SoHoLaunch Pro - Worth the $$ ?

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  • Lydia
    Junior Member
    • Mar 2006
    • 7

    SoHoLaunch Pro - Worth the $$ ?

    Anyone here use SoHoLaunch Pro? I found the 'basic' version on Fantastico here, but I want to know if you've found the shopping cart capabilities to be worth the $99 fee to use Pro.

    Also, if you have a different, but simple to set up and relatively inexpensive e-commerce package that you are happy with, I would love to hear about it. Extra points if it can handle PayPal's reoccuring payments feature.

    Thank you!
  • Elite
    Senior Member
    • Apr 2004
    • 168

    #2
    oscommerce here...

    Comment

    • Lydia
      Junior Member
      • Mar 2006
      • 7

      #3
      oscommerce

      I've heard oscommerce/zencart are a pain to configure. I take it you didn't find it too difficult?

      Comment

      • Elite
        Senior Member
        • Apr 2004
        • 168

        #4
        Skinning can be a bit of a pain, but the actual install is fairly painless, plus there are tons of plugins to add extra features such as reocurring payments.

        Give it a try, it is free after all, so you can always ditch it if you don't like it...

        Comment

        • Lydia
          Junior Member
          • Mar 2006
          • 7

          #5
          So, I tried ZenCart, and while I don't mind puzzling out its awkward configuration, there is absolutely no way most of my customers would work through the process. For instance:

          The one for whom I am considering SoHoLaunch wants the ability to use a wizard to add/modify pages at will and manage her catalog easily by herself. For most customers who want to make frequent updates to their own pages, I recommend Website Baker, but WB does not have any e-commerce ability.

          Any ideas?

          Comment

          • Elite
            Senior Member
            • Apr 2004
            • 168

            #6
            Never used Zencart - IIRC it is based on oscommerce so, this might help - although your customer would need some knowledge of html, or could possibly use a WYSIWYG editor... There are thousands of contributions listed on their website, so I'd be surprised if there wasn't a solution that fits your needs there. Alternativley I would suggest you post your question in the oscommerce/zencart forums - you'll probably get more help there.

            If your looking for an intergrated shopping cart/cms you could try http://www.virtuemart.net/ (i'm sure there are others) - I have no experience of this though...

            None of the customers I've set oscommerce up for have had any difficulty maintaining their catalogue (the shipping taxes etc can be APITA - although very flexible, but how often do they change?). I have to admit that there has been no need to create any static pages after I initially set them up - just occasional content changes which they have handled themselves using notepad/ftp...

            I haven't looked at SoHoLaunch Pro as they require your email just to view the demo - But from viewing their feature list I think it is a trade off between functionality (zencart/oscommerce are much more flexible in this regard) and ease of use...

            HTH

            Comment

            • Lydia
              Junior Member
              • Mar 2006
              • 7

              #7
              Thank you, Elite, for the tips. I'm looking in to that Mambo/Joomla shopping cart system. If it can gracefully handle subscriptions and rental inventory tracking, I'll be so happy I might lose bladder control. There seems to be a distinct lack of such features in most systems.

              yeah, it's always a pain when sites require email addresses for registration. That's exactly why I maintain an extra domain: script testing and tons of "throw-away" email forwarders to cut down on spam.

              Thanks again!

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