shopping carts and modx - which is the best solution???

hi all

i’d need to add a shopping cart for online trading for an upcoming modx site but am unsure of which e-commerce solution to go for.
my requirements are pretty standard:
- security
- paypal payment support
- scalability & full updateability from within modx
- non-table based - full xhtml & css validation
- hopefully easy to install/integrate
- server running php version 4.4.3

I’ve seen a few e-commerce solutions around but i need something which will work specifically with modx - can anyone advise on the best option please???

thanks in advance

I just found this one from KiweeCommerce:
http://www.kiweecommerce.org/

unfortunately for my requirements it seems it runs only on php 5
does anybody have any views or experience with this KiweeCommerce ?

I read somewhere that development was stalled on KiweeCommerce. The consensus seems to be that FoxyCart is the way to go.

There are a few missing links for MODx to be accepted as mainstream, eCommerce is definitely one of them.

hi
looking further into kiweecommerce i couldn’t help but notice their forum has shut for the time being! so that and a few other things point to non current development.
when i looked at FoxyCart website i recognised it as being what i used to get my modx commercial support running, so i guess it gets the thumbs-up here.

Looks like paypal UK might be a problem with FoxyCart though so i’m going to have to consider this one - the client is keen on paypal. FoxyCart recommends modernauthorize for uk use, which I’m looking into. Do you, or anyone else, have any info about this? as i must admit i’m a bit in the dark here.

thanks

hmmm, interesting! - thanks for the info

would this system allow a user to add multiple items into a shopping cart? (up to 12 initially, but poss more later) - just the usual shopping stuff really. But, i gotta be honest, i wouldn’t know where to start when creating a shopping cart - do you have any pointers please?

I’m very intrigued by this solution as i’d really like to keep everything ’in house’ within the modx site and i’m definitely into expanding my modx capability - but i really do need some decent ’ground up’ documentation to get this off the ground. So any advice would be much appreciated.

As earlier stated, i do like the look of FoxyCart but they don’t seem to offer a UK paypal option - or am i missing a trick here(?!) I have also thought about using osCommerce in a new window, but the new window bit is putting me off.

thanks

Okay, thanks for that - i don’t have enough php knowledge to do the sanitizing bit but i’m going to look into this modx/paypal option as far as i can as ideally that’s what i’d like to use..

The osCommerce iFrame option sounds pretty easy actually - i guess i’m maybe a little concerned about a possible conflict between modx (and its own database) and another entirely db driven site sitting within a modx page. I suppose there wouldn’t be a problem as they would be running from 2 seperate db’s on the same server ... however, stranger things have happened.

FoxyCart (www.foxycart.com) is what I use for all my site’s e-commerce now. I build all my sites now on MODx and use only FoxyCart for my e-commerce. One of the designers of FoxyCart designed it to fit like a glove with MODx. It fulfills most of your requirements above.

You have to think a bit differently using it...it’s not a separate shopping cart...it’s all set up in MODx...everything is controlled in MODx (which you set up yourself) for your client. It passes the values over to FoxyCart to handle the transaction. I like FoxyCart so much b/c you only have to use the template you designed in MODx and paste it in FoxyCart...in other words, you don’t have to redesign a template for FoxyCart. It’s like this: I set up a Document which has T.V.’s in it so your client can enter product price, code, weight, etc. When the visitor visits the site, they’ll see that information and when they click on the buy button, FoxyCart passes that information over to the server where FoxyCart is hosted and it will handle the transaction...that’s the simplified version.

I consider myself someone of a newbie in the grand scheme of things and FoxyCart wasn’t that difficult to learn...there’s really not too much to do...you don’t have to recreate everything to make it work.

You do pay a monthly fee of $15/month, but if you do the math, you’ll be paying roughly the same amount for a secure certificate, etc. Plus your client will be able to easily maintain the shopping cart themselves thus saving them money.

Here’s an example site I just built using FoxyCart:

http://www.bosufitness.com

Here’s an example page on the site using FoxyCart:

http://www.bosufitness.com/qh-bola

Just hit the "Buy Now" button and you’ll see the process.

Foxy Cart also handles paid membership for this site (all handled through MODx of course).

I’ve got about 5 sites I’m designing right now using it. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me.

And by the way, yes, it fulfills all your requirements you state.

Thanks for the kind words Kris.

@rootsdiv: Feel free to send feature requests our way (either PM or on our own forum). We’re trying to keep a pretty rapid development pace, and there’s a really cool integration project for FC + MODx (along with tutorial) coming in the next couple of weeks (including single password for both the FC and MODx logins, and it looks like basic order management capabilities as well). I’m pretty excited about that.

PayPal Pro (I think that’s what the UK version is called, as opposed to "Website Payments Pro" in the US) is definitely in our plans (along with a few other international gateways), so hopefully we won’t keep you waiting too long. In the meantime you could use the offline processing method and process orders manually. Perhaps a good option for stores that don’t have a ton of orders.

Or, like ganeshXL said, PayPal’s always an option. The "best" solution depends on your needs, but my vote is usually for FoxyCart (I’m biased though.)

Quote from: flinx at Nov 21, 2007, 04:00 AM

It’s like this: I set up a Document which has T.V.’s in it so your client can enter product price, code, weight, etc. When the visitor visits the site, they’ll see that information and when they click on the buy button, FoxyCart passes that information over to the server where FoxyCart is hosted and it will handle the transaction...that’s the simplified version.

Flinx, can you share your experience with setting up template for category and product (with images) entries, data flow and customer fufillment etc. I really wanting to give Foxy cart a try for new project, but my problem is that, I need to find something that is super easy for client to enter, update her products, send notification etc etc. Right now, it’s simply beyond my comprehensive to picture it with Modx, and it’s seems very daunting to have to create so many TVs, chunks and find my way through Ditto.

I know enough to know Modx is powerful and capable of anything, and I know enough that Foxy Cart is very nice cart, but I don’t know enough to make them work together that is easy for my client. I work with people who are in retail business, these people are busy as me, have no interest to learn more than they need to know, and they can’t afford to pay me to enter/update their products , therfore I need to have GUI feature if I were to make a Modx + Foxycart for any of them. As a result, I’d been playing with Magento for month, it’s a very nice system even in Beta, however I am totally aware that, with Modx + foxycart offers a lot more flexiblity, especially for a website that don’t sell hundred of items.

Greetings chinesedream,

I’ll need to create a tut which explains what you’re asking for below. I’ve begun to start making screencasts for FoxyCart and I’m going to start creating some for MODx so users like yourself see how easy it is to integrate. Here’s my first stab at a screencast...it’s my first one I’ve done and more will be rolling out soon...but I hope it gives you an overview of just how easy it is to incorporate FoxyCart into your site (sorry for the hum in the audio...working on fixing that):

http://www.foxycart.com/assets/files/screencasts/FC_overview_tutorial2.mov