Tech Anorak

Going shopping is an activity that one way or another we all have. Either by going to the market or to buy clothes, somehow it is part of us. But, with the development of the computers and of the Internet, some brilliant minds thought that it would be even better if people who do not have enough time to spend in shops, could buy stuff over the Internet. So online shopping has spread, nowadays, over all the domains, from clothes to electronic equipments. Logically, online shopping is strictly connected to the use of websites, because through the sites, people can place orders.

First of all, whenever you launch a shopping site the most important thing that you should take care of is the layout. Why? Simple. Who does not enjoy entering a website that has a nice, smooth design, something that catches the eye and makes the surfing interesting? Also, the layout should be clear and easy to work with. But the next question is, how can someone realize this when the knowledge about html is little or the sum of money is not very big? The solution: oscommerce templates.

Easily to use and to update without any developed web designing skills, for many beginners this kind of web templates are the perfect option. They are already made so you can, in a way, preview the look of your site. Also they can be easily modified and updated, and moreover, they have no errors, so there won’t be any worries concerning a line or a box not being where it should.

Oscommerce templates are made by web design specialists and put at your disposal in several shapes and colors. There are many such templates that can be found over the world wide web. Anyway, even though you must pay for them, the price is lower than if you would pay a web designer to create a personalized page.

This would also take much longer and much more stress might be involved because the final result may not show up like you hoped or thought. On the other hand, oscommerce templates give you the exact image as how your page will look.

The diversity is large and for all the possible purposes. Keep in mind that if you decide to launch an online shopping site, the layout you choose must be accessible and clear, the information you give must be specific and trustful. The design should be simple and neat. Some persons may consider a very complicated web layout as being hard to use.

As a conclusion, I want to say that it is not a shame to use an oscommerce template instead of hiring a web design team to create your own shopping site design. These web site layouts are made for you to use and are actually created by specialists to ease the work, mostly, for the beginners.

Before starting your own shopping website you should think what you really want to do, how your site should look, and then choose from the large number of web templates, the one that fits better. Good luck.



By: Pankaj Mohan

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Internet sales continue to soar every year. It is now more important than ever to have a professional, well designed and easy to follow ecommerce website if you are wishing to earn from online internet market. There are many open source ecommerce solution are available in the market which is easy to use and user friendly. Top name for such open source are Magento Commerce, OsCommerce, Virtue mart and many more. Each open source has their own uniqueness in the market, some have rich functionality features, some has template based designing structure or some have user friendly nature.

Magento Commerce: After investing 5 years in osCommerce based E-Commerce solutions, Varien has launched preview version of its own Open Source E-Commerce Solution – Magento.  Magento ecommerce platform offers an advanced catalog and shopping cart price rule system. It allows the storeowners to customize the storefront and all other features including pricing, colors options, and offers right in one screen.  It controls every facet of the store, from merchandising to promotions and more. There are no limits to creativity with Magento. Now a days, there is a lot of store owner are selecting this open source because of its user friendly nature and feature reach administrative control panel. Many website designing companies provide magento theme development and magento customization service for the store owner who wish to switch from their Oscommerce store or custom store.

OsCommerce:  osCommerce is an online shop e-commerce solution that offers a wide range of out-of-the-box features that allows online stores to be setup fairly quickly with ease. osCommerce is a complete online store solution that contains both a catalog frontend and an administration tool backend, which can be easily configured over web. It has a huge list of features and is probably the most versatile shopping cart solution and offers vast range of customization choices for the on-line storefront owners depending on their need at a very affordable price.  OsCommerce is very old and most famous ecommerce solution in past. Its still in demand because of its vast variety of contribution provided by developer from all other the world. The main drawback of the system is that it has very complex admin control panel and tedious to operate for newbie store owner but here also there are many oscommerce Customization Company are there to design attractive store design and oscommerce theme design.

VirtueMart: VirtueMart is an Open Source E-Commerce solution to be used together with a Content Management System (CMS) called Joomla! (and Mambo). VirtueMart offers a lot of Features, some of the standard Features required for all ecommerce application. If You have virtual Goods like Pictures, Books or Software, you can sell them with VirtueMart! It even works with remote files. With real-time payment processing, customers can download their purchased files right away. Downloads are protected by safe alphanumeric codes.



By: jimmy carter

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sblvr182 asked:


here is what it looks like-
http://www.playfulplushtoys.com/miva/graphics/00000001/wcowtn.jpg

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TheMorbidMe asked:


I have a successful ecommerce background and I am gifted with lots of knowledge. Now other companies are willing to contract me as a consultant on ecommerce related businesses. Those are very small companies, nothing big. How much should I charge them on a monthly basis as a ecommerce marketing and technology consultant? I would meet with this company once a week for 2-3 hours, but my knowledge is very deep and good.

Basically this company will create a simple internet store, but they need expertise on how to implement it from a technical point of view and from a marketing view.

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Respeck Knuckles asked:


I’m going to create a website where you can download software (games, specifically), looking for the cheapest possible shopping cart script that doesn’t have features like shipping or anything because it’s very simple. It has to accept credit cards, none of that we will contact you for your card information crap. Any suggestions?

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Cynthia B asked:


What kind of stitches are used in these bikinis? I am also interested in the bottom pattern as well. http://sf2000.registeredsite.com/~user1230411/miva/merchant.mv?Screen=PRODStore_Code=OTHBProduct_Code=SBBCategory_Code=2PB, http://sf2000.registeredsite.com/~user1230411/miva/merchant.mv?Screen=PRODStore_Code=OTHBProduct_Code=Goddessthongbikini, http://offthehookbikinis.blogspot.com (with Strawberry Shortcake, Dreamcatcher (is the bottom a laced stitch?) and Copper *** Pot as the subject) and there are a few others. This is for crochet only. Thanks!

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Me (that girl) asked:


Not like photoshop airbrushing. Airbrushing that’s similar to the technique of spray on tans. Like this: http://www.su-dousa.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGYCategory_Code=GALLERY

How long does it stay on your hair? Also does it automatically come off with water? Like what happens if you go swimming or get rained on? Thanks.
Matt P, don’t post stupid untrue answers and waste time.

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EY@Galaxy asked:


Please kindly help me. I have opened a business paypal account, and I have not idea hot to set in oscommerce.

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servevolleygal asked:


Research was done on the affects of Probiotics in the human body and its affects on the digestive system. Before starting the research I expected to find a lot of contradictory information. I felt that probiotics would have a hug impact on our every day life and determine crucial parts in our life. After completing my research I found that probiotics do determine crucial parts in our lives like if we will “live to be one hundred” (Metchnikoff, Pg. 356). They also help us in the “digestion of food” (Mercola, www.mercola.com/2004/sep/29) and the “balance of our colonial PH” (Crohn, www.crohns.net/Miva/education). Looking back at my hypothesis it seemed to follow along the lines of the research that I had gathered. I believe that my hypothesis follows along the same lines as the research that I gathered because my hypothesis might have been influenced by prier knowledge. After analyzing all my research I have come to the conclusion that the research shows how much we need the helpful bact
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helpful bacteria and how much they can help us. It shows how they could be used to prevent and cure cretin infections or diseases. If we continue to research and experiment with probiotics we could find cures problems that are apparent now or may be apparent in the future.

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Shopping Carts Solutions an integrated shopping solution, a new way that lets your customers to make orders, purchase online, manage shipping…

Today every growing business tries to be customer centric and I am very sure that business entropy will increase if your customer retention rate goes low. In this article I will discuss all about shopping cart and shopping cart software solution. With plethora of internet, staying at the top of your field has become arduous and it takes a lot to remain or reach at the top position. Looking back at the decade of shopping, there were no online store and customers had to walk to the store, spend time there browsing through the catalogue, deciding products, and then the product was passed into the shopping cart (trolley), order was placed and finally checkout and payment processes were carried. Then everything was manual, all entries were made manually and pricing were calculated on hands. In present scenario – With online shopping cart you can shop from your home or your office; just need internet connection and all yours processing finalized in a minute. This online storefront with integrated shopping solution provides a platform for selecting and purchasing your favorite products.

Shopping Carts is selecting products online for purchasing. Ecommerce is complete online store for shopping where from placing orders, tracking orders and managing account all are maintained.

The interface of online stores are designed for users and it is really easy to browse, collect, place orders and make payment but behind the curtain the scene is sophisticated, it needs round the clock maintenance for smooth functioning of your ecommerce store. The current study says that abandonment rate of shopping cart ranges from 25% to 75%. Being a SEO executive and strategist I have analyzed lots of ecommerce websites, studied its web analytics funnel visualization report, it shows that most of the visitors exit at the initial step (after Login or Registration), these visitors drop out at proceeding steps, and very small percentage reach the final checkout. I would say that funnel conversion rate is very low for these ecommerce websites / shopping carts if the funnel steps are not properly set.

I would like to share what all I have inculcated through my experience, reasons for shopping cart abandonment are:

High Shipping Cost: This can be inversely managed by increasing product cost and reducing shipping cost.

Security and Privacy Problem: Providing very transparent privacy statement and high level security for payment gateway.

Lot of essentialities and billing formalities: Non essential information should be not be made mandatory, other formalities can be filled at the after checkout.

Poor Navigation: Your shopping store should respond quickly, check that your site does not take enough loading time. Search should be simple and checkout process should not be very lengthy. Clients should be notified after payment is done and visitors who wish can easily navigate back to make more shopping without time wastage.

Remember, your ecommerce website should be simple so that it entices your customers to come again for shopping. All the shopping cart segments should be integrated and should be streamlined for its smooth running. Elements of consideration are: a ecommerce shopping cart (storefront with shopping cart), a merchant account, a database server (this stores all information about customer and all your storefront products and services), a web server (hosts your website and provides all information about your product at the web browser’s request), a catalogue, legacy system, control inventory, reporting tool and secure payment gateway. Hosting of your online storefront or ecommerce website is of first consideration. Depending on your storefront hosting you choose shopping cart software, all depends on the software and your website hosting compatibility.

There are different shopping cart software available for your storefront from which you can choose. Either you can Buy a shopping cart software product, or join a service (template service build your store).

Choosing shopping cart software is the key business requirement for online shopping business solutions.

Every ecommerce site has its shopping cart and thus needs a merchant account and payment gateway. I believe these two are basic necessities of any online store for allowing credit card payment. Let be brief the main points that you should know before proceeding to shopping carts.

Merchant Account: This allows to process credit card information. Different types of merchant accounts are available to suit your business needs. Most popular merchant accounts include wireless, telecheck, mail order or phone, e-commerce. Ecommerce is the fastest growing transaction segment.

Payment Gateway: payment gateway processes this credit card and shipping information and real time information over a secure network connection.

A company that validates your credit card information in real time is electronic gateway or payment gateway. Few most widely accepted gateways are: Paypal (Globally), Verisign (Globally), 2Checkout (Globally), WorldPay (Gloablly), Authorize.Net (US), CyberSource (US), Moneris (CA), Protx (UK), EWay (AU); some others are Chronopay, Westpac, BluePay, viaKLIX, eMatters, plugnpay, eway, goemerchant.com, skipjack, MiraPay, netaxept, DirectOne, nab, NETBANX, Network Merchants, Nochex, DeltaPAY, eProcessing Network, protx, egateway, SECPay, paymate, Gotmerchant, ANZ, beanstream, Payjunction, TECHNOCASH, MiraPay, GoDaddy.

Payment gateway main motive is to provide secure channel for credit card information transfer. Basically the credit card information is encrypted and sent to respective bank for verification, these are of highest priority, no detail is stored in between.

You may be having now in mind how to create your merchant account and have your payment gateway??? Not mandatory to have one’s own, you may use merchant service providers’ shopping cart solutions for your ecommerce websites.

Type of Gateways:

Currently there are 3 main gateway interfaces available:

COM based gateway interface: Most of the COM based gateway company requires installing the DLL software on your hosting server, and also checks for your SSL certificate.

XML Transport gateway interface: XML Transport gateway companies do not require DLL installation but checks for you SLL certification instead uses Windows server installed facilities.

Form based gateway interface: This is most common gateway as does not require any software installation, very few companies ask for SSL certification.

The main advantage is that COM and XML gateways are integrated with your store and thus no redirection to external server but the drawback also lies that since the transfer is over the internet to payment gateway makes this less reliable.

Types of Shopping Cart

Merchant Service Shopping Carts

Have you set up a new business, do not have merchant account and payment gateway??? Still looking…. There are merchant services shopping carts available for new businesses with very less queries at the initial stage. Once you start your business at the initial stage there are very less orders that increases gradually, so merchant will get you licensed . It proceeds somewhat like this: it collects and stores your client’s information and takes you to its payment gateway and merchant account.

The main problem is the fee that gateway company charges. Apart from the set up fee, transaction cost is also high making the over all gateway an expensive one. Another major drawback is that client’s credit card statements will contain merchant service not your company name. There is admin login section for all sort of updation – add, delete, edit, and manage products and other information. The HTML code generated by the cart is inserted in the respected pages, once the visitor clicks on the link (button), visitor is redirected to merchant site where visitor needs to enter card detail and personal details.

Hosted Shopping Carts

Small and medium sized businesses need not worry!! Yes, they can have hosted shopping cart for those not having enough resource to go with integrated shopping cart solutions for their ecommerce websites. The hosted shopping cart solution has an administration area for entering product information. The generated HTML information code is inserted into the product page. The website visitor is redirected to another site to fill a form with information that is CC to the website. There are certain carts that provide configurable user interface so that it looks as corporate website.

The most important point to be noted is that in hosted shopping cart solutions the website owner uses ones own payment gateway and merchant account; this provides your client with credit card detail with your company title not the title of merchant service. For increasing sale this shopping cart service becomes cheaper, this may be fixed transaction charge for higher sales compared to per transaction.

Fully Integrated Shopping Carts

Fully integrated (Trunkey – a comprehensive shopping cart solution provided by one provider) shopping cart provides completely configurable user interface and other interesting features. This needs some programming knowledge so that you can better manage and handle its modules and use the extra features provided. Provider of On the ecommerce provider server the software data and web pages are hosted. Examples: Yahoo Store, Bigstep, Merchandizer, etc. these include form based built in payment gateway.

Which shopping cart to go with?? Points to ponder – Costing: The investment you put in, hosting

Shopping cart software is the common online storefront business solution. There are myriad e-commerce solutions available with varying features, design, security so that you can customize based on your requirements and specifications. With open source software solutions, osCommerce shopping cart solution there are slew of customizable shopping cart solutions available. The open source ecommerce software products are available that are very easy to setup, configure, administration. So before going with a particular solution Payment gateway or shopping cart just be clear about your requirements. There is another storefront solution, Watson shopping cart system (developed in Switzerland) is a new shopping cart or trolley that has unique database and uses audio advertising system of the internet for online shopping.



By: Rakhi Chowdhary

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