DSF

If anybody is starting out, like me and wants a website to sell from I think I have it.

I used to use Joomla but that is quite complicated in comparison - I just bought this and the support on their website is the best I have ever seen, they have a specialist programmer on the forum full time who has helped me with a few things very quickly.

I just noticed it is on offer, the basic version is £84 (exc vat) so now is the time to buy it if you are going to - I have no idea how long the offer is going to last.

I am just waiting for someone to finish some custom software for my version and look forward to the grand opening, hopefully before Christmas 2013.

Did you find any particular benefit using cube cart over opencart or prestocart?

Presto is a monthly fee, Opencart - I had a lot of problems and I found support lacking (Although, open cart does have potential).

Benefits are:

Easier to use than the others.
Fast, accurate support.
One off fee.

I much prefer to pay for something rather than lease it.

It's something I'll be having to look at. Isn't there a free cart thing you can add and link it to paypal etc? This area is going to send me la la

Ive been dabbling with a few basic WordPress themes and have added the WooCommerce plugin to incorporate a tidy little shopping cart!... WordPress also has its own plugin...... all free and countless add-ons and possibilities. Only thing with the WP plugin is the support is not too good..... but thats only when someone wants something added that isnt standard in the plugin. Ive looked at cubecart, tomatocart,magento, prestashop etc etc etc... and the only one I like for its ease of use is OpenCart..... as they say..."different horses for different courses!"

I have also been down the wordpress route.

I used to use Joomla, I still have a customer I built a Joomla website for which uses it's Virtumart plug in (for e-commerce - a shop and its all free) but I dread it when the customer now asks me to update his shop as its needlessly over complicated.

I wanted to start again for my new shop and have something I could just add products to, update ALL of the prices at once if I wanted and add sale items etc - this works very well for me.

The free solutions are great if you have the time to tinker with them, that is something I have been through and learned my lesson - I want to be able to concentrate on making new products now - not spend my time trying to fix Windows up update my shop.

But we all look for different things, I suggest everyone try everything that's available - it's the only real way to learn. I'm more than happy to pay for what I have now though - I have done my time with other things.

lol, I remember when I first posted a job on Freelancer - I spent a couple of days selecting the company I wanted to engage - made my choice and set up a Skype call with them.. when I eventually got to speak with the fella he told me to get Magneto.. exactly what I wanted to avoid - Monthly charges.

Must say personally i prefer Opencart once you get the set up done and sorted the setting out its a blast i use to make most my sites in Zencart i also have some customers using Magento (pay monlthy) but for me OpenCart is one of the top eCommerce platforms p.s i have a facebook page i just set up would love some more likes been busy the last 2 years planning & paying for a wedding so now am back to full energy lol https://www.facebook.com/laymanswebdesign

p.s happy to give impartial advise on websites/softwares where i can

Just an observation with your facebbok page Chris, You can sharpen up that green cover photo.

Cover photos are 851 pixels wide and 315 pixels tall so make your image that size, and save it as .PNG - I was experimenting with this for a while with my page and this gave best,sharpest image.

I use opencart to run my website and find if I have any problems with extensions for example the developers can be quite helpful

touch wood I don't have any problems though

I have been playing with webs.com for Mrs Janners and it appears incredibly simple. I have a website which is wordpress based that was built for me, it is generally OK, but sometimes updates knock out things. As a complete computer numpty it took me about 15 minutes to get my head around the webs.com format. That dear friends is incredible for me!

No idea beyond that, but might be worth a look for those that know more to pass a more intelligent comment.

Janners