As I was wiring up a project for a client I was confronted with the decision of what eCommerce platform to use. I must admit so far I have always been using osCommerce, zenCart being the occasional Mistress. Of course both platforms are very interesting, mainly due to the huge communities around those and their open-source origin. It is always easy to find a plug-in (implementation might not always be the nightmare nicest dream you’ve ever had but generally it works). Sadly osCommerce might become outdated because of its tables-structure and zenCart still is a pain to configure. osCommerce isn’t too much of a hustle to me since since over the years I have finished my own very huge version of it, so I can setup an empty and fully modified/optimized shop within 20 minutes.
Seen my client was is a little more the lazy kind of person and certainly not the biggest brain geek I had decided to cheat on my beloved eCommerce platforms and try out shopify. Before I realized 3 hours had gone. Shopify is an amazing platform which will certainly set new standards. AJAX and Java, 100% theme freedom and an excellent editor (no… no colour hell features integrated like at ebay) might will boost this platform within shortest periods to the summit of the eCommerce platforms. eCommerce is certainly going to change.
What does shopify offer? Signup within seconds, free use of the platform (charged is a 3% fee on the sales, hosting is free), order tracking and a dreamuva easy-to-use platform are only some of the features. Within 5 minutes I had different shipping options, several categories and 10 items configured. Afterwards I started playing with the design and people having used Expression Engine before will immediately feel at home. The templating engine of Shopify is based on the same tagging principles/idea as EE and in the form of Vision shopify also offers a free template editor. Available are also several free premade and nice templates.
Shopify even offers to use your own URL. Isn’t that a dream? Now I will have to convince my client that shopify and less options than a fully configured platform are the way to go. Especially the easiness to add new items. Remember I am a helluva lazy b*stard.
If I had to rate shopify I’ld say 8.7/10. I surely miss some options like subcategories (for huge shops the tag-system could create too much clutter), rss feeds with images for the new items (although RSS-feeds for the orders are offered) and other small details. But surely worth to be considered for the future. Also if you run your own little shop or sell regularly on ebay, shopify is definitely worth a try-out. *waits for Ara to point out that shopify actually does offer subcategories*
I wonder how long it will take before the first plug-ins for WP will appear. Your personal blog with (almost) shop. Shopify even offers a simple blog engine as well. It has never been that easy to have/update quick&dirty news about your shop on the main page. Shopify is the new flickr of the eCommerce.
21 have made me smarter ↓
1 jasmine // Jun 9, 2006 at 10:31 am// View all comments by jasmine//
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Hey Franky,
you seem to be an oscommerce specialist. i am setting up a store and need the help of someone like you. please contact me at : jasmine@thelittlehook.com
jasmine.
2 Praca // Aug 11, 2006 at 8:16 pm// View all comments by Praca//
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Hi there! I just surfed in, i’m seeking oscommerce specialist, i just launched few shops and need help please write to me if you could help. Thanks!
3 Franky // Aug 13, 2006 at 2:17 pm// View all comments by Franky//
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Please use the contact page for questions and requests.
Please be complete in your request. ;)
4 kelly // Aug 29, 2006 at 6:55 pm// View all comments by kelly//
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We spent a decent amount of time and money on shopify we and can’t launch fully because of issues that are common with their target market:
- no support for drop-shippers
- all orders have to be approved via paypal to get paid. (if you use paypal shopping cart the money just goes through).
- orders do not come in your email, you have to login so see order
- Cannot generate PDF from OS X print feature on order page
- SKU entered on product page is not visible on public website (bad for SEO)
- PHP forms and scripts do not work
- clumsy shipping options
- search works off and on
Shopify is a nice system but with the volume of orders each day this system is too cumbersome (and slow) for hardcore selling and order processing. If you have phone orders and phone support each minute of your day is valuable and I missed a phone sale because I was so busy paypal approving, cuting, pasting from the RSS feed instead of doing a simple email forward.
For now we will use PayPal shopping cart and shift to google and wait until this product is easier to use for volume sellers.
5 Franky // Aug 29, 2006 at 9:03 pm// View all comments by Franky//
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Kelly, those are fair observations. I have also already had problems with the search engine. But I think we must accept that Shopify still in a very early stage is.
And maybe their desire to immediately get some hardcore sellers was just too premature.
I still think it is a great platform and will continue my comparison with flickr.com Also flickr needed some time to come where they are today. ;-)
6 dany // Sep 2, 2006 at 4:33 pm// View all comments by dany//
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Execent solution, i was use a Oscomerce and ZendCart but now i am checking a shopify and is a good solution, for bussines orientation, only need a spanish support and add a Dominican Republic on the country list.
if you need a help please contactme dany.paredes@hotmail.com
7 Phil de Fontenay // Oct 5, 2006 at 12:19 pm// View all comments by Phil de Fontenay//
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I tried to get going with many of the OS shopping carts.
I never found one that did what I wanted.
I now goldbarone at goldbarone.net.
This has got everything I ever wanted plus more :-)
Phil
8 Pozycjonowanie // Oct 20, 2006 at 3:46 pm// View all comments by Pozycjonowanie//
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“Hi there! I just surfed in, i’m seeking oscommerce specialist, i just launched few shops and need help please write to me if you could help. Thanks!” i from like you from the same country write to me at PM maybe i can help you:)
9 Franky // Oct 20, 2006 at 6:38 pm// View all comments by Franky//
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Nah dude, you from I not from the same country. I come country from where English language better spoken is from I. :D
10 eMule Forum // Dec 10, 2006 at 4:25 pm// View all comments by eMule Forum//
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Shopify makes quick work of adding new products through a very simple interface
Thanks a lot !
11 Ralph Mason // Dec 13, 2006 at 2:19 pm// View all comments by Ralph Mason//
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My experience with Shopify is somewhat less than good. After having evaluated the majority of shopping carts out there, I landed on a osCommerce, as this gives me all the flexibility of the front - at the same time haveing a good back-end solution easy to work with. Just my two cent.
12 Franky // Dec 13, 2006 at 5:19 pm// View all comments by Franky//
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Ralph, I have worked a lot with osCommerce, but osCommerce surely requires much more knowledge to get a decent setup running.
Many people are not into hacking. The biggest difference between Shopify and osCommerce for me is the maintenance. A beginner can easily change some things in Shopify without having to call (and eventually pay) the developer. As for osCommerce… not everyone wants to spend countless hours in the contribution section and the forums.
I still think osCommerce is the more performant platform, but Shopify the easier one.
Anyway I let the geekiness of clients decide on what platform to use. ;-)
13 kelly // Dec 18, 2006 at 3:14 am// View all comments by kelly//
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easy to setup is one thing. Having customers call you all day long to process orders because the system is not working or is not calculating shipping correctly is a WHOLE NUTHA pain in the booty. We can process only so many orders a day, each customer takes about 20 minutes to get questions answered and orders taken. When we can’t get to calls we lose sales. Shopify is easy to use but we had more luck with a basic PayPal cart before. Sure more bells and whistles with Shopify but less profit. If we catch the people having problems ordering then we make more on the order.
This has been going on for 6 months now but no time to redesign the site so we deal with it. I want to like it but it’s a bottom line thing and since most internet shoppers are looking for price, we also have to look at the costs. Shopify is not profitable when the rankings went down on pages and we have to rely on AdWords. Take the transaction fees, shopify fees, advertising, and time it takes to move Shopify data out to accounting system it does not make sense. We figured we are making more for Shopify, PayPal, and Google! It’s like having three pimps - not that I would know ;-)
14 valley // Dec 18, 2006 at 9:37 am// View all comments by valley//
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Hello,
We have been on OSCommerce for a long time now. It is true there are several things difficult to install and get working. But once going it is so reliable. The versatality of what can be added on is amazing. Everyone needs something simpler. Sure. Shopify may be one of the solutions. But how long will it take to get it to the same level of flexibility and usability of OScommerce ?
15 Franky // Dec 18, 2006 at 5:22 pm// View all comments by Franky//
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Kelly,
I am really sorry to hear that. I know that you guys have the biggest and best looking shopify platform, but personally would never have opted with your (isn’t it an exclusive) product to use a shared platform.
This was actually my point in this entry : Shopify is a great platform for people with small needs. Get an own ecommerce platform and in the end you’ll save… lots. Remember : paypal payment with shopify : charged double aso…. I have been there, you have been there, we know the rate.
valley,
I do love osCommerce because I think knowing it and also because I make money installing, optimizing and customizing it. ;)
16 kelly // Dec 18, 2006 at 11:47 pm// View all comments by kelly//
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We’d need to find someone to do OS Commerce for us. We designed this site and like the design but need to move it now that we have grown. Does 2Checkout work better with OS Commerce or PayPal?
17 Franky // Dec 19, 2006 at 12:58 am// View all comments by Franky//
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Kelly, you have mail.
18 Jarris // Jan 3, 2007 at 1:24 am// View all comments by Jarris//
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I just set up with Shopify and am experiencing a problem with the cart……it won’t accept when I select the State….everytime I select what State I’m in for shipping it just goes back to the first page with the msg. “State cannot be blank”
19 CRE Loaded,osCommerce ,ZenCart website templates // Mar 24, 2008 at 2:52 pm// View all comments by CRE Loaded,osCommerce ,ZenCart website templates//
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I am very interested in this topic. thank you for your help!
If someone is interested in e-commerce templates , CRE Loaded website templates, osCommerce website templates,ZenCart website templates visit me :www.keenwebtemplates.net
20 Acoustic tabs // Mar 25, 2008 at 9:58 am// View all comments by Acoustic tabs//
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Yes, they are both good ecommerce platforms and the fact that you can actually just use them without paying is also great.
21 how’s shopify these days? // Apr 11, 2008 at 9:06 pm// View all comments by how's shopify these days?//
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About shopify….most of the comments here are several years old. I’m looking for a shopping cart and found an awesome one on shopify (revamped template: http://shop.uppercasegallery.ca/ ).
I’m definitely not tech savvy and will have a large selection of items in my eventual store, and am hoping to have someone tweak a template for me to use with shopify OR can oscommerce/zen cart be made to operate like the one in uppercase…by an expert of course.
So I’m looking for opinions/reviews of shopify in its current state.