Thinking about swtiching to Interspire

Hello,



I have laid out my plans for launching several shopping sites under one industry but in different niches. While planning I realized that cs-cart would be very difficult for what I want and here are my reasons:


  1. Upgrading - I hate sites that have the standard 2 or 3 column looks. Most of the examples I have seen here are just different background or color schemes etc. True changes require a lot of work. I am talking about taking a fresh new look and integrating with the cs-cart. Even if you get that done, what happens when you have to update the cs-cart system?


  2. I am not a professional programmer but I can do a lot of things when it comes to php and based on what I have seen, upgrading is a nightmare. If I were to implement a new skin, it would be a lot of work to add updates or upgrades to new version.


  3. Lack of developers. Other than 2 or 3 people I have talked to, there is no one else. Even out of those few people, most of them are busy.


  4. Extensions / Add-ons. Are you kidding me. CS-Cart has been in existence for years and there are only 2 or 3 companies working on add-ons. Most of the successful carts have help from the development community. BIG FAIL!


  5. Marketing Tools. This is a joke seriously. No offense, but most of the folks here are not into marketing, I am guessing. If that’s not true, why isn’t someone pushing cs-cart to work on marketing tools instead of other stuff. Where is email marketing? Split testing?



    Do you have any idea how important it is for any business to communicate with their userbase!? Your existing customers are very very important. They can make you or break you.



    Split testing. [url]http://www.uie.com/articles/three_hund_million_button[/url] …do I need to say anything more?!?


  6. BUGS. Looking at the bug tracker briefly, I am out of words. The cart is broken. The most active section on the forums here is the “Issues & Troubleshooting” section.



    Don’t get me wrong. I have compared a lot of other carts to cs-cart and I can tell you that I don’t take price into consideration. If you are going to tell me that for the price of $285 or $185 that I pay for several licenses, this cart can’t be compared to anything else; well you are wrong. You shouldn’t be reading this if you are looking to save few hundred bucks a year. All you are doing is shooting yourself in the foot. I would gladly pay several thousand dollars for a true shopping cart so I can focus on running the store and marketing it, instead of working on the technical tid bits.



    I have to agree that the price is amazing but deliver a better product for higher price and I will be truly sold on this cart. Until then I am not sure if this is the right product for my plans…

What is the point of your post? It sounds like you have determined that CS-Cart is not a proper fit for your business. Good luck with whatever solution you choose.



Bob

i have 8000 products and $1995 is too much for me to pay out starting a website.



I can understand the issues he’s raised


  1. upgrading is a problem but more for old clients rather than new one on 2 (I havent a problem but i read others do). But any cart that’s has extras made will have problems i guess.



    2.same as above.



    3.there is a lack of developers but I’d rather a good basic core to build on. I used joomla and virtuemart and there were so many developers and addons, trouble is there were always conficts whenever you installed a new addon because everything came as an addon.


  2. I want to keep my core as large as possible. and cs cart sort of does that (although i wish there were more inbuilt addons, I wised they’d pay the developers here to write more core addons)




6. compare to virt/jooma this has not given me anything to worry about. Got seo working by uninstalling and installing it. sometimes it can be slow but uninstalling unused addons has helped.

my wish list . Design addon (this would give cs cart something that no other shopping cart has unless they want to pay mega mega bucks) and more import options/settings (i have 8000 items).

If it meet your needs, it meet your needs.



If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. Find something different.



Sounds like you might want to try Magento Commerce.



Lots of developers. Nice design. Some marketing tools and integration. Split testing. And it’s free.



[url]http://www.magentocommerce.com/[/url]



Just requires a fast server.

Hi adill420,



most of the “Gurus” here have experience with other carts as well, or do you think the CS-Cart was the first and last shopping cart they know? I want just to say nobody can say “that is the right cart for you”. You have to know that. Just try other carts and you will see.



You are welcome to come back every time.

[quote name=‘indy0077’]Hi adill420,



most of the “Gurus” here have experience with other carts as well, or do you think the CS-Cart was the first and last shopping cart they know? I want just to say nobody can say “that is the right cart for you”. You have to know that. Just try other carts and you will see.



You are welcome to come back every time.[/quote]



Meh… waves goodbye

[quote name=‘adill420’]Hello,



I have laid out my plans for launching several shopping sites under one industry but in different niches. While planning I realized that cs-cart would be very difficult for what I want and here are my reasons:


  1. Upgrading - I hate sites that have the standard 2 or 3 column looks. Most of the examples I have seen here are just different background or color schemes etc. True changes require a lot of work. I am talking about taking a fresh new look and integrating with the cs-cart. Even if you get that done, what happens when you have to update the cs-cart system?


  2. I am not a professional programmer but I can do a lot of things when it comes to php and based on what I have seen, upgrading is a nightmare. If I were to implement a new skin, it would be a lot of work to add updates or upgrades to new version.


  3. Lack of developers. Other than 2 or 3 people I have talked to, there is no one else. Even out of those few people, most of them are busy.


  4. Extensions / Add-ons. Are you kidding me. CS-Cart has been in existence for years and there are only 2 or 3 companies working on add-ons. Most of the successful carts have help from the development community. BIG FAIL!


  5. Marketing Tools. This is a joke seriously. No offense, but most of the folks here are not into marketing, I am guessing. If that’s not true, why isn’t someone pushing cs-cart to work on marketing tools instead of other stuff. Where is email marketing? Split testing?



    Do you have any idea how important it is for any business to communicate with their userbase!? Your existing customers are very very important. They can make you or break you.



    Split testing. [url]http://www.uie.com/articles/three_hund_million_button[/url] …do I need to say anything more?!?


  6. BUGS. Looking at the bug tracker briefly, I am out of words. The cart is broken. The most active section on the forums here is the “Issues & Troubleshooting” section.



    Don’t get me wrong. I have compared a lot of other carts to cs-cart and I can tell you that I don’t take price into consideration. If you are going to tell me that for the price of $285 or $185 that I pay for several licenses, this cart can’t be compared to anything else; well you are wrong. You shouldn’t be reading this if you are looking to save few hundred bucks a year. All you are doing is shooting yourself in the foot. I would gladly pay several thousand dollars for a true shopping cart so I can focus on running the store and marketing it, instead of working on the technical tid bits.



    I have to agree that the price is amazing but deliver a better product for higher price and I will be truly sold on this cart. Until then I am not sure if this is the right product for my plans…[/QUOTE]



    I understand your frustration. I am also new to this cart and if you see a few of my threads you will see that I have been TRYING to make this cart work after switching from a free solution that actually converted better… There are some good things about this cart and if CS-Cart really does listen to the users (which it seems they are trying to do) then the product will improve… I know one thing, I have messed with a ton of different carts and NONE, I repeat NONE are perfect. They all have issues and they all will try your patience. There is no perfect solution unless you pay for a custom coded solution, then you are looking at huge money. If you can follow the advice of forum members who aren’t arrogant PRICKS (and there are several who are) and tackle similar problems, you will be able to improve CS-Cart.

Good luck with Interspire. Been there, done that. (BTW, if those points are why you are switching you won’t be any happier there. Probably less.)

[quote name=‘Ion_Cannon’]I understand your frustration. I am also new to this cart and if you see a few of my threads you will see that I have been TRYING to make this cart work after switching from a free solution that actually converted better… There are some good things about this cart and if CS-Cart really does listen to the users (which it seems they are trying to do) then the product will improve… I know one thing, I have messed with a ton of different carts and NONE, I repeat NONE are perfect. They all have issues and they all will try your patience. There is no perfect solution unless you pay for a custom coded solution, then you are looking at huge money. If you can follow the advice of forum members who aren’t arrogant PRICKS (and there are several who are) and tackle similar problems, you will be able to improve CS-Cart.[/quote]



Ion Cannon,



Well said.



Adill420,



What was CS cart’s reaction when you e-mailed them?



If by chance you have nor mailed them your concerns please do and post the results.



I do agree that CS Cart has lots of problems but it is not broken. I use it daily for orders.



For your needs you really need a custom built cart which at say $20,000 is not a lot for what you need as you are serious about marketing.



Have you considered this?

I looked a both in detail, CS-Cart was the best solution for OUR business. Beware the COST of Interspire! Support is no better…

[quote name=‘WUAP’]I looked a both in detail, CS-Cart was the best solution for OUR business. Beware the COST of Interspire! Support is no better…[/quote]

Welcome in the club!

Hello Adill420,


[quote name=‘adill420’]

5) Marketing Tools. This is a joke seriously. No offense, but most of the folks here are not into marketing, I am guessing. If that’s not true, why isn’t someone pushing cs-cart to work on marketing tools instead of other stuff. Where is email marketing? Split testing?



Do you have any idea how important it is for any business to communicate with their userbase!? Your existing customers are very very important. They can make you or break you.



Split testing. [url]http://www.uie.com/articles/three_hund_million_button[/url] …do I need to say anything more?!? [/QUOTE]



I agree with you. You’re right to 100%





Lee Li Pop

I agree with the need to split test. I’ve put this on the wishlist before and have added it to the ideas section. What’s the point in working so hard on SEO and advertising if I don’t make the best of the visitors that come?

I am sometimes surprised at how fast some of the veteran users of CS are so quick to kick someone to the curb. I’ve only been using CS for a few years and still ask some of the same questions. Right now I have been testing other carts and have just come back to CS so far. I’m not for sure who doesn’t test.



I will say that I agree with many of the points.



On the developer side, every time you find someone who edits or works on CS stuff they end up closing up shop! I am beginning to guess there just are not enough users on CS to pay someone to sell CS ‘after market’ mods, products or updates. I know I’ve heard people say that CS users are cheap and don’t want to pay for upgrades, but how do you explain the amount of people that use the “free” carts and there are still a ton of developers? While there are many on the forum that have been very generous to help, sometimes it would be nice to have a good place to find more. I do know I have heard developers complain about all the changes that CS makes, but it would seem that all carts have changes that “break” things.



Marketing tools are weak for CS. I usually go outside CS for this.

There are a lot of carts out there and they all do basically the same thing. so there is not a clear reason to pick cs cart. Cs cart should try and do something different that would make it stand out from the rest and make it THE only cart to get. The design add on would make it the ONLY one out there and although it may be a small market (or so I’m told) if you have 100% of the market it becomes massive. As it is, ecommerce carts seem to be growing and cs cart will eventually disappear under all the others. Unless you give people the reason to buy the cart they will go elsewhere.

[QUOTE]There are a lot of carts out there and they all do basically the same thing[/QUOTE]



mrfoameruk, you are correct in your statement, except, the reason I want CS-CART is that it has some specific features that I need, that most carts do not have.

  1. Ability to edit the options (dropdown and text field/areas) after the customer adds the product to the cart- This is the first function I look for when looking at other carts. It it does not have this or a inexpensive mod to do this, I reject the cart.
  2. Ability to set max length for text fields (CS-Cart uses regexp, better than nothing, but more complicated then just entering a number for maxlength and max rows), but still lacking in most carts.
  3. Ability to have a description for each option. Dropdown and Text. Most carts do not have this. CS cart allows a description with a “?” next to the option.
  4. Linked global options that can be applied to many products.- Most carts don’t have this.
  5. The blocks for designing is not in every cart.

    If a cart does not have 1-4 above, I won’t even look at it. Most don’t.

    Many carts are basically the same, but cs-cart does have a combination of features that I think makes it unique.

    Bob

[quote name=‘mrfoameruk’]There are a lot of carts out there and they all do basically the same thing. so there is not a clear reason to pick cs cart. Cs cart should try and do something different that would make it stand out from the rest and make it THE only cart to get. The design add on would make it the ONLY one out there and although it may be a small market (or so I’m told) if you have 100% of the market it becomes massive. As it is, ecommerce carts seem to be growing and cs cart will eventually disappear under all the others. Unless you give people the reason to buy the cart they will go elsewhere.[/QUOTE]

Honestly, I am more concerned about several things other carts already have that CS-Cart lacks: a better checkout experience, dimensional and multi-box shipments, cart abandonment tools and better email/communication and other marketing tools, just for starters. If CS-Cart fails it is more likely the result of lacking these and other basic features than the lack of a very narrowly-focused add-on like the designer tool.



Bob

cs cart is my choice as well due to the ease of use.

Last year i had joomla/virtuemart, this year cs cart, next year ?? I’m always looking.

I tend to have some time of round Christmas so look at my options and maybe change.

At the moment my choice would still be cs cart no question about it. block design etc is great.

I have a feeling in a year there will be other carts offering the same as cs cart (may be even better) as they all move over to block design/ajax etc. (wordpress blogging now uses it).



My biggest seller on my site is something that is only held by a few retailers in th uk. A third of what we sell is this one item. We sell other stuff that everyone else sells and that sells constantly at a low volume but it’s this one product that sells all the time because of it’s USP. CS cart need a USP

[quote name=‘mrfoameruk’]cs cart is my choice as well due to the ease of use.

Last year i had joomla/virtuemart, this year cs cart, next year ?? I’m always looking.

I tend to have some time of round Christmas so look at my options and maybe change.

At the moment my choice would still be cs cart no question about it. block design etc is great.

I have a feeling in a year there will be other carts offering the same as cs cart (may be even better) as they all move over to block design/ajax etc. (wordpress blogging now uses it).[/QUOTE]

I absolutely agree and I am almost always looking around at my other options - even if only to encourage improvements in my current solution. But don’t forget that CS-Cart is not standing still and will likely be competitive for many people for quite some time.

If CS cart fixes its checkout, makes the cart stable, with no upgrade problems that would be wonderful.