shopping cart

[StudebakerGuy]

SO from what I read it looks like it is possible to use a shopping cart with FP2003. (I was about to ask)
How hard is it to do that's never dealt with any type of shopping carts.
I am about to totally rebuilt a friends site for him and he mentioned he wanted a shopping cart... Wants to see what I might need to know up from to save "add ons" later.
This guy will have 100's of items for sale.
Should I assume the html is going to be very lengthy.??

Any info you can provide is appreciated. I'm sure there are things I don't even KNOW to ask yet.
THANKS

Oh.. and glad to see you back up again.

[MandyJay]

Hi,
Yes you can use paypal easily. There is a free FP addin you can use, I use it with my template site and very easy to use. In fact once you add one item, I find it just as easy to copy and paste then to just change item number, description etc in the coding .. but ...

you can download it from here http://www.auctionmessenger.net/paypal/ you have choice of whole shopping cart i.e. buy now, view cart ... blah blah ... or just a buy now button or .....

MJ

[StudebakerGuy]

OK cool. I'll check the link out.
Thanks for the info.
I'm just going to start over on this guys site, so I wanted to get off on the right foot.
The welding site you helped me on came out nice, and he was pleased.
Heck If I get good at this maybe I should think about doing some for a little moolah. Not sure I am that good though??
CT

[MandyJay]

well just give a shout if you need help.

To earn money at web design you need to learn how to totally design a site using CSS as that is the only way sites will be correctly displayed in all browsers including future ones. It would be misleading to claim to be a web designer when methods that are 10 years old are used (sorry FP !! lol) and coding does not validate at times. But you could always learn, there are classes available but what I have found over the years you can now get a very good website done for around $80/$100 from Indian or eastern european people where that amount of money is quite a lot to them, but the sites they produce are really good! I know when I was learning I used to earn pocket money but I would tell people I was learning and the sites may not be done perfectly but would be done more than acceptably and viewable in the top three browsers, of coursre I couldnt charge much but some were more than happy with that especially when they just wanted a show on the internet i.e. wasnta shop but more of "we are here" type site, lol.

Anyway shout if you need help with the site you are doing.

MJ

[StudebakerGuy]

Thanks for the reply. It's great to know you are here to help us poort souls.
Thought about one other item. How do you (or how easy is it) to get a "secure connection" (One of those https headings) So people can charge to a credit card if they want with no worry of people getting their info.
How is that done,>>
Thanks

[MandyJay]

if you go with paypal you dont have to as it is all done via paypal secure connection. If you dont use paypal then you need to find some other shopping cart system and a bank through which to process orders etc etc all of which can work out expensive. Generally we advise people to start with paypal then if sales increase enough move over to either another shopping cart system (where they do all the work as far as processing charges) etc. But if you did want a secure setting you get this from your host, forget how much it costs. I have never bothered as always have used a third party system. Check out other posts in the ecommerce section of this forum.

MJ

[StudebakerGuy]

Thanks for the reply.
Thats exactly the info I was looking for.
I figured having a "secure" system would be an additional charge, etc.
I'll let him know
Have a nice weekend