommerce and OscMax about 2 year ago, but had difficulty to change the look of site. I wonder if they are easier now than before, but according to my experience, it was pretty hard…
I have looked at Xcart and wonder if they are easier to use than OsCommerce and OscMax….
How about Quick Shopping Cart provide by Godaddy for $49.99?
Or is there are better solution that you can recommend?
Since my success of online store is unclear, I do not want to hire web designer or spend lots of money for the shopping cart. But will be comfortable for around $750 yearly or onetime for the shopping cart.

Can someone shed some light on this?
Thanks!

Tried to PM you, but could not. Interested in talking to you about your situation.

Louise

X-cart will do just about everything you need "out of the box". For $245 you can get a licence and have it installed by the X-cart team. That leaves you plenty left in your budget to do some template customisation.

take a look at zencart -- I do believe that they are using a template system. Still a pain to make major changes to but for a developer it makes life easier than dealing with osc out of the box.

basically any osc derivative can do what you are looking for with the right additions.

So, haven't used x-cart or the go-daddy ones.

Thank you for all your input!
Is X-Cart much easier to modify than OsCommerce? Or the zencart?
As I mentioned earlier, I can make the website out of html language using Frontpage and that is all I can do...
I have installed OsCommerce and tried but it was really hard to customize it...
If I’m having difficulty to customize osCommerce, do you think it will be same for X-Cart or Zencart?
If so, is there are any hosting company who offer out of box, easy to modify eCommerce package?
Or is it better off to use OsCommerce, X-Cart or Zencart and hire someone to customize it?
Where is the good place/site to find someone who is reputable and do a quality job to customize OsCommerce, X-Cart or Zencart?
How much do they normally charge?
Sorry for lots of questions… I’m new at this and confused and do not know where to start…
Can someone kind enough to guide me?
Thank you!

You will need a good working knowledge of html for any decent shopping cart software - there's no getting around it. There are easy to modify carts around but with all the features you want you are going to have to go for something professional.

Saying that have a look at www.litecommerce.com (X-carts new brother) - you can edit the templates in any editor (including FP). You might not 'quite' get all the features you want but you won't be far off.

Lite Commerce also has a feature that allows you to easily change logo, buttons and text sizes/colours.

Finally, you could always go for a ready made template - X-cart.com has a few for sale about $60-$70 I believe.

I agree with bluedreamer. You will need some experience with doing php (or other) + html to really be able to do most of the mods that are offered by oscommerce clones.

I'm not saying it's impossible just that if you are new to the game you will need to invest some time and effort to get what you want.

As for finding a developer to help. Some of the carts have a forum section just for that. Possibly even here. Of course, please use your best judgment.

Prices will most likely vary according to what you want done and how badly the dev wants the job.

Cheers

As for finding a developer to help. Some of the carts have a forum section just for that. Possibly even here. Of course, please use your best judgment.

Good point!

I would recommend you find carts that have all the features you need then visit the developers forums to see what help is available.