How Free Is Free?
If you search online for shopping carts and shopping cart software you may notice
many people talking about Oscommerce, a free, open source PHP based shopping cart.
Oscommerce's biggest draw is that, well, it's free! And everybody likes free stuff,
right? In addition, Oscommerce is open source, so there have been many contributions
made to the software, and many ecommerce web hosting companies use Oscommerce.
Not for the Novice
Many people like Oscommerce, but it's certainly not for everyone. A programmer who
is very proficient in PHP programming skills might be able to use Oscommerce to
create the store of his dreams. But for those who aren't great PHP programmers,
Oscommerce can be extremely difficult to use. If you need to customize the design
of your web store, and you aren't proficient in PHP, you might be in trouble.
No Dedicated Support
Also, because Oscommerce is a community project, owned by no one and everyone, there
is no guaranteed support for it. This could be a nightmare for a store owner if
something goes wrong with his store.
Try BV Instead
An asp.net ecommerce solution, such as BV Signature, is a better choice for a web
merchant with limited to no programming skills who needs a reliable ecommerce solution
that is easily customizable and has guaranteed support. Unlike Oscommerce, BV Signature
comes with payment gateway/merchant accounts to accept payments, and includes real
time UPS and Fed Ex shipping rates, both invaluable features for online retailers.
Safer and Cheaper in the Long Run
A web store owner could certainly hire a PHP programmer to create and maintain his
Oscommerce store, but it would be cheaper and safer in the long run to use an out
of the box shopping cart solution like BV Signature, that maintains its own staff
of programmers for bug fixes and updates.
Free? Not Necessarily!
At the end of the day, don't be lured in by words like "free." Although Oscommerce
can work for the experienced PHP programmer, it's not for everyone. Remember that
you get what you pay for!
Have a BV Signature e-commerce professional contact me.