E-commerce Shopping Carts Comparison

In this overview the most known different online e-Commerce shopping cart systems are going to be shown. We’ll show you the difference between these systems and find the advantages.

An e-Commerce online shopping cart system is a script that is implemented into
a website which is set up to work as a bridge between the online shop and its
credit card processor. Instead of spending weeks or months web coding and programming
an e-Commerce merchant can download an e-commerce shopping cart system and have
it installed automatically in a few minutes. These scripts are generally easy
to handle and setup. Another advantage of shopping cart systems is that they
make your online store easy to use. They are usually open source, which means
that e-Commerce merchants are free to make any changes to the code (for example,
add extra fields in the order form to collect feedback) and to the design (for
example, change the color scheme to match the colors of the online store). Also
it is the shopping cart system that is responsible for 50% of the security,
so installing a modified shopping cart system from a suspicious provider is
not recommended.

osCommerce Online Shopping Cart Script (http://www.oscommerce.com) - is a powerful PHP shopping cart script. It is provided free for download from the osCommerce website. It is one of the most popular free shopping cart scripts available online. Currently more than 11,400 online shops use the osCommerce script. The main advantages of this script are: easy to install and update - the installation process takes place automatically online controlled by the e-Commerce merchant’s browser; customizable design - even though the free version of the script does not let changes in code, template and design changes can be made in a few clicks, without PHP programming knowledge; powerful administrative tools - customizable order fields, labels, texts, and multilingual support; virtual product support - the script can handle automated online software downloads as well as physical shipping of goods; secure - SSL security technologies come implemented in the script; and much more. Visit the osCommerce site for the full list of features. There is also an online demonstration of the script in action. The osCommerce development team has been working since March 2000, so 6 years in the industry of shopping cart scripts is enough to encourage any e-Commerce merchant to use their services.

X-Cart Online Shopping Cart Script (http://www.x-cart.com) - is another PHP shopping cart script solution which is available online. It is not a free script, though, but e-Commerce merchants will surely get what they pay for. There are two versions of the script - X-Cart Pro which is priced at USD 499 and X-Cart Gold which can be bought for USD 199. The only difference is that the Pro version of the script is able to handle multiple online stores on one server. The Gold version supports only for one online shop per server, and has the same functionality and features of the Pro version. The script supports modules, like X-Affiliates, which lets and e-Commerce merchant run an affiliate program. These modules are available for purchase separately from the X-Cart script. The requirements for the script hosting server are PHP and MySQL support, and 16 megabytes of webspace (script only). The main advantages are: usability and easy administration, full customization and open source code (code can be fully modified), practically no limitations to functionality - the external modules adds additional functionality to the script depending on the merchant’s needs. Full information is available at the X-Cart website. The X-Cart shopping script is one of the cheapest and best solutions ranging from USD 200 to USD 500.

Zen Cart Online Shopping Cart Script (http://www.zencart.com) - is a free PHP shopping cart script which can be downloaded for free at the Zen Cart website. Zen Cart is fully customizable and flexible ready to work in almost any e-Commerce conditions. Zen Cart is compatible with many online payment systems, including credit cards. Some of the features of Zen Cart are: gift certificate manager, discount coupon manager, powerful administration control, unlimited product categories, fully customizable design templates, easy and quick installation. Being a free online shopping cart script Zen Cart is pretty powerful and may be the solution for any e-Commerce business and online store. Visit the Zen Cart website to get to know all the possibilities of Zen Cart and to download the latest version of the shopping cart script.

And last, but not least...

CubeCart Online Shopping Cart Script (http://www.cubecart.com // http://www.cubecart.org) - is another quite cheap PHP shopping cart solution for e-Commerce merchants and their online stores. The script is actually free, though the first thing that pops up is "Buy CubeCart for USD 69". e-Commerce merchants can pay for the script to remove the "CubeCart" logo and banners from the script. CubeCart supports multiple modules which extend the support of many payment methods. The key benefits of CubeCart are: selling of digital (downloadable) and physical goods, multi-currency support, used by over 1 million online stores! The script is available for download at the CubeCart website.

It is up to the e-Commerce merchant which online shopping cart script to choose; whether to pay for a powerful solution or to download a free shopping cart solution powerful enough to process most payments, including credit cards.

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