OSCOMMERCE Vs ZEN-CART

Hi
I would like to know your thoughts on which product you like better and why, sort of a recommendation, since I'm stuck as to my choice.

As for me I find oscommerce really complicated but powerful. Zen-Cart is easier to use and I guess a bit less powerful, not alot of modules.

What kind of online shop are you setting up?
how many items? where is your customer base? etc.

I have a basic osCommerce cart set up, and it seems 'good enough'... but customizing it beyond the boring/ugly default setup seems like quite a bit of work, so I haven't bothered to do that.

How do I say this... oh right, OSCommerce is a flaming piece of crap. It's a 3 year old code base with no recent updates and a floundering community. The modules are the most part work, but have you looked at the code? Crap.

Let's see, what else.. oh right - have you tried to edit the default look and feel of OScommerce? it's got PHP code embedded everywhere and is a freaking nightmare. At least you dont have to worry about upgrades.. haha

On the other hand.. zencart is a flaming piece of crap, but less so (I use it). New 1.3 is making good progress towards clear seperation of business logic from presentation and they've really cleaned up the code vs the hunk of crap fork they had before. Modules I find are slightly better as zencart has the overrirdes system which works well.

Are there any non-flaming pieces of non-crap that would recommend ?

The biggest problem I think with oscommerce is that it has some major security risks and for an ecommerce site those are not what you want. I have actually disabled it from my hosting plans, its just a mess.

zencart is better at security, although I haven't used it much or tried to customized it.

I kind of like cubecart and the price isn't too bad.

I would strongly suggest not using oscommerce it really is a nightmare, I have a client that is always having problem with some of the modules and its like a full-time job just keeping up with the security risks on it.

If you're willing to go with a hosted shopping cart, check out http://www.shopify.com/ ... http://www.reorganize.ca/ is an example of a site built with Shopify.

Originally Posted by CheapScotsman

Are there any non-flaming pieces of non-crap that would recommend ?

For php/mysql, not very much out there in terms of open source. Zencart is really the best solution out there.

As for cubecart - that's just a fork of zencart isn't it?

Originally Posted by CheapScotsman

Are there any non-flaming pieces of non-crap that would recommend ?

I just did some work integrate template into zencart for a designer. What DaFonz said was correct, it was messy.

Nextime I will ask this designer to use CubeCart. I've never used it myself but from the product description it looks promising.

http://www.cubecart.com/site/home/

* Powerful Template System (100% separate PHP from HTML)
* Plug & Play (Modular) Payment Gateways
* Plug & Play (Modular) Shipping Methods
* Plug & Play (Modular) 3rd Party Affiliate Systems
* Valid XHTML & CSS Code (CubeCart is the ONLY cart with this feature)
* Tax by State/Zone or Country
* Unlimited Currencies (Completely Customisable)
* Inventory Stock Control
* Sell Digital & Tangible Products
* Unlimited Images/Photos per Product
* Product can be placed in unlimited categories
* Improved Customer Email Marketing System
* Unlimited Store Administrators (with configurable permissions)
* Improved Language Support
* Automated Copyright Removal
* Powerful Rich Text Editor (Cross Browser)
* Improved SSL support
* Improved Server Compatibility/Security/Efficiency

Originally Posted by CheapScotsman

Are there any non-flaming pieces of non-crap that would recommend ?

Nearly every cart is based on oscommerce, including zencart and creloaded. And there seems to be hacks every few weeks out for them, so..

I like paypal. I setup a paypal cart for someone and they like it. No one can hack them unless the hacker hacks paypal

Basically, as said above, you'd require someone working full time on the cart if you choose to go with a custom solution like oscommerce over paypal cart. Small businesses are hurt online, whereas large businesses who can afford IT staff will flourish.

However, there are breakthroughs coming, some of the links above are to newer cart systems being worked on that are safer and more manageable. You'd probably still need a developer to customize them for you.

In the meantime, I'd say do Paypal cart Unless someone has a better suggestion than that.

Thanks for the replies. I totally agree.. oscommerce is so stupid its nearly impossible to center the thing or make it look nice, too complicated and not worth my time. Zencart is I think a bit better.

I didn't know these things are so flawed with security.. which sucks since I'm opening an e-com site selling hiphop stuff.. so I guess I would have to go with one that I pay for.. I cannot afford to get hacked and then my client base is at zero.

Sadly, getting hacked can happen no matter how much you pay for the software. The key is having a plan set out to minimize the downtime and the effects of the hack. If you keep on top of patching the software and keeping backups that goes a long way to minimizing the loss of data/business.

It is the joys of ecommerce and the internet.

Fun times!

Anyone using Miva Merchant?

Originally Posted by PoopyP

I didn't know these things are so flawed with security.. which sucks since I'm opening an e-com site selling hiphop stuff.. so I guess I would have to go with one that I pay for.. I cannot afford to get hacked and then my client base is at zero.

They aren't really. Zencart is very good about security patches and there hasn't been a major exploit in months. Honestly, being hacked is going to be pretty down there on your list of concerns as long as you don't start adding modules.. THAT's when you have problems. Just do basic things like.. renaming your admin area and you'll be fine.