Shopping Cart Recommendations

Question

I've developed several sites using CartThrob, over the years, and it has been a love/hate relationship. They're great guys, and when they are on, they are super. When they're off, however, not so much.

Their support has been hit or miss, and has created problems for me with clients. Their responses to requests that I think should be included – like being able to set the tax rates by multiple parameters, produce pick lists for purchased items, etc. – are often met with estimates for expensive custom development.

Now, they are charging $1.00/minute for support. I think it's time to move on.

The problem is that there don't seem to be a lot of options out there that meet my clients' various needs. In addition to the standard shopping cart operations, we need:

Destination-based Sales Tax (for states like North Carolina) Gift Certificates with Stored Values Recurring Billing Flexible Reporting (packing slips, pick sheets, taxes, etc.) First-Time Order Charges (setup fees, etc.)

Does anyone have recommendations?

Thanks,

ty

Answer 1

The other two big names in EE ecommerce are Expresso Store and Brilliant Retail.

Store has recently been taken over by DevDemon and is being actively developed by them.

BR is also still in active development, but does things a little differently from Store and CT.

Helpfully, BR has a demo store online to test (front end and back end). From my experience, if this fits closely, functionality-wise, with what you want to do, then BR is probably a good fit and it's possible to get up and running quickly. However, be aware that trying to do anything differently from the way BR is set up can be an exercise in frustration.

If you need something with more flexibility or outside of what BR offers, then I would suggest looking at Store.

Answer 2

I know this is a really old post, but I do want to let you know that CartThrob has been acquired by us, Vector Media Group, and we're committed to supporting and improving it going forward. More information can be found here.

If you're still looking for help, please feel free to let me know at matt@vectormediagroup.com or by submitting a request to the helpdesk: https://www.cartthrob.com/support/index.php?pg=request. I am confident you'll be happy with the recent progress and response times.