mariovaldez.net

We have performed a basic OS Commerce install. We are looking for some advice about whether or not OS Commerce is capable of being extended to accommodate these additional needs. If it is not capable, we are open to considering an alternative (better-suited) shopping cart or writing a shopping cart of our own in PHP/MySQL, but we want to explore all of our pre-packaged (CMS) options first, so mainly we are seeking advice on how to do this with OSCommerce or a recommendation for a better pre-packaged cart to use.

These are the things which OS Commerce does not appear to do 'out of box'. Which of these are easily configurable/customizable?

1. need to be able to put "unlimited" quantity for all of our products (since we aren't selling physical goods) -- leaving this field blank makes the cart behave as if there is 0 quantity for a particular product. Is there a way to do this with OSCommerce?

2. we need a shopping cart that will allow us to sell one product at multiple levels which we can determine per-product. For example, software which is sold as single-user license for $100, 5-user license for $200, and a 10-user license for $300, etc. The shopping cart should present you with the level options when or during adding the item to your cart. The cart should not allow someone to add more than one of the same product (even at a different level).

3. We need a way to make relationships between two or more products to create a "main" product and "add-on" products. Essentially, the user can't purchase the add-ons unless they also purchase the main product.

Specifically: If product A is added to the cart, products D and E are presented as "add-ons" or "upsell" immediately following adding product A to the cart. Using the same relationship logic, we need a user to be prevented from purchasing product D or E without also purchasing product A. This can be done either by stopping the user from adding products D or E to their cart if product A is not already there, or automatically adding product A if they add product D (or E). (Finally, we would want them to be able to purchase A, D, and E together). All of this should be (relatively) easy to setup for new products and new add-on products.

4. We want to be able to offer discounts at least two levels of discount on a per-product basis. That is, we want to specify that certain products have certain discounts. What qualifies a person for discount can be global to the system (not per-product), but the discounts must be able to be set on a product-by-product basis (for example, 5% for product A for members of club ABC, 10% for product A for members of club XYZ; 7% for product B for club ABC, 15% for product B for club XYZ, etc). Since these discounts must be product-by-product, the discount should not get applied to the invoice (cart) total, but must get applied on a lineitem basis.

jasonfb:

> We have performed a basic OS Commerce install.
> We are looking for some advice about whether or
> not OS Commerce is capable of being extended to
> accommodate these additional needs. If it is not
> capable, we are open to considering an alternative
> (better-suited) shopping cart or writing a shopping
> cart of our own in PHP/MySQL, but we want to explore
> all of our pre-packaged (CMS) options first, so mainly
> we are seeking advice on how to do this with
> OSCommerce or a recommendation for a better
> pre-packaged cart to use.

I have reviewed several virtual stores and none is as good as osCommerce. Some are written in not-so-easy languages, are platform dependent, lack flexibility, or their licensing is simply odd. So I always suggest my clients to use osCommerce.

Besides, there are more than 2000 contributed modules for osCommerce.


> These are the things which OS Commerce does
> not appear to do 'out of box'. Which of these
> are easily configurable/customizable?

These forums are for the OSCPMWin application only, not for general osCommerce discussion. I will try to answer your questions but please note that you may get better answers in the osCommerce forums at: http://forums.oscommerce.com/


> 1. need to be able to put "unlimited" quantity for
> all of our products (since we aren't selling physical
> goods) -- leaving this field blank makes the cart
> behave as if there is 0 quantity for a particular
> product. Is there a way to do this with OSCommerce?

Try this: in the administration options, in the Configuration section, set "Check stock level" to false.


> 2. we need a shopping cart that will allow us
> to sell one product at multiple levels which we
> can determine per-product. For example, software
> which is sold as single-user license for $100,
> 5-user license for $200, and a 10-user license for
> $300, etc. The shopping cart should present you
> with the level options when or during adding the
> item to your cart. The cart should not allow someone
> to add more than one of the same product (even at a
> different level).

Check this osCommerce module: Quantity Price Breaks Per Product. I have never used it, but it seems it does what you want.



> 3. We need a way to make relationships between
> two or more products to create a "main" product
> and "add-on" products. Essentially, the user can't
> purchase the add-ons unless they also purchase
> the main product...

I don't know of any module that can do that (but please check the addons index at http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions

Also, writting your own module shouldn't be that difficult for an experienced osCommerce programmer. If you don't want to modify the code yourselves, you can always look for a similar module, check who the author is and ask for help.


> 4. We want to be able to offer discounts at least
> two levels of discount on a per-product basis. That
> is, we want to specify that certain products have
> certain discounts. What qualifies a person for
> discount can be global to the system (not per-product),
> but the discounts must be able to be set on a
> product-by-product basis (for example, 5% for product
> A for members of club ABC, 10% for product A for
> members of club XYZ; 7% for product B for club ABC,
> 15% for product B for club XYZ, etc). Since these
> discounts must be product-by-product, the discount
> should not get applied to the invoice (cart) total, but
> must get applied on a lineitem basis.

I have used the following addon for that: Total B2B 1.1. It is pretty flexible.


Just note, that installing addons/modules requires some file editing and, when mixing them, some PHP knowledge.


I hope this helps you. Again, I think you should ask in the general osCommerce forums at http://forums.oscommerce.com/ where you may find better answers.


Regards,

Mario A. Valdez-Ramirez.