e-commerce software packages

[qball]

Does anyone have any recommendations of robust e-commerce software applications that can be installed on a server with a MYSQL backend.

Something easy to administer and configure
Something secure
Something with good support
Something with digital products (download products) options

Thanks,

Q

[MaineLotus]

MYSQL backend, not many choices. Move up to MSSQL and many choices.

[lustrazor]

Originally Posted by MaineLotus

MYSQL backend, not many choices. Move up to MSSQL and many choices.

I wouldn't say that at all. MySQL is fine and besides, MS products are to be avoided at all costs for server/web applications.

I've used these two... and they both support MySQL.
shop-script.com
x-cart.com

Both use the smarty engine for templating. Xcart in particular is well made, feature rich and they will even help you set it up & integrate into your site design. (for a fee) Shop script is more on the low-end but does support sales of downloadable items out of the box.

[BrianK]

If you don't want to reinvent the wheel, my brother just started using homestead's ecommerce hosting. It comes with a "site-builder" application that runs locally on your machine... very drag/drop & easy to use. You then sync to the servers & you're ready to go. They offer support as well - several levels, even the free support is pretty good.

My brother is a computer neophyte, but has managed to get a full ecommerce site running without getting a programmer involved... There's something to be said about that.

Homestead | Build, Make & Create Your Own Website – FREE! Website Hosting & Website Building Software

[desmoworks]

open source is in the only way to go imo. zencart or oscommerce and develop it yourself! Though this achieves none of your goals of being easy... but if you decide you want something truly custom it is quite fun.

[coolingmist]

I wrote my company system myself Water Injection, Methanol Injection, Alcohol Injection Systems | Coolingmist over the last 5 years. SQL Server backend, windows front end, ASP.NET for the development. Fedex web API, paypal API and LINKPOINT API are built into it. Its more work to do it yourself, but its free and you can do anything you want with it.

[chapster5]

I personally use Joomla, which has hundreds of thousands of different addons, such as E-Commerce and stuff, alot easyier too more of a point and click interface

[spectre]

Really comes down to how much you want to pay for an off the shelf solution or how much time you have to develop with something like zencart or oscommerce.

I have been developing with volusion Shopping Cart Software by Volusion Ecommerce Solutions, product cart Shopping cart software: ProductCart by Early Impact, zencart, oscommerce or completely custom based on need. It really comes down to time, money, customization, if you want free software updates for bugs/new functionality, pre-built admins (CMS), etc.

[njcu]

Currently using Zencart. It does require some reprogramming if you want to do something specific and has some drawbacks but I like it.

[Tpup]

If you decide to outsource, my company supports 1,000+ users with an ASP e-commerce solution. PM me if you want some details.
Thanks
Roy

[Ave]

We use a package called Softslate. It's java-based, which was a criteria for us. It was also highly customizable, which was important for my group. There are a lot of other packages available, mostly php, for MySql.

Wendy

[charliex]

i use osCommerce, somewhat like zencart its a giant PITA none of these guys seem to be able to write software that doesn't rely on you changing the source code to run the shop itself, so its a huge hassle when it comes to updating it, even if you keep it under revision control.

i prefer osCommerce over zencart as the latter seems to be designed/written by sadists, which granted most programmers are.