I am having a very difficult time dealing with the development group at CS-CART. There seem to be a disconect between what I ask in my requirement document and what they are providing me. We have been going back and forth for several weeks and now my project is over 1 month behind. The code that they provided did not work and in order for them to correct the code they are calling it “ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONALITY”. and of course more money. I was very hesitant about doing business with them and I was right…
Can someone please recomend a company, or coder that understand the CS-CART program? I need some changes done in my program.
I recall reading about a company here…Something “Coders” but I don’t find it.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
We had some mods done by ShippingKit.com. They are very good and produced good quality mods. They are in Russia, so there’s a day delay between emails and sometimes it takes a few rounds before we were on the same page but it all worked out in the end.
I believe other developers who do mods or addons are snorocket and Joe (search for their profiles). I think snorocket is US based, Joe I think is in Asia.
I’ve actually had good experience dealing with CS-Cart developers. We’ve used them on several occasions. But I have experienced the same thing as you when I try to describe something in text only. I have found the best way to ask for something with them is to create mockup images in photoshop (or something like that) as to how you expect it to look and add notes to the image for how it should work. It takes a little longer to submit your request, but they pretty much nail it perfectly every time we supply the mockups.
Recently my experience with cs-cart custom development is extreme disappointment. Dev prices are way out of line, I was recently quoted $650 for a fairly simple request that I believe they could do in ~1hr. And Yes every time you turn around they want more money for this and that, and it’s not like $50, it’s always an unreasonable $500+
The best way to deal with the absurd prices is to just flat out stop paying them for their price gouging services and go elsewhere like shippingkit.
Our business depends on the availability of CS’s custom development services but their prices have grown so out of proportion that we are now to the point of leaving the cart and finding a more affordable and stable solution, which we are very close to doing unless CS changes their tactics very quickly - Sno
[quote name=‘snorocket’]we are now to the point of leaving the cart and finding a more affordable and stable solution[/quote]
You’ve been saying that for years now… what’s changed?
[quote name=‘JesseLeeStringer’]You’ve been saying that for years now… what’s changed?[/QUOTE]
We’ve already moved 2 of our company owned stores off CS, our flagship store is next - Sno
[quote name=‘jgaris’]I’ve actually had good experience dealing with CS-Cart developers. We’ve used them on several occasions. But I have experienced the same thing as you when I try to describe something in text only. I have found the best way to ask for something with them is to create mockup images in photoshop (or something like that) as to how you expect it to look and add notes to the image for how it should work. It takes a little longer to submit your request, but they pretty much nail it perfectly every time we supply the mockups.[/QUOTE]
Gladd that you mentioned… I actually did that in photoshop… send example moc-up… of the way I wanted to look… but as long as the functionality was there I really did not care. I also provided other websites as samples. Not once but in every communication I had I will tell them to check this site… try it, so they all knew what I was looking for. They did the MOD, did not work and after I told them that it was not working they said that to get the functionality that I was looking I had to pay additonal money. New functionality??? what new??? All I want is the old stuff that I aked working as I ask. Now, is the same story… Once we receive payment of we will begin to work within 6 days after payment. I already paid a ton of money… and they are asking for more… Not a good way of doing business…
[quote name=‘snorocket’]We’ve already moved 2 of our company owned stores off CS, our flagship store is next - Sno[/QUOTE]
If I may ask… What program are you moving to? I may do the same…
[quote name=‘snorocket’]We’ve already moved 2 of our company owned stores off CS, our flagship store is next - Sno[/QUOTE]
Where to?
Yes, that i like to know too! If you do not like write it puplic, write me an pm, please!
and i wish a official statement from cs-cart to:
[url]http://forum.cs-cart.com/showpost.php?p=87564&postcount=7[/url]
and
[url]http://forum.cs-cart.com/showpost.php?p=87529&postcount=1[/url]
[quote name=‘snorocket’]We’ve already moved 2 of our company owned stores off CS, our flagship store is next - Sno[/QUOTE]
Snow, if you can, please send me a PM with the program that you moved to…
I have been with CS-Cart since 2005, have several licenses. I may look into moving some of my more important sites.
Thank You.
For the same reason, I left X-c.r.a.p
I was in a situation where one of my clients requested an upgrade 3 days before my holiday. The best bet was to ask X guys for help. Without much delay, I received an email and was told to buy some extra support points for roughly 360$. I couldn’t believe it! When I asked them - why so much, the answer was - because I had so many modifications in files. Yeah, one of the modules was provided by them and some simple frontpage adjustment was done by myself.
Not having many options left, I decided to ask guys on the forum. Found the way of performing an upgrade on modified carts and decided to run it following some simple steps. Upgrade went OK, the custom mod was working fine and all 2 frontpage issues resolved in minutes. I would say, with backing up the cart before the upgrade, getting files ready and performing upgrade, it took me less than 30min. Everything works fine since and it’s been more than a year with no issues. That was my last “need for help” from X boys and no more business for them.
Another client of mine requested a mod and was asked for 700$. I got it for him from a 3rd party company for 149$ and it works great.
I do not know how CS deals with those requests, but after reading some of the posts, I’m not happy about it at all. I do understand they must charge for their time and service, but in some situations, it look like sky is the limit.
I will see how it goes and if CS becomes too expensive, then there’s another option on the table.
I’m having a discussion with CS on the topic of greedily unaffordable development costs, depending on which way the discussion goes I may or may not be around much longer. CS is a great cart but the issue of greed in the development dept. has grown out of control and I can no longer continue operating my business at the mercy of another company unless they change their business practices, which I don’t see happening.
For news and information, make sure your signed up at:
[url]http://www.snorocket.com/forums/forum.php[/url]
Hi,
I think part of the problem is a lack of competition for development. There is few (maybe only two or three) company/persons I know of that are making mods for cs-cart. This gives cs-cart a monopoly of development.
Even though CS-cart added hooks to their code, which should help third party developers, I don’t really see cs-cart making it easy for them. One of the first things I look at when checking out carts is the carts standard functionality and if there is other functionality available through third parties. Cs-cart needs to establish good relationships with third party developers. My feeling is that cs-cart should focus on bug fixes, security patches, fixes due to browser upgrades, PCI-compliance requirements, etc, and less on adding brand new functionality, which causes constant break-fix cycles.
Competition between third party developers theoretically would lower costs and aid in the development of mods for niche markets that are not required for the main stream cart owner and allow cs-cart to concentrate on the core product. I’d actually not want to see any new functionality after 2.1 for a year or more.
Bob
Hello
Please let me explain the normal order in which our developers process quote requests. After a detailed review of the provided information and clarification of all unintelligible details, our engineers provide an approximate cost and possible time-frames, which depend significantly on the way the required functionality will be implemented. We always provide an approximate quote in order not to waste our clients’ time on discussing details. The cost of the project and the time-frames are the two main components of every quote. With an approximate quote, our clients can quickly decide whether they are ready to go on with the project without a necessity to answer additional questions regarding the functionality of the requested modification.
If a client is satisfied with the approximate cost and the time-frames, our developers proceed to preparing a detailed specification for the project. The specification is prepared according to the information provided by the client (examples, screenshots, etc.). Once prepared, the detailed specification must necessarily be approved by the client who is expected to review it throughout and, if necessary, supplement it with additional details. This is really important, because the provided quote covers only the details included in the specification.
It seems to me that sometimes clients approve specification without reading them carefully. And when the modification has been developed according the specification, it turns out that the client has some additional requirement. If the additional functionality is rather small, we always try to meet the client half way and do these changes free of charge. And when the additional requirements demand significant time and efforts to be implemented, this certainly costs extra.
Please send me your suggestions and complaints regarding our custom development service, and I will review each situation and try to find out a trade-off solution that is acceptable to both you and us.
Thank you for understanding
—
Sincerely yours,
Oleg Gorshkov
Head of the custom development department
https://www.cs-cart.com
This discussion all depends on your point of view, as a customer, I want low cost mods, quickly. And sometimes clients don’t always give all the details.
As a developer, I want ALL the specifications up front so that I can quote it fairly without “scope creep”, aka additional features/coding not found in original spec.
There has to be a happy medium built in for both parties so that customers aren’t feeling ripped off and CS isn’t feeling like they are giving mods away for nothing.
So basically the more info we provide and communicate the better the price and more accurate quotes.
Not always easy, but I think communication is the key.
I’m a developer and have become decent at modding cs-cart. If anyone needs anything, feel free to PM me. If it’s beyond me, I’ll let you know, otherwise I can give you a quote.
I’ve been a PHP developer for about 7 years. Most of my experience is with custom, ground up, applications dealing with back end data management. I usually don’t use prefab solutions like CS-Cart, Drupal, Wordpress etc. I’d be more likely to build one of those from the ground up. I have experience with CodeIgniter and YiiFramework development php frameworks.
[SIZE=3]It seems to me that cs-cart is going about custom development the wrong way. Currently they perform custom development with ONE customer in mind. With this narrow minded philosophy they have to charge a lot to recoup their time. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]But the better business model would be to do custom development with the thought of also reselling the modification to other people. After they perform custom development for someone, they should package up the modifications and sell them in a Add On Store to the general public. I am sure many people would like to purchase some of this development work that has already occurred. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]All they need to do is open a Add On store and sell these packaged up modifications. Of course they should not be that expensive since, in theory, many customers would now be purchasing the modification. I expect $30 to $200 is a good price range. On some add-ons they might not recoup their time, but on others they will make a lot more by reselling them over and over. They could even allow other third-party developers sell their add-ons in their store for a small commission.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Should be a win win for cs-cart and the cs-cart community.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]My thoughts,[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]David[/SIZE]
[quote name=‘Triplets’][SIZE=3]It seems to me that cs-cart is going about custom development the wrong way. Currently they perform custom development with ONE customer in mind. With this narrow minded philosophy they have to charge a lot to recoup their time. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]But the better business model would be to do custom development with the thought of also reselling the modification to other people. After they perform custom development for someone, they should package up the modifications and sell them in a Add On Store to the general public. I am sure many people would like to purchase some of this development work that has already occurred. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]All they need to do is open a Add On store and sell theses packaged up modifications. Of course they should not be that expensive since, in theory, many customers would now be purchasing the modification. I expect $30 to $200 is a good price range. On some add-ons they might not recoup their time, but on others they will make a lot more by reselling them over and over. They could even allow other third-party developers sell their add-ons in their store for a small commission.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Should be a win win for cs-cart and the cs-cart community.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]My thoughts,[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]David[/SIZE][/QUOTE]
I fully agree with your comments!
Custom development takes them away from working on the main cart itself… That’s probably why they charge so much to do the work. One solution would be to hire an addon developer who can focus on those projects while the rest of the development team can focus on updates.
Their bread and butter is the cart not addons.