ProductCart 3 v. Miva Merchant 5

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   The customer cart is always a nice touch.
We have used the functionality that shows it when it needs to - so you add an item and it automatically shows on the left hand column.  We try and keep it simple on screen and this functionality has proved popular and useful (even though we haven't done anything except include a tiny bit of script provided in the v3 upgrade manual).

cheers
Mark

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MarkCoyle Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 06-June-2006 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote MarkCoyle Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: ProductCart 3 v. Miva Merchant 5 Posted: 15-August-2006 at 11:41am
	The customer cart is always a nice touch. We have used the functionality that shows it when it needs to - so you add an item and it automatically shows on the left hand column. We try and keep it simple on screen and this functionality has proved popular and useful (even though we haven't done anything except include a tiny bit of script provided in the v3 upgrade manual). cheers Mark

geoff Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 15-January-2006 Status: Offline Points: 2	Post Options Post Reply Quote geoff Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 14-August-2006 at 10:36pm
	locojones I agree - the example web site you listed has done a really good job of implimenting PC. Really nice. Some of the customization they have carried out is really not that complex. What they have done which I think is really really good is to execute a really effective shopping invitationtogether with great supporting pages and simple navigation. Some of their specific page customizations are really quiet minor - from a coding point of view (at least to a cursory glance) - but boy it looks good! IMO you really need to do a fair amount of customization to really make things sing. It helps a lot if you jump in and actually start doing at least some of it yourself. Once you do you have a better appreciation of what is an easy hit and what is not. Regards Geoff

netprofits Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Certified ProductCart Developers Joined: 05-January-2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 22	Post Options Post Reply Quote netprofits Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 14-August-2006 at 7:33am
	1. See this PDF file for details on how to customize the look and feel of PC: http://www.earlyimpact.com/productcart/support/Integrating_P roductCart_v3_with_your_Web_site.pdf Basically, PC comes with one temaplte built in. You modify two ASP files (header.asp and footer.asp). Those files have commented sections for each major area like category list, product search, shopping bag, login, etc. You can place them on either side very easily. There are also two CSS files you can modify to adjust font styles, colors, etc. 2. To see a list of many PC sites by type, check out this page: http://www.earlyimpact.com/stores.asp 3. PC has built into it the ability to setup custom shipping using any of the following: Flat rate based on order amount Percentage of order amount Flat rate based on order quantity Flat rate based on order weight Incremental based on order quantity For details, on the PC demo control panel, choose Shipping \| Add or View Shipping Services and choose add for the Custom Shipping Options. 4. Here is a list of certified PC developers: http://www.earlyimpact.com/partners-dev.asp For most developers it is not difficult to make changes. The time and cost depend on th complexity of the change.
	NetProfits Internet Consulting Certified ProductCart Developer Our Site

locojones Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 09-August-2006 Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote locojones Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 14-August-2006 at 7:07am
	Getting back on the topic, I've been reading and playing with demos more. I have some questions about PC for you guys: 1. I see how Miva uses its StoreMorph technology to allow you to edit the look and feel of the pages. How is changing the look of PC accomplished? I know it's CSS-based, are there templates somewhere too? 2. I recently found TheSimpleLeaf as an example of a real PC store, and think its one of the best looking sites I've run across, period. I'm really curious how they made the "Shopping Bag" showing the # of items and a total in the right hand column. I don't recall seeing a feature like that in the admin panel of the demo store. Is it something that can be easily relocated around the page? 3. I may need to use some sort of freight shipping because some of the products I am considering selling are heavy. Has anyone had to use something like this, and how did you add it to the program? 4. How easy or difficult is it to find an ASP developer familiar with the program? And how easy or difficult would it be to have modifications made, if they were required?

MarkCoyle Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 06-June-2006 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote MarkCoyle Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 11-August-2006 at 5:22am
	I have given some thought to this and might of found how to do it. I'll test it later tonight for you. In version 3, you can set up categories to be hidden in the store front. Once established the page will have the same URL every time for the category. So you would associate products with a 'FedEx' category or a 'UPS' category and NOT show them in the store front. Then you issue a URL to the Fedex customers that only shows the FedEx products in their category and vice versa for UPS. Neither set of customers would know or be able to find the others' category page. Assuming a test / EI confirm this works, it may provide the solution you need. cheers Mark

Uniforms guy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 15-July-2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote Uniforms guy Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 10-August-2006 at 6:56pm
	Hi Mark, An "Available Group" feature will let us pre-defined a group(s) of customers who are authorized to buy a certain group(s) of products. Other customers might be abale to view those products but not be able to buy them For example, I sell Uniforms. I supply Uniforms for FedEx and UPS employees. I would like the PC provides: when the FedEx employees LogIn (after SignUp), the PC will let them purchase the FedEx uniforms category/products but not the UPS category and/or UPS products. By the same token, when the UPS employees logIn, they will be able to purchase their particular UPS uniforms, NOT Airborne-Express or FedEx uniforms. I hope I didn't confuse you, Mariot

MarkCoyle Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 06-June-2006 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote MarkCoyle Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 10-August-2006 at 6:21pm
	It took me a while to realise the power of this. The term 'pricing categories' only hints at the flexibility - it's actually also a 'customer categories' tool. The preceding post from EI confirms this - it might be this new feature gives you what you need. cheers Mark

ProductCart Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group ProductCart Team Joined: 01-October-2003 Status: Offline Points: 135	Post Options Post Reply Quote ProductCart Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 10-August-2006 at 6:16pm
	Hi Uniforms Guy: we definitely encourage you to play around with the new "Pricing Category" feature in v3. This is one of the features that takes ProductCart a huge step forward in version 3. We spent a lot of time on it, and we use it actively ourselves on our software store to manage reseller pricing (we have different levels of resellers). http://www.earlyimpact.com/demos/standard/pcadmin/AdminCusto merCategory.asp Use the built in help (little yellow icons) to learn more about individual features. Basically: You can have unlimited pricing categories and assign customers to them You can set up a pricing category so that it also gives "wholesale" priveledges, which in ProductCart means payment options not available to retails customers, tax-excemption, etc. You can override the price set by the pricing category (e.g. 10% off all products) at the individual product levels (e.g. "Gold Customers" get 10% off everything, but 15% off product XYZ, and 20% off product ABC).
	The ProductCart Team Home of ProductCart shopping cart software

MarkCoyle Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 06-June-2006 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote MarkCoyle Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 10-August-2006 at 5:55pm
	Hi explain what you're trying to do with the customer feature (available group) once more.... maybe we can sort this as a user community or encourage EI to find a way. I've found the ability to set up price categories and add customers to it, giving them access to wholesale price, list price, store price etc to be invaluable within v3. cheers Mark

Uniforms guy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 15-July-2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote Uniforms guy Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 10-August-2006 at 5:51pm
	I 've used Miva 4 (plus ton of OUI modules) since 2000. It's not flexible in term of customization even with the Miva5. I am looking for to migrate to either PC or VP-ASP. I prefer the ASP-based systems because they are open source, furthermore PC offers many essential built-in features which you have to purchase if you use Miva. The only thing hold me back at this moment because PC hasn't offer a Customer feature (Available group) which is very important to me as well other PC users AND that is also the ONLY reason that I still stuck with Miva. I am in search for a third party plug-in for using with PC, the minute I found that solution, I will dump the dinosaur-technology Miva at once. If I had a chance to start all over, I will go with PC. However if you decide to go with Miva, then I have a full new copy of Miva5 license for sale at $350.00 ($995.00 at Miva) plus 4 hours to help you setup & Config. + Storeman ( a third party app. which is very help ful for Import, Export, Edit Cat/SubCat, Products, Attributes, options; worth around $300.00). But as I stated, PC is a far better product.