Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Zen cart is  certainly an option. To make zen Cart look like your site (the site you posted) will take some programing.

Alternatively, you can purchase a template that is similar (in layout) and just change the graphics /colors.

~Roland

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

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You website looks nice. Here are my thoughts from experience.

1. Write down what you want the site to do from a visionary perspective. This drives your requirements for what the shopping cart has to do. If you like how another site does it cite those examples. It will help you communicate with your web developer / consultant.

2. I would find a web application developer / consultant that can help you identify a shopping cart (commercial or free) product that will fit your needs (not all are created equal). Some require more customization than others. If you don`t want to go with a web developer or consultant then search for shopping carts and talk to their sales people. Do the leg work. They  may throw in support to help you get it up and running. Never know until you ask.

3. Think about security. Shopping carts are not always set and forget. Some hosting providers will offer shopping carts with their hosting options and will make sure they are updated when security updates come out. If you host your site yourself and update the cart yourself you have to keep track of the updates yourself or you have to contract it to somebody to keep track.

Last but not least is get your scope of work in writing from your developer if you choose to go with one. Make the points very flushed out and what you want otherwise you risk not getting what you want if the scope if ambiguous or not communicated well. Both parties suffer then.

Regards,
nGenuity Information Services

Another option for DYI without a huge investment, might be PrestoSell.com. It isn`t the end-all solution, but it could get you going pretty quickly on the selling, then you`d have some time to talk with other developers. WebWorld (Roland, above) is also a very good developer, as is Webline (Michael), and several other developers here in the community.

Sometimes the best solution is to work out ways to use incremental steps. Try writing an outline of all the things you want, and see if you can break them into separate modules that could be developed and initiated on your site separately.

I create custom shopping carts for a living.

My works can be viewed at www.spidadesign.com

Using Zen cart and matching your exisiting design would entail changing the Zen cart header and footer and making some changes to the CSS.... nothing too terrible... for the graphics... To include a "custom" message or something like that on the cards themselves would require a short 2nd step.

Give us a shout if you feel it`s beyond your scope....

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NewWard Development, LLC http://www.newward.com
"We Make Your Web Site Your Best Employee"

I also tried zencart and had some luck with it. However, I wanted something a bit more customizable... therefore , I looked into e-cart 4 which is a Dreamweaver CS3 extension.  You should check  it out - it is easy on the budget and you can try as a subscription or buy it outright.

Our software gives your full html access and tons of features already build in.  You should check it out.

Regards,
Michelle
http://www.volusion.com