Web Site Shopping Carts??

2

2thehilt

Joined
Apr 4, 2000
Messages
419
I am looking for your opinions on Web site shopping carts.

Do you like them?

What features do you like in a shopping cart?

Do you tend to buy more items from a site if they have a shopping cart site verses having to call/fax or e-mail in an order?

I am thinking about putting a shopping cart on my site but can't decide if it is worth the $$$. They are very expensive.

Thanks

Phil
 
I think you could just have the shopping cart functionality, but then have the payment handled over the phone/fax/email.

Much easier to program, don't have to handle SSL and all that fun stuff.
 
What features do you like in a shopping cart?
Click to expand...

I don't usually use a shopping cart. I prefer those hand baskets.

When I do take a cart, I always look for one with four wheels that all go straight and turn easily. I hate it when one of the wheels is stuck.

And I like a cart with a couple of compartments so that I can keep that sack of potatos from crushing my corn chips.

Finally, I wish people would take two minutes and return their carts to the store instead of just leaving them rolling around in the parking lot. That is so rude. Why are you people so @#$#@ lazy!?!




Ah, but our friend Mr. 2thehilt is now thing, "That jerk, Gollnick! I ask about on-line shopping carts for my website and he goes off about grocery stores."

But, what Phil doesn't realize is that there is no difference. Shopping is shopping.

I prefer a hand basket at the grocery store because I'm usually just picking up a few quick things and I don't like to be burdoned with clumbersome cart. Online, I'm often just buying one thing. Online shopping carts can be as clumbersome as real ones. At the grocery store, I can grab one or two items without bothering with a cart. Wouldn't it be nice if online stores had a button next to each item maybe labeled "Express Checkout" that just takes you right to checkout with that one item, no shopping cart mess?

When I do use a real shopping cart, I want one with wheels that go where I point them. I was trying to shop at an online sight just the other day and their @$!$#^% shopping cart system was worse than a real cart with stuck wheels. I couldn't get it to work, so I ended up just calliing their 800 number. The operator said that mine was a common complaint. So, if you're gonna get an on-line cart, be sure that it works, works with Netscape, works with IE, works with other major browsers too, works with old versions of all of the browsers (not everyone has the latest), works with cookies on, works with cookies off, works with Java on, works with Java off, works with Flash installed, works without Flash installed, just plain works. Remember, the goal of your shopping cart is not to show off the latest in web technology. The goal of your shopping cart is to help your customers buy your stuff. Customers will prefer a less feature-rich shopping cart that just simply works.

In a virtual shopping cart, there's no danger of the heavy potatos crushing the corn chips. But compartments in a real shopping cart do more than that. They help shoppers separate and organize their purchases minimizing the chance of of getting home and realizing that you forgot to get tonic water and so have to go back to the store again. Why can't a virtual shopping cart help the customer organize his purchase, maybe have "compartments" for folder, fix-blades, books, and accessories?

And, finally, the issue of returning the cart. Well, fortunately for all of those @#$@# lazy-assed people who can't take two minutes out of their precious schedule and are in such a hurry to get to the gym that they can't walk the cart back to the store, fortuntate this is not an issue for on-line carts.

So, there you have it. Make 'em just like a good store cart.
 
Phil,

Call me!

Want a cool shopping cart that is FREE? Try mine.....

Go to http://www.wowinc.com/boss-5.htm and order a Wolf-Pup using the "ADD To Cart" button..

Just go though all the steps before actually submitting the order and you will see how easy it is and it is FREE.

When your sales go over $100K a month then you will need to switch to a better cart like what 1SKS uses and that is Shop Site with several packages that work with it.
 
Mike:

That looks real good. Does it bill the CC right away or is it like verisign where they put a hold on the card until you tell them it has shipped. Or does it go to a secure server were it is printed off and then you enter them into your CC system.

Phil
 
That jerk, Gollnick!
Click to expand...

I compleatly agree with you Gollnick :) sometimes you are trying to be jack A$$ (more often latelly)

anyways if we are taling about shoping carts I NEVER buy anything if they havn't one.

two simple reasons:
1. I don't trust site that don't even have shoping cart. It means that owner don't care or it's one day business

2. I don't speak eanglish too well so it's easyer, and in general hate my credit card info traveling throw fax'es and other non secure media :)and anywhay who wanna additional trouble by calling/faxing etc ?
 
I like shopping carts. Amazon.com has arguably the best on-line fulfillment system on the web. I shop there frequently cause it's so easy to use.

For making your own web building site check out http://www.econgo.com/store.esl. It's $34.95 / month to open your own web store. They also handle all taxes, CC info, etc.

I was going to recommend opening a Yahoo store but they have all these ridiculous fees!
 
Personally, I like shopping carts from PayPal just like Mike has. If you have a paypal account, you can use balance in it to pay. If you don't have PayPal you can just use credit card just like any other cart. The seller can set it up to reflect there company's name or website to appear on there credit card statement. Its free, you get an e-mail everytime a purchase is made letting you know what they ordered and that its already paid for. It does charge there credit cards right away. You can set it up with diffrent shopping cart buttons, its easy to install the html, Its simply cut and paste. Yo can have fixed shipping or it can charge by percentage. It can be set to automaticlly charge tax for orders in your state. And when you are ready to ship order, PayPal offers a printable packing slip with what they ordered, the total and a message from you. You can have the money in your account deposited in your Bank account free via Direct Despost or you can get a free PayPal debit card and take the money out at an ATM or make charges on it like a credit card to reorder your stock. There is one small catch however. You get charged the standard 3% on all sales. But you are going to have charges no matter who you go with. I think its a good,fast, easy setup.
 
Phil thanks for calling. One thing you brought up here that I forgot to cover on the phone was when people place an order for something you do not have in stock.

I think most people are OK with the idea that you can not stock all items at all times. Most of your suppliers are only a day or so away so having your credit card billed before shipment is OK in my book. But don't let it run too long. Also the cool thing about Pay Pal is that it has an instant refund if the item is not going to ship, unlike credit cards which take 3-5 days for refunds but they instantly reduce your balance upon ordering. This makes pay pal great. Case in point.

In the Dealers area I posted a Microtech All Black Tactical HALO 3 for $349.99. Kevin Deaton bought it. Microtech changed their pricing structure over the weekend so that allowed me to sell it for $50 less. I refunded Kevin instantly before he even new I changed the price. It took me about 30 seconds to do and he is EXTREMELY happy. You can not do that on normal credit card processing systems as he would not see the credit for up to a week! Pay Pal is INSTANT.

Also I agree with Gollnick but I am also the guy that gets the carts with the FUNKY wheels. DC (who works for 1SKS) and I were shopping one day. I got a regular cart with the wheels working fine. As I walked around the store I violently shook the cart like it had major wheel problems. Talk about getting funny looks! I just told people I always get the F'Up carts! Funny as hell try it some time! :D
 
The best online cart I've found is Amazon but it even has it
has problems. I personnally do not like the express check out because you're limited to one shipping address and one credit card. I do like that I can put things in the cart then close the browser and they will still be there the next time I log in. Other carts either dump all the cart contents or automatically charge and ship the items to you. That's how I ended up with my TNT. It was an impulse buy that I decided to think about later. When I checked back later it had already shipped.
 
Although I like the idea of a shopping cart (preferably one without one of those wheel "wooblers":D ), usually when I go on a site to do some knife shopping, I'm looking for one particular item, so I never really use the cart.

Somewhat off topic---I really like the concept of having the site let me know if the item is in stock.
 
I shop from a lot of online knife dealers and I love to give my opinion.;)

I LOVE having a shopping cart because I'm indecisive. I'll go to eknifeworks looking for say... Sackups. They have a million different kinds. So as I'm looking around the site I'll just toss things into my cart. Later, I'll look it over and remove some things.

A shopping HAS to have a "Continue Shopping" button. And that button needs to take you back to someplace GOOD. NOT to the home page. If it took you to the last thing you bought that would be fine. Main Index. Fine.

I ALSO think it's important to have the PATH (kind of like on Blade Forums) at the top of the page where you are. This way if it DOES take you back to the last item you bought, you can always back out of it and stay in the same catagory. I hate when I'm buying different things in the same catagory and have to navagate back to where I was each time I add something to my cart.

Knife places also need a "shipping" button that will take you to their shipping charges. I've read studies that have discovered that a great number of people cancel their order AFTER they hit checkout when they get to the shipping charges. It shouldn't be a surprise.
 
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