Hello,

Within the coming months I will be starting my own online video game retail store. I was hoping I could tap into some expert advice and opinions on what ecommerce software would best suit what I'm looking for.

I'm proficient in PHP/MySQL although not at a professional level so although I'm comfortable with setting up the backend and everything, I don't really want to have to tinker about with anything. I'd like something extremely flexible that works out of the box.

As a start-up it's going to be a small-sized business but something scalable is preferable so should it take off I'm not caught off guard.

It's a British site so anything tailored to British retail would be a plus but I think most work internationally so it's not a huge deal.

Price is the other big thing. Obviously I'd like to get something as cheap as possible, but I want it to all work properly so I'm willing to spend a little more if it's better value in the long run.

I look forward to your advice :)

Thanks! :D

I believe you should not worry about the software to be British exactly. Nowadays most free and commercial e-commerce packages are very flexible in terms of settings: you can configure shipping and tax rates for any country as well as choose the processor that would work with your merchant account.

Have a look at this thread:
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=867411
here are lists of free and commercial packages. Also there is a list of shopping carts here:
http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49000

However one question is important- how you will process payments in the store and whether you have a merchant account already. If yes, then with what company?

However one question is important- how you will process payments in the store and whether you have a merchant account already. If yes, then with what company?I plan on using PayPal and for other transactions, though I don't have a merchant account yet, it will be with HSBC.

well for a quick and easy setup, oscommerce is one of my favourites, but it can be overly-complicated depending on what you need.

it is very easy to plug in paypal, google checkout and many other payment systems.

I'd warn you against using the HSBC payment system (their merchant account is fine, its their website payments software) as having worked with it before it was a complete nightmare :(

customised oscommerce for UK

Doihaveto, have you chosen the solution? Have you reviewed any carts already?

Doihaveto, have you chosen the solution? Have you reviewed any carts already?Sorry for the late reply but I stopped receiving emails when new posts were made for some reason.

Anyway yes I believe I have chosen my solution, which is Xcart as you may be happy to hear ;)

Sorry for the late reply but I stopped receiving emails when new posts were made for some reason.

Anyway yes I believe I have chosen my solution, which is Xcart as you may be happy to hear ;)

Thank you for the reply. I really hope you will build successful profitable business with the software. Should you have any questions feel free to contact our support team.

Just thought I'd add a follow up.

I was set to use Xcart until talking to my host about ecommerce alternatives (I didn't know very many). Their Installatron script came with Magento, so I tried it out. It was excellent software on par with Xcart but it was free. Had to pay for a few extensions to get it working how I wanted, but it ended up being much cheaper than buying Xcart plus the extras I wanted so I went with Magento instead.

This is no offence to Xcart and I'm sure it's great software, but the price difference beat it out in the end.

Just thought I'd add a follow up.

I was set to use Xcart until talking to my host about ecommerce alternatives (I didn't know very many). Their Installatron script came with Magento, so I tried it out. It was excellent software on par with Xcart but it was free. Had to pay for a few extensions to get it working how I wanted, but it ended up being much cheaper than buying Xcart plus the extras I wanted so I went with Magento instead.

This is no offence to Xcart and I'm sure it's great software, but the price difference beat it out in the end.

Thank you for your opinion, please believe it is important.

I would like to tell anything about X-Cart - Magento difference here, since there is no ideal solution that would work for everyone. Each business has its own requirements and thus requires its own software.

Thank you for looking into our solution, we appreciate it!

As people have said before, you don't really get UK centered E-commerce tools. Try either Zen-Cart or OSCommerce. I have used both and they are very easy to setup.