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May 21, 2012, 05:31:19 AM

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Author Topic: Anyone written their own shopping cart SW?  (Read 1335 times)
jheske
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« on: November 26, 2006, 09:14:37 AM »

I have similar thread out there but I'm starting this new one because it seems like a separate topic.

I have an existing website http://www.theartisansgroup.com.  I don't think I can use any of the standard shopping carts because I don't upload the products.  Participating artists upload their own content and images using a listing service that I wrote.   Uploaded images get stored on my LP server and content goes into a MySQL DB. 

This scheme doesn't seem to be usable with any pre-existing shopping carts so I probably have to write my own.  Has anyone done this?  Where is the right place to start?   Any good books, advice, tutorials?  Better yet, is there some reason I haven't thought of why I shouldn't do this?

Thanks in advance.  -jheske
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tarheit
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« Reply #1 on: November 27, 2006, 07:16:11 AM »

I wrote a simple php/cookie based one some time ago.  It simply saved the chosen products in the cookie, then when 'checkout' was chosen, the cart was transfered to Paypal via their interface.  It worked pretty well, but obviously was pretty basic and didn't do order tracking, etc.
(Sorry don't have the source anymore)

If you are just using paypal or similar for checkout (so you don't need to worry about user logins, order tracking, etc.) you can just build the cart on your site and pass it to paypal on checkout just as I did.

Another option:
Modify your software somewhat to save the data in the required 'products' table of the shopping cart.  It might be some duplication, but you could save the data in both your table and theirs.

-Tim
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jheske
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« Reply #2 on: November 27, 2006, 10:00:37 AM »

Did you need Paypal's Website Payments Pro?  Or did you just use their Standard Payments?

Were you happy with their service?

Thanks very much.

-jheske
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tarheit
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« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2006, 10:21:34 AM »

This was with just their standard payments.   I don't have any complaints with their service.

I have switched though now to Payments Pro just because of Virtual Terminal so that I can ring up phone orders, etc.  Eventually I'll implement the full Payments Pro online, but it was the same price as Virtual Terminal which it includes (and when I signed up the first several months were free).

-Tim
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jheske
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« Reply #4 on: November 27, 2006, 10:37:19 AM »

Tim,

That's a great idea which I will definitely consider that right away for my in-person and phone sales.

I know it's a bit off topic, but I would love to hear your views on the security aspect.  My site will sell higher-priced items and I am concerned about fraud (who isn't).  Do you think Virtual Terminal gives you any added security?  Would it be a good idea to require a phone call for higher-priced sales, or would that just hurt business?

-Jill
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Lupine1647
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« Reply #5 on: November 27, 2006, 12:59:49 PM »

I had/have one in development that I've been working on for a while and put off for other things. But the one I was working on allowed you to pick several merchant gateways such as Paypal, Authorize.net, AlertPay, etc which would give those options to your Customers. It would then keep a db of all transactions for your customers and what not.

I was making it to help sell a license of a product I was making (sessh, how much stuff did I put off for another time?) which was a web stats program that allowed you to compare stats against a global scale or contribute your stats to a global db to provide stats on what was going on for a particular day (if you've seen the akamai stats that correlates it to particular events, it would be something close to that).

Maybe I'll actually finish it one day Question
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tarheit
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« Reply #6 on: November 27, 2006, 08:50:53 PM »

I don't know that Virtual Terminal itself gives any added security vs. standard web orders.  It does do address and CVV checking (more than typical in store credit card machines do), so I think it's better than that.  I do like having a phone number though, I think I'd check any high price orders.  I already call and verify any orders that have a shipping address that differs from the billing address.  I don't think I've had anyone not order because the checkout asks for a phone number.  They could always enter a fake one, though I haven't noticed any that are obviously fake.

Sometimes when I order from a company they also ask for the phone number (800 number) on the back of the card.  I'm assuming you could call that number and verify the account as well though I've never tried it.

For large orders it may also be worthwile checking 411.com for the phone/address to see if it matches the order.  It's not always there with cell phone becomeing more common, but it doesn't hurt.

-Tim

-Tim
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MrPhil
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« Reply #7 on: December 23, 2006, 10:04:59 AM »

Another option:
Modify your software somewhat to save the data in the required 'products' table of the shopping cart.  It might be some duplication, but you could save the data in both your table and theirs.

Rather than modifying your existing database, how about this? You write a Perl or PHP script cron job that periodically roots through your custom product database and transfers the necessary information into the shopping cart/storefront software's database. No need to write a new SC/SF from the ground up, unless you really like doing that! Sure, the data is duplicated, but if your custom database drives the content of the SC/SF database and the latter is frequently updated, so what?
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