This part caught my attention:
be careful if you are relying on product options with base zero prices, as of 4.10 ( I think) these were removed and replaced with "variations" and the variations dont multiply each option to gain quantity discounts across sizes/colours just yet.
I'll clarify: product options were not removed from CS-Cart; option combinations were. So, you can still create products with zero price and increase/decrease their price and weight with option modifiers.
Option combinations only allowed you to track inventory (how many products with specific sets of options you had in stock). Previously, they served for things like colors and sizes of T-shirts. But that is handled by variations now. Check out our video about variations on YouTube for more details.
Nowadays, there's a clear difference between options and features:
- Features are inherent, unremovable properties of a product (like color, size, etc.).
- Options are something that isn't a product on its own, but can be added to a product (like extended warranty, gift wrap, etc.).
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As for the upgrade, I see 2 possible paths. Ideally, both of them involve a separate dev copy of your store: that way your main store can still work while you prepare to move between versions.
Way 1: Go from version to version, one upgrade at a time. The drawback is that the process can get quite long. But the advantage is that you keep everything that was configured, and we account for various changes in CS-Cart. For example, when option combinations were removed, we reflected that in the upgrade process and turned them into variations. I think our Customer Care specialists use this approach (yes, they can do the upgrade for you, minus adapting the custom code to work with the new version).
Way 2: Make a new installation of the latest version and import the data from your old store. The drawback is that you can't just put the old database into the new store, so you'll have to recreate and reconfigure some things. But the advantage is that you'll get to know the new functionality in the process. It can also be easier if there are a lot of versions to go through.
Speaking of new functionality, you can already try the latest versions of CS-Cart and Multi-Vendor at our demos. That way, you'll know for sure what you'll be getting out of the upgrade.
P.S. Also, feel free to [url=https://www.cs-cart.com/send-message.html]contact us[/url] for info about pricing, or if you want to have the upgrade done by our team, etc. Make sure to leave the email that you bought CS-Cart with. That way we'll have more context to offer the best terms and approach.