How do AlphaOne's suggested Carts Compare?

[jariggs]

I am looking principally at ZenCart or OSCommerce. Perhaps Agora, but pretty much ruled out phpCoin.  I would like something relatively easy to set up and have already done my basic webdesign in Dreamweaver. ( www.odysseyshop.net)  I want to keep that look and feel if possible.

Most sales will be offline credit card.  But I would like to be able to make PayPal and online checks available at some point.  I would like to be able to add a gift registry and/or wish list as well.

Open source seems to be the way to go for long term, so I have reviewed but generally discounted use of the available software solutions.  Additionally, I plan on putting together more sites, so I need a low cost option.

Any suggestions comments on the  AlphaOne's "suggested" ecommerce solutions?  Ease of installation, bugs, front end and back end  user friendliness are all important considerations.  My wife will probably be inputing most products over time, so something easy and user friendly for her is important.

Store will have over 100 items, so database/spreadsheet upload support would also be good.

Thanks for any help and war stories...

Jeff R

[AlphaWolf]

OSCommerce will meet your needs and it is easy to update once it is set up.  One of our clients, who's website we designed and host, is in Iraq and he has his wife doing all specials, coupons, updating of products, filling orders etc., while he is gone.  She had never done this before and so far we haven't had to field more than one phone call for help.

However, OSC is not quite as easy to set up, configure and change the look and feel of as one would hope.  A lot of CSS editing, no templates, etc.  Depending on the gateway, that too can be a bit rocky, though it is better now than it was a year ago.

I don't think any members of the team have had much experience with anything besides OSC and the Sitebuilder store, but maybe others here have.

peace

Wolf

[jariggs]

I was guessing that'll probably be the best way to go, because it seemed many of the" products" out there appear to be thinly veiled OSCommerce engines.   Some folks just throw a little look and feel on it, and call it a "new" cart.

Also seems to have the widest user support, so it may grow a little faster.

I'm  having fun learnng as I go, so I'll probably dive in.

Any other suggestions, comments, cautions or warnings will be appreciated...