I am considering moving a 3 store multi-store Magento setup over to CS-Cart. I used CS-Cart for a while several years ago, so I’m somewhat familiar with settings and so forth (and I really like CS-Cart). I remember opting for Magento instead of CS-Cart on this project because of my more complex shipping needs which were accomplished through the core of Magento and the addition of several fairly expensive add-ons. I would have preferred to use CS-Cart back then, because I consider it superior in virtually all other aspects, but shipping limitations at the time were just too much of a restriction to use it. I’m hoping that has changed now, so I can start using CS-Cart. With that said, I have a few questions.
I know it’s possible to provide free shipping when customers exceed a certain $ amount in their cart. However, it is possible to omit specific items from this free shipping, and instead charge real-time shipping rates for those specific items, while allowing all the other qualifying items to still receive free shipping? REASON: I have several bulky/heavy items that cost too much to ship for free, but the majority of items would qualify. I also have some products drop shipped for me, and they would not qualify for free shipping either since we must pay shipping fees to our drop shippers.
I didn’t see suppliers and affiliate add-ons in the current demo here on the site. Are these still part of the feature set? I’m assuming they are, but just wanted to make sure.
I advertise on google merchant services. Is the process of exporting a google compatible “feed” fairly straightforward?
Can pricing, including quantity pricing, be customized by store (different prices on different stores)?
Can shipping methods be customized by store (different shipping methods on different stores)?
These things that are pretty important to this project, so I wanted to check and see if CS-Cart can accommodate these needs.
My name is Maria, I am a CS-Cart sales manager. I will be glad to answer your questions.
As for shipping, CS-Cart supports both realtime and manual shipping methods as well as free shipping that you will be able to set up for certain products.
The suppliers add-on is included into CS-Cart by default, and the Affiliate add-on was excluded from the existing version of the software. Now it is available as a free add-on on GitHub (may have compatibility issues) and as a paid add-on developed for the current version of CS-Cart on our MarketPlace.
As for export to Google, there is a special add-on included by default (Google Export), that creates data feeds to work with Google Base.
In case you have multiple storefrons, they will function as separate stores managed from the same admin panel. So, it means that every storefront can have their own unique payment and shipping methods, design, product and user database (or share them if needed), product prices.
Please, feel free to send further questions to us at sales@cs-cart.com, and we will be glad to provide you with all the necessary information.
You can't do the things you want regarding shipping without extensive modifications. We also looked at moving to Magento because of the shipping limitations in cs-cart. But in the end, it was easier to just have all the mods we needed made as it would have been a costly learning curve to move to Magento. We still find the cart holds us back in many ways, and will eventually need to move, but until Magento 2 is released, we'll probably stay right here.
It seems like I could accomplish what I need, functionality-wise, with the current version of CS-Cart. Now the next question…
Has anyone here migrated from Magento to CS-Cart? If, so would you mind sharing some information about your overall experience doing so? Did you do it yourself? Did you use a service of some kind?
I've got a database approaching 7,000 customers split between 3 storefronts currently. I have about 350 products.
It seems like I could accomplish what I need, functionality-wise, with the current version of CS-Cart. Now the next question…
Has anyone here migrated from Magento to CS-Cart? If, so would you mind sharing some information about your overall experience doing so? Did you do it yourself? Did you use a service of some kind?
I've got a database approaching 7,000 customers split between 3 storefronts currently. I have about 350 products.
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You may contact our developers. They are working with CS-Cart and Magento systems.
There is no problem for them to make the migration from Magento to CS-Cart as they know all hidden dangers.
It seems like I could accomplish what I need, functionality-wise, with the current version of CS-Cart. Now the next question…
Has anyone here migrated from Magento to CS-Cart? If, so would you mind sharing some information about your overall experience doing so? Did you do it yourself? Did you use a service of some kind?
I've got a database approaching 7,000 customers split between 3 storefronts currently. I have about 350 products.
What I think you should keep in mind is, that if you need to use product options and/or combinations, Cs-Cart breaks down in many, many places. For example, quantity pricing won't work correctly (discounts only applied to base price!) and promotions are pretty much useless… the list is long, so be sure to check that before switching!
Some tools are great, though, like the layout and template editors.
What I think you should keep in mind is, that if you need to use product options and/or combinations, Cs-Cart breaks down in many, many places. For example, quantity pricing won't work correctly (discounts only applied to base price!) and promotions are pretty much useless… the list is long, so be sure to check that before switching!
Some tools are great, though, like the layout and template editors.
Who said promotions are pretty much useless. They are GREAT !! They can be implemented automatically compared to say BigCommerce where you have to give a customer a code that's a zillion digits long.
Who said promotions are pretty much useless. They are GREAT !! They can be implemented automatically compared to say BigCommerce where you have to give a customer a code that's a zillion digits long.
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Promotions are rendered pretty much useless when you're using options and combinations… that was my point.
if I may ask, why are you considering moving from Magento and which version are you using ?
Were you using Magento Go ?
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I am currently using Magento CE 1.9 (self-hosted). Magento is a great system, if you have the resources to manage it, maintain it and run it. It is incredibly powerful, and can be expanded in just about any way you wish. However, it is extremely slow, unless tweaked extensively. It is also quite difficult for the average person to use. I am the in-house dev and admin, but I have to do almost every task in the system (inventory management, new product entry, etc.), because other employees tend to get confused and make entry/edit mistakes or are simply afraid to use it at all. We have been using it for 3 or 4 years, and it is getting slower and slower, even on a dedicated server with plentiful resources. We've spent thousands of dollars on extensions and customization, but it just seems like it's time for us to move to a faster and more user friendly system, even at the expense of some robustness. I also have some concerns regarding eBay's commitment to Magento long-term. I was not a fan of the buyout by eBay.
Regarding options and combinations… We tend to avoid them, even in Magento. It tends to complicate things for us too much, especially when using other integration and accounting software like T-Hub and Quickbooks.
What I learned from my last 5 years (changing from store to store - incl magento, cs cart, bigcommerce). Clients dont like to be changed from 1 shop to another.
Invoice looks different
way of ordering
startup problems
new logins/password
However, CS cart is one of the easiest program. Surely magento is better I think, but you need be a real good coder, or you should not touch the system yourself. So probably you are better of with CS cart.