I want to know if paying for a high priced cart is going to solve my problems. I am to the point with this business that it is money well spent if it can do these things.

I have a growing site that couldn't afford anything nice to start with so i used zen cart and this template from template monster http://osc2.template-help.com/zencart_13271/index.php. I replaced all the pics with my own but I liked the layout much better than the typical en template. this solution did not work strait out of the box. the TM templates for zen are broken and require at minimum replacing some files and even then most of the side boxes don't work. these are my current problems that i have with zen cart

template is rigged together by strings but there are no available templates that work well and don't look generic.
customers complain that the check out doesn't always work.
I can't upgrade zen because i know it will break my template
the modules available are hit or miss. some work , some work but break other mods at the same time , some are just crap
Right now the business is profitable and only going up so i have no issue with spending money on a quality cart because this is our face to the customers and perception of quality is very important to us. However i don't want to spend a fortune just to have the same problems ....

These are the things i absolutely need in a cart

functionality with quick books
availability of high quality templates that can easily be tweaked to my needs
ability to give quantity discounts
ability to suggest "multiple" add on items via attributes or additional screens. IE batteries, rubber feet, warranty for your clock, light bulbs, shades , replacement cord... for your lamp
ability to assign at least three pricing tiers to accounts so i can give various wholesale pricing to my customers
I need it to run as smoothly as possible , without complaints that functions as important as the checkout are not working periodically....
Can handle high traffic without issues.
(optional) ability to ship UPS packages direct from the site or direct link to world ship.
(optional) Ability to produce quick sales reports and profit margin reports
(optional) a way for me to take phone orders easilyIf there is a cart that can do all these things I would be happy to pay for it . I haven't set a maximum price , id rather just evaluate each cart against its own price. I would also be interested in firms that build these for you .

thanks in advance for your advice.

No, money is not going to buy you a better cart. Some of the bigger-name high-priced carts, are a real let-down when it comes to features, performance or appearance.

I thought this had been suggested before, but I would highly recommend CRELoaded (http://www.creloaded.com). There are payware versions of it (which have more features) and there are also some nice templates available for it. If I had to do my own gift shop's site over again, I'd definitely use CRELoaded.

But no, a big budget is not necessarily going to buy you a better cart. This is one aspect of internet business that sort of goes contrary to the usual bigger budget = better product model.

:D Bailey

amazing that someone has not filled this market ...

There are some very nice templates available (http://www.algozone.com/shop/creloaded-templates-os03c00193-p-642.html)for CRE. Check out what you get to manage this one as an example.

amazing that someone has not filled this market ...

Actually, the market is filled with all kinds of choices and good products. CRELoaded is among the excellent options out there. Did you look at the link that I provided? ;) ;)

:D Bailey

thanks i may go with that + QBI .

how are the template monster templates for this ? for zen they were horrid .... is there a preferred template provider ?

I bought my template from Algozone (http://www.algozone.com), and have been happy with it. :gthumb:

:D Bailey

thanks for your help i think i may go with this solution.

Since we all agree there is no great carts there are some good carts out there that can and will do what you want. The problem with most of the better carts is that none of them are perfect and all have their issues that you will have to compromise with as you are already finding out. With that said, buying a cart from a company that is dedicated to supporting their software is much better (IMHO) than relying on the support you get from open source carts. Support can be the key to your dilema as it seems every cart has some issue or another. I would suggest you look into carts with excellent support structure and consider those carts as the ones to consider for your business.

Dave :peace:

Ok so i found that spending more money on a cart doesn't make it any better .

your money is better spent using free software and hiring a team of people to build the cart for you the way you want it.

try volusion, they have a free 14day trial you can play around with and see if its what you want.

volusion is good but they want you hosting with them and the hosting fee is just outrageous.

try volusion, they have a free 14day trial you can play around with and see if its what you want.

I would prefer to have a local firm build me a site. Our income can easily support it now and I need "people" .


I really feel this is the best option for me. Having someone who knows what they are doing build a cart trumps any of the high priced carts