When it comes to selling Merchandise online, there are quite a few options open to web designers, developers, and do-it-yourselfers everywhere. The open-source platform of PHP and MySQL has spawned a few viable ecommerce systems that are Free to download and allow you to set up and customize a fully operational online store in a matter of weeks. However, there’s a bit of a learning curve when first tackling a CMS, especially one that involves processing payments, cataloging shipments and customer orders, generating invoices, complex inventory and display options, and so much more . . .
My favorites in this category are ZenCart and osCommerce, because they are widely used, widely supported, and despite some tricky aspects to customizing their appearance, they basically work right out of the box after a relatively easy installation, and you can’t help but feel pretty satisified with yourself at being able to set up an online store all by yourself …….. well, along with the help of several people who were able to answer your desperate pleas on the User Forums that is . . .
But these certainly aren’t the only solutions, because what if the task of being mired in setting up and learning a full-blown CMS like this seems a little too daunting, and perhaps even overkill if your only interest is in selling a few items on an existing website that you’ve already created in Dreamweaver ? There’s a perfect answer for this scenario that comes to mind immediately, and that’s eCart from Webassist which is another in a long line of impressive Dreamweaver Extensions from these software-makers, and it’s the perfect solution to putting a store online as something that’s much easier to customize and set-up, and although the end result may not have as many levels of sophistication as the big open-source systems, it does seem to cover all the essential bases in terms of payment, product, and shipping options, and the Documentation and Forums are top notch. (Stay tuned to the weblearningseries.com which has a tutorial series coming soon that walks through the steps of setting up an online store with eCart).
And now to the little nugget I’ve been saving until last, which is Linklok paypal from Vibralogix. This is one of those little products that is always a pleasant surprise because it works exactly as you would expect it to, and it’s so easy to use because the Manual is so well written and easy-to-follow, with plenty of examples to follow and prompt personal replies by email to answer any questions you may have. This is the perfect solution if you’re selling Digital Downloads as opposed to physical goods, although you can use it for both, and even though you’re limited to Paypal for processing payments, in my opinion Paypal is probably the best way to handle small online transactions in terms of security and ease-of-use (also accepts credit card transactions from non paypal users).
So Check it out and see just how easy it can be to start selling your Merch, Swag, Bling, or maybe even your Mom’s butter tarts online!
