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osCommerce vs WebCart - An Ecommerce Platform Shopping Cart Software Comparison Review

Over the past few years, the osCommerce shopping cart system has been an extremely popular choice for online businesses looking to power an ecommerce web site. To those who love free (open source) software, osCommerce (as well as the many other freeware type of cart solutions) is and has been a dream come true. Given the choice, uneducated eCommerce store owners will usually opt for a free cart vs. one which will cost money.

osCommerce is a freeware shopping cart platform built in php and MySQL with many hundreds of programmers supplying addons and plug-ins either for free or for an additional charge. Some might say that the system is really free, but others who calculate the cost of the time spent configuring the system might disagree.

The question is whether one takes into account the cost of setting up and administering the osCommerce powered web site. For many beginners technical support is critical for setting up a presence on the web. With osCommerce there is no easy phone or email support. The primary method of installing their php shopping cart solution is by reading the online documentation, and posting questions in the forum. For more information you can visit http://www.oscommerce.info/docs/english/c_installation_and_upgrades.html.

Because of all the hours one has to spend configuring the cart, it really does end up costing a lot of money to set up an osCommerce powered web store. As an alternative, a webmaster can look for a paid solution like WebCart (http://www.webcart.net) which is not a free solution and in fact is not even a cheap solution. It isn't terribly expensive but it is extremely function rich. In fact, WebCart has recently introduced its osCommerce Transition package to move web sites powered by osCommerce to WebCart in a seamless and frictionless manner.

We are not suggesting that osCommerce has a faulty product nor is our intent to convince anyone of this. However, there are some fundamental complaints about osCommerce, that are floating around message boards and therefore we've written this article so that frustrated users of osCommerce can discover that there are easy and flexible alternatives.

WebCart by the way is developed by Mountain Network Systems who has developers in Russia, Israel and the USA. WebCart does not even offer an installation document because they install WebCart for every customer. "After talking to clients who were previous users of osCommerce, I can tell you that most of them, who were intermediate web users, had an extremely difficult time going through the installation documentation", says Michael Moshkovich from WebCart. A simple Google search for "osCommerce installation help" will produce a wealth of websites trying to sell you an installation service.

If you have questions about osCommerce or about WebCart, post your comments directly in this forum at http://forums.webcart.net.

Stay tuned for more news on this latest development of the osCommerce Transition Upgrade package from WebCart. If you are want to upgrade from a free online storefront and/or you are analyzing specific criteria for developing a new ecommerce powered Shopping Cart software platform, please contact the developers of WebCart at http://www.webcart.net.

Comparing WebCart® To OsCommerce

Just in case you thought OsCommerce was free, here's a comparison chart to show you how much you would be saving by using WebCart.

Here are the WebCart® server requirements for installing our shopping cart platform on your own server.

WebCart vs OsCommerce
View Our Competitive Analysis

Shopping Cart Feature OScommerce WebCart 11.5
General Functionality
   Compatible with all PHP 4 versions
   All features enabled for a complete out-of-the-box solution
   Object oriented backend (MS3)
Design / Layout
   Allow layout changes to be adaptive, easy, and quick to make
   Easily create custom headers and footers for specific pages
   Supports dynamic images
CMS Features
   Article Management
   Event Manager
   Photo Gallery
   News Module
Administration / Backend Functionality
   Supports unlimited products, categories and subcategories
   Products-to-categories structure
   Categories-to-categories structure
   Add/Edit/Remove categories, products, manufacturers, customers, and reviews
   WYSIWYG editor to easily describe products and categories
   Support for physical (shippable) and virtual (downloadable) products
   Administration area secured with a username and password defined during installation
   Contact customers directly via email or newsletters
   Easily backup and restore the database
   Easily synchronize a floor database with a shopping cart
   Advanced analytics on customer sessions, behaviors and exit pages.
   Print invoices and packaging lists from the order screen
   Statistics for products and customers
   Multi currency support
   Advanced SEO features for products and categories
   Select what to display, and in what order, in the product listing page
   Support for static and dynamic banners with full statistics
   Customize the way products are displayed in a search
Customer / Frontend Functionality
   All orders stored in the database for fast and efficient retrieval
   Customers can view their order history and order statuses
   Customers can maintain their accounts
   Address book for multiple shipping and billing addresses
   Express checkout (no login required)
   Permanent shopping cart for customers
   Quick search and advanced search features
   Product reviews for an interactive online shopping experience
   Step by step checkout procedure
   Secure transactions with SSL
   Number of products in each category can be shown or hidden
   Display upsale offers of related products
   Breadcrumb trail for easy site navigation
   Multi-value coupons
   Gift certificates
Product Functionality
   Dynamic product attributes relationship
   Product bundle option
   Image quantity and size flexibility
   HTML based product descriptions
   Automated display of specials
   Track inventory and back ordering for out of stock products
   Subscription module to receive related emails/newsletters
Payment Functionality
   Accept offline payments (checks, money orders, credit cards)
   Accept online payment processing (PayPal, Authorize.net, Verisgn..)
   Disable certain payment services based on a zone basis
Shipping Functionality
   Weight, price, and destination based shipping modules
   Real-time quotes available (UPS, USPS, FedEx, ..)
   Free shipping based on amount, weight and destination
   Disable certain shipping services based on a zone basis
Tax Functionality
   Flexible tax implementation on a state and country basis
   Set different tax rates for different products
   Charge tax on shipping on a per shipping service basis
Marketing
   Fully featured affiliate marketing module
   Custom gift certificate creation
   Advanced upsale options
Product Support
   Hosted on super fast reliable servers
   24/7 Customer Support