If you've ever tried to build an ecommerce solution from scratch with shopping carts, support for credit cards, secure servers and all the rest, you know how difficult that can be. In fact, most Web designers tend to go with easier solutions like creating a shopping cart with PayPal or using a tool like osCommerce to build an ecommerce site. Have you built an ecommerce site?
I used to hand code e-commerce with asp.net. Some clients were prepared to pay handsomely for such services. Now, with Paypal basket and many other ‘quick-fix’ e-com solutions that are ‘off the shelf’ so to speak, one is able to offer fast affordable solutions to the benefit of the smaller e-trader. Some hosting firms even offer integrated paypal tools for seamless buying. Nice.
The balance of profit to development is sometimes offset by the % fees these 3rd parties charge for plugging into their systems. Basket to fulfillment.
One client refused a hand coded bespoke e-commerce shop once as he said he found some e-commerce ’shop-in-a-box’ cheap solution for his high street jewelry store, and tried it out, then found that he needed to hire someone after all to manage it as it was too complex to deal with with all its extraneous bells and whistles. Then he had to get a merchant account on-top. Long-term cost him more $$$. I did not wear my ‘I told you so” T-shirt… promise…
Happy coding!…
May 25, 2010 at 6:26 am
(2) David B says:
Why start from scratch every time when there are packages like osCMax out there. It’s a GPL templated system based off oscommerce and thanks to the work of the developers it is rather easy to customize. It has lots of modules for payments, shipping, image displays, sppc, etc. The back end, order processing, adding products etc, might be a bit tough for some clients but others can run their store on their own after initial setup and training. While the templates require a bit a “digging” to get the changes you may want to display correctly, it is not that difficult to change.
In summary, why re-invent the wheel with every client. Just modify it to fit the clients needs.
May 25, 2010 at 8:30 am
(3) Charlie B. says:
I have to say, I fully agree with David. In this day and age it has become increasingly difficult to charge for custom coding.
The “off the shelf” systems for open source are absolutely amazing.
It takes a fraction of the time to set up and shazam, your in business. Honestly, I don’t believe that most of my clients know the difference. That having been said, my hat is off to the custom programmers, without them the “off the shelf” systems wouldn’t exist.
Thank-you for making my like easier.
Charlie
May 26, 2010 at 9:10 pm
(4) Ecommerce Website Builder says:
I agree with the commentators above. However, there are Ecommerce package frameworks that somebody is knowledgable quickly can build sites. But software such as BigCommerce are rated among the best and provide the easy customization capabilities. Problems with development includes
a) headaches of maintenance
b) continual upgrade issues
etc.
I used to hand code e-commerce with asp.net. Some clients were prepared to pay handsomely for such services. Now, with Paypal basket and many other ‘quick-fix’ e-com solutions that are ‘off the shelf’ so to speak, one is able to offer fast affordable solutions to the benefit of the smaller e-trader. Some hosting firms even offer integrated paypal tools for seamless buying. Nice.
The balance of profit to development is sometimes offset by the % fees these 3rd parties charge for plugging into their systems. Basket to fulfillment.
One client refused a hand coded bespoke e-commerce shop once as he said he found some e-commerce ’shop-in-a-box’ cheap solution for his high street jewelry store, and tried it out, then found that he needed to hire someone after all to manage it as it was too complex to deal with with all its extraneous bells and whistles. Then he had to get a merchant account on-top. Long-term cost him more $$$. I did not wear my ‘I told you so” T-shirt… promise…
Happy coding!…
Why start from scratch every time when there are packages like osCMax out there. It’s a GPL templated system based off oscommerce and thanks to the work of the developers it is rather easy to customize. It has lots of modules for payments, shipping, image displays, sppc, etc. The back end, order processing, adding products etc, might be a bit tough for some clients but others can run their store on their own after initial setup and training. While the templates require a bit a “digging” to get the changes you may want to display correctly, it is not that difficult to change.
In summary, why re-invent the wheel with every client. Just modify it to fit the clients needs.
I have to say, I fully agree with David. In this day and age it has become increasingly difficult to charge for custom coding.
The “off the shelf” systems for open source are absolutely amazing.
It takes a fraction of the time to set up and shazam, your in business. Honestly, I don’t believe that most of my clients know the difference. That having been said, my hat is off to the custom programmers, without them the “off the shelf” systems wouldn’t exist.
Thank-you for making my like easier.
Charlie
I agree with the commentators above. However, there are Ecommerce package frameworks that somebody is knowledgable quickly can build sites. But software such as BigCommerce are rated among the best and provide the easy customization capabilities. Problems with development includes
a) headaches of maintenance
b) continual upgrade issues
etc.