Looking at switching over shopping carts

[jobberguy]

I have a small business that offers less than 10 items but do a lot sales. I finally got my site up and running exactly like I want it. I am paying $20 a month for a shopping cart that offers realtime shipping costs and has good support. I am very happy with it.

I have always been leary about the FREE word when it comes to getting stuff. Nothing is for free in my opinion. But the shopping carts offered through or advertised by Powweb may be different. Are there pro and cons about what to expect? I had to learn quickly how to set up an e-commerce site so I have a basic knowledge. I currently work with Payflow Link from Verisign and I would like to keep that way at least for the time being.

I would like to get peoples opinion on what they would do if they were me. You are dealing with basically $240/yr. Is it worth it?

You input is greatly appreciated....Jason (aka jobberguy)

[stevel]

I have experience with osCommerce only, though Zen Cart is very similar. Both are good, but do take some initial work after install to get something the way you like it - osCommerce more so that Zen. I am not a fan of the automatic installers and would encourage you to download the latest distribution from the cart source and upload it yourself.

Zen is easier to set up, but there are hundreds if not thousands of add-ons for osCommerce, some of which can be useful. Both have payment modules for VeriSign Payflow.

You're right that "nothing is free" - you'll be trading off some of your own effort. But I'm very happy with the osCommerce store I've built.

I think you need to look at your sales volume (you didn't say) and consider whether you're getting your money's worth out of your current cart. If you are doing, say, $5K a year or more, and you like your cart, why change?

Go visit some of the stores set up with various carts and see what you think.