What software do you use to do your web site

[JSR]

Your own server!!!
Does that cost lots?

Depends what you call a "lot"...

If you can see your way clear to pm me some prices I would like to know if I could afford a space on a Virtual server or a whole one to myself. thanks.

PM sent.

[Tris]

Does it give you an https address?

Software can't give you an https address, that's down to your web-host.

If you rent your webspace from someone who also hosts the software, then they will more than likely* offer https where appropriate. But they won't do it for free.

I've mentioned before that I use the (free) ZenCart which I host on my own server. I use https because I buy the certificate every year (you have to prove who you are, and all that) and install it to my own server. Any reasonably competent webhost will do this for you, but they will charge for both the certificate and an admin fee to install it*.

Some hosts will offer a "free" https but it'll be a virtual one - something like https://secure.freebiewebhosts.com/~xtfgcr/yourwebsite.com/, which doesn't look as though you're taking your business seriously.

*check the smallprint.

Your own server!!!
Does that cost lots?

I looked into hosting my own server before I found a company which did un-restricted (bandwidth and space) hosting for £9.99 per year it was a bit rockey at first but the company got taken over and has improved over time I have moved all of my sites onto this host company I have used Zen cart but most of my selling has been done by word of mouth and it's more of a case of having somewhere to send customers to than to develop blank leads from google.

[mrs maggot]

i have been introducted to this today, and have got the hang of it in no time at all, it supports far more than zen cart & open cart, and i am getting on ok with it http://www.prestashop.com/

its freeware too - and a lot more features than a lot of paid for shops

only thing i have against it - its French lol

[JSR]

i have been introducted to this today, and have got the hang of it in no time at all, it supports far more than zen cart & open cart, and i am getting on ok with it http://www.prestashop.com/

its freeware too - and a lot more features than a lot of paid for shops

only thing i have against it - its French lol

When you say "supports far more than zen cart", what kind of things do you mean?

[mrs maggot]

have a look and play with it, the amount of profiles you can add, colours, sizes, etc its just much much easier to use. apparently its been developed by a lot of "shop" owners as well as being web designers, and coolest of the cool, are the numbered invoices and delivery notes made automatically and filed for you ready to print out !!

[JSR]

have a look and play with it, the amount of profiles you can add, colours, sizes, etc its just much much easier to use.

Well I already have a working online shop with ZenCart, so I don't feel particularly inclined to try out other ones just because someone says "it's better than ZenCart". If there are advantages, I'll look at it, otherwise I don't have the time. Hence my question.

You can add attributes (colours, sizes, etc) in ZenCart. So I'm still unsure of what makes prestashop "better".

Having looked at many shopping cart software before deciding on ZenCart, I came to the conclusion that they're all pretty much of a muchness. I've yet to see one that knocks the socks off all the others - it'd be nice if there was one, though.

apparently its been developed by a lot of "shop" owners as well as being web designers, and coolest of the cool, are the numbered invoices and delivery notes made automatically and filed for you ready to print out !!

You also get invoices with ZenCart. Personally, I don't use them because I do quite a lot of non-website work but I'm sure others use them.

[Karen.]

Sorry, only just seen this for some reason. We own the other example of a Zencart website mentioned earlier.

I have no idea of the capabilities of attributes in colours/sizes etc, but we currently have a lot of choices in colours etc on the site with no problems. I do not personally do our website - far too busy with the orders from it for that. My partner does that side of things.
We use the invoicing with it and also have it linked to paypal postage, so you can print and pay for the postage straight from paypal with the pre filled in name and address etc. It also generates notes, delivery details, simple customer lists, order lists, updates customers on teh status of their orders and probably a lot more. It also automatically calculates the postage cost on all orders going by royal mail or courier rates from the item weight entered for each item.

Our very first site was done in Dreamweaver and was ok, but I could never get the hang of adjustments or adding products. We then changed over to OSCommerce and then to Zencart which is a further improvement.

As for generating orders - yes it keeps us busy. I work on them around 40 hours a week, churning out anywhere between 50- 250 items ordered each week.

[GoldRapt]

I don't as yet use any oscommerce . However, I must say the prestashop templates look a little more interesting then the zen one's that I have seen to date.
I'm not knocking anyone's site, maybe prestashop appear to have a better selection is all.

[Karen.]

I know that with us we wanted a basic template, so chose that over all the fancy ones. I personally do not like the flash, all singing, all dancing 'busy' website templates.

[John G]

Hi Karen, Is the 50 - 250 orders per week soley off the website?