Web-store set-up

[Draganchor]

Hi All,

some feedback would be appreciated.

I need to setup a web store for some products I have. It is a pretty simple matrix of products,
The drill down by category will be Make - Model - Year to get to the product listing.


I would prefer to have this hosted through my provider (elitehost.co.za) who have been magical over the years.
I have had a look at Opencart which looks good, and Prestashop which looks even better.

Thus far I have gleaned the following

Opencart
simple
extentions cheaper
more developers?

Presta
more detail
modules more expensive
developers?

Of critical importance for me is a "wish list" for products/models that are not in stock but can/will be ordered if >10 people want the product model. Alternatively a user poll on products wanted, but in both cases email & customer details are required to register interest in the product/model.

Pre-orders are a must as well with option for discount on pre-order. Preferably a pricing matrix that allows the first 10 customers to pre-oder at a discount, then the 11th customer gets normal pricing.

Re payment gateway it looks like VCS based on their pricing. It is just a pity that Capitec Bank does not do gateway receipt of funds according to VCS.

Lastly, development. It would be cheaper to use freelancer.com to get this done, but I would prefer someone in my vicinity so if the cock up I can throttle them in the flesh

Please feel free to pick all the flaws I have with this idea so I may learn.

many thanks

Edit: Paygate looks good too

 

[IndigoIdentity]

I have experience with both and as a developer I prefer working with Opencart as opposed to Prestashop.

With Opencart, i've experienced less (no idea how to word this but) finnicky issues with the platform where thing's don't work the way that they should and you're left to figure out why.

Also seems to be less resource intensive and provide a cleaner in experience while browsing through the store in doing so, not to say that you cannot get Prestashop running nicely it's just that in my own experience and going 1:1 on a fresh install... I got better results from Opencart on a minimal resources machine.

Downside of Opencart for me as I see it is that out of the box it's not as wholly inclusive as Prestashop. I've had to build out certain functionality that came in Prestashop by default for the administrative area... That being said, I enjoyed it a lot more than I did building out back end modules for Prestashop as all in all the code base was more logical (for me) to understand. That being said, if you asked me to setup a Prestashop site over an Opencart one (I don't do this stuff anymore), then i'd charge you more because it's a pain for me to work with Prestashop lol

Anyways, I think that you would be able to achieve all that you said there with out of the box / added functionality within either platform and given a neat template you'd likely be able to do this all yourself with a little bit of technical expertise and some help from a designer.

Getting it all set up for you? I'd personally avoid freelancer for various reasons, not to so that you cannot get the job done there or that the job will be horrible... It's just that it's a chance and i'm not much of a chancer myself. Costs would surely vary depending on who you ask but if you have a real idea and believe in it to the point where you're willing to fork out your own money then i'd suggest that you keep doing what you're doing. Ask questions, evaluate responses and try to find a local dev/company with a proven track record of delivering e-commerce sites that you yourself have seen and have good feelings about.

 

[Draganchor]

Thanks IndigoIdentity, pretty much surmises what I have been reading over the last few hours. Pity as Prestashop looks great, but finicky. Re Frrelancer, yeah had a bit of a dud experience with contractors a few years ago, hence the local tilt.

thanks again.

Anyone on payment gateway feedback of late?

 

[idk_0]

Using opencart my side as well. Tried Presta, Magento and Shopdirect in the past. Shopdirect was user friendly i guess but functionality wise absolutely useless. The Magento learning curve was a bit much. Presta i never really got into as Opencart stole my heart.

I love the MVCL architecture of Opencart, makes modding much easier. As well as the new OCMOD and older VQMOD functionality, which lets you mod core files without actually modding core files. And there is an extension available for pretty much everything. Lots of free ones too. I just advise if you are buying an extension, make 100% sure it works with your current extensions and theme. Iv ran into many problems with extensions messing each other up. Happy to answer any q's you might have.

We use VCS and have never had a problem with them. Although we are with FNB. Takes between 3-8 days for the funds to clear in our account.

 

[Draganchor]

Hi idk_0,

thanks for the feedback. I must say having read a little on the architecture the way mods can be done seems so logical. Even an ID10T like me can appreciate the design they have.

I ahve been looking at https://isenselabs.com/ for the extensions I need, seems they have the bases covered for me. Sure there are real costs involved, but they seem reputable and I don't want to be faffing around for an expended period like previous projects. Just "cough up and get going" is the policy now.

interesting about VCS clearing to account, guess all companies dealing with $ hang on to it as long as possible, the Banksters are the prime example...

Thanks again, I feel that I am heading in the right direction and your input is appreciated.

 

[idk_0]

Hi idk_0,

thanks for the feedback. I must say having read a little on the architecture the way mods can be done seems so logical. Even an ID10T like me can appreciate the design they have.

I ahve been looking at https://isenselabs.com/ for the extensions I need, seems they have the bases covered for me. Sure there are real costs involved, but they seem reputable and I don't want to be faffing around for an expended period like previous projects. Just "cough up and get going" is the policy now.

interesting about VCS clearing to account, guess all companies dealing with $ hang on to it as long as possible, the Banksters are the prime example...

Thanks again, I feel that I am heading in the right direction and your input is appreciated.

Yeah i use a few of the isense plugins, iv probably had the least issues with them. The one that im still trying to get working 100% is nitropack. But great developers. Goodluck Anytime.

 

[Thor]

Any reason why you don't want to use Payfast over VCS?

 

[Raithlin]

I've been running a PrestaShop site for a year now with a PayFast backend. It took a while to sort out properly, but I have only spent cash on creating a custom theme. Everything else is either builtin or free.

There are a few things I will soon be spending on, like a POS.. but all in all I'm glad I went this route. Certainly cheaper than Shopify, and less worrisome than WooCommerce.