If you are putting the store together yourself, OS Commerce could be a good choice, it has a simple to use interface, is low cost/free and because of its standardised nature, its hard to go wrong with it. However, if you were to contract a 3rd party designer to produce the site, they would not usually spec OS Commerce, its layout is rigid and infelxible and despite an ability to alter images, colours, etc, most OS Commerce sites look very very similar. A designer would tend to ask you how you want your site to function, for instance we are working with an organic foods company who wish the navigation to be largely image based, with people moving around a "farmyard" to reach various product ranges, something design led like that would not be possible with OS Commerce. It really depends on how you want your store to function and how you would like it to look. Regards James Hirst A4 Internet ltd 0845 108 0411 www.a4internet.com

Thanks for your response. I agree with you that a lot of OsCommerce sites look the same, and that is my main concern with the product. There are various methods of customising it, which require knowledge of php and the internal workings. I have delved into this, and maybe able to work it out and eventually produce something that suites what I want, and doesn't look like the standard layout. However, this will take precious time, and that’s the main reason I asked the question. I may have to buy a commercial product that lends itself to major customisation, but in an easy to use and quick fashion or like you suggest, get one custom built.

You can purchase pre-made Oscommerce "skins" - 5 minutes work and you have a site that looks good, but has all the base functionality of Osc. If you take a look in the Offers section of this Forum, I have an offer ongoing for these. (note, this is a new username as I have been unable to login as gbsummer since the Forum changes. There is no "password forgotten" page, and emails to the webmaster go unanswered )

Hi! This prompted me to do a search and a couple good sites came up offering cheap oscommerce templates (or call them cheap oscommerce skins). You might want to take a look at http://oscommerceskins.com HTH Rgds Pretty

If not, EROL ww.erol.co.uk is pretty good. I used them for a couple of years. Whatever you do, stay aware from Actinic! Personally I am now using OSC - if you stick with it I think the pro's outweigh the cons. Regards, Richard
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Regards,
Richard
Retail World - Supporting Retailers Across the UK
www.retailforum.co.uk

Hi jedsman, At the risk of repeating my previous post, here.... http://www.startups.co.uk/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2389
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Martin @ JIGSAWSRUS.COM (webmaster@jigsawsrus.co.uk)
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Just a pointer DO NOT even think about using PIPEX WEBSELL there customer support is shameful/dreadful. I wish i could sing the praises of their product as it would be goood if they were to fix it up a little.... I've struggled with there tech support even getting them to do a simple change to a script i can t get access to takes weeks. But they kept debiting the money every month alright - that part of there software works - funny enough!
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oscommerce can be quite a powerfull and cheap option and it can look just the way you want it to. i have designed quite a few sites using oscommerce which can be viewed at http://ne-ps.com/product_info.php?products_id=63 the administation part has also been improved and an example can be viewed at www.ne-ps.com/cart002/admin so please dont be put off by the standard look & feel, it can be very customizable!!
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website and shopping cart design @ www.ne-ps.com

Don't forget to look at Zencart too, www.zencart.com. (asuming you want to roll your own). It's kind of a branch from OSC, the lead programmer is from the UK. I'm slowly getting to grips with it here. They have an *excellent* help forum too, some really helpfull people. Mike

Ive been trying to get my head around oscommerce for ages. I can't afford to have a site made for me at the moment, I couldn't find my dreamweaver disc (im quite good using this) so i had to stick with crappy frontpage. Therefore, my site is a shambles. If anyone could give guidlines on oscommerce i would be very grateful. also, i notice that all oscommerce site ive come across have log in/register features, can this be removed? cheers sales@gadgetandgizmostore.co.uk
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"so i had to stick with crappy frontpage"??? i use frontpage on all my projects, but i guess it's what your used with that counts
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website and shopping cart design @ www.ne-ps.com