eCommerce Solutions
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I want to talk about ecommerce solutions for 5.7 and newer. Although there are a couple ecommerce solutions available, I can't say that any of them are an ideal solution for projects that require advanced features.
I have been working with Vivid Store, which has turned out to be an absolute nightmare to work with, and it lacks many of the critical features I need for a client project. Also, it appears to no longer be supported and development appears to have all together halted.
Snipcart looks pretty decent, but I prefer to avoid using third party solutions.
Community Store, which is on Github, is pretty decent, but also lacks many of the critical features I need.
The core team's ecommerce solution for 5.6 and older is still the best one, but there doesn't seem to be any activity on a 5.7+ version. Which is too bad, because it has all the features I would need for any projects.
What are your thoughts on the current ecommerce solutions that are out there?
I have been working with Vivid Store, which has turned out to be an absolute nightmare to work with, and it lacks many of the critical features I need for a client project. Also, it appears to no longer be supported and development appears to have all together halted.
Snipcart looks pretty decent, but I prefer to avoid using third party solutions.
Community Store, which is on Github, is pretty decent, but also lacks many of the critical features I need.
The core team's ecommerce solution for 5.6 and older is still the best one, but there doesn't seem to be any activity on a 5.7+ version. Which is too bad, because it has all the features I would need for any projects.
What are your thoughts on the current ecommerce solutions that are out there?
I have a pretty long list of things, but here's the main things I'm looking for:
1. Tiered pricing per product based on quantity
2. Authorize.net payment gateway
3. Ability for users to enter custom price amount (for donations)
There's others, but those are the most critical things.
1. Tiered pricing per product based on quantity
2. Authorize.net payment gateway
3. Ability for users to enter custom price amount (for donations)
There's others, but those are the most critical things.
Your third point is loosely listed on the development roadmap, under 'Additional entered/selectable Product options', the idea with these is that they'd be a bit like how eCommerce in 5.6 handles them, where they'd be able to affect the pricing. It's a fairly tricky thing to tie in though, so I can't say when it will be tackled.
The next thing I'm planning to work on is being able to provide custom sort orders to product categories.
More recently I've been reviewing Community Store's V8 compatibility.
I'm happy to say that with Andrew's efforts it looks like we've hit complete compatibility under v8. If there's anything that isn't still compatible at this point it's going to be smaller stuff that is easy to fix. V8 is looking awesome.
The other two ideas you've raised on github - I think you mentioned that you'd take a look at Authorize.net, did you have any luck with this?
Can you list some of your other items you are needing?
The next thing I'm planning to work on is being able to provide custom sort orders to product categories.
More recently I've been reviewing Community Store's V8 compatibility.
I'm happy to say that with Andrew's efforts it looks like we've hit complete compatibility under v8. If there's anything that isn't still compatible at this point it's going to be smaller stuff that is easy to fix. V8 is looking awesome.
The other two ideas you've raised on github - I think you mentioned that you'd take a look at Authorize.net, did you have any luck with this?
Can you list some of your other items you are needing?
Some other features I'd like to see:
- Shipping option: local pickup
- Gift cards / store credits system
- coupon codes and advanced discount rules
- UPS and FedEX shipping
- Shipping option: local pickup
- Gift cards / store credits system
- coupon codes and advanced discount rules
- UPS and FedEX shipping
The crucial real thing I'd be missing is attributes sets and the attributes attached to each set. As you can have multiple product groups, it would be a shitload of work if you have no sets to attach these attributes too, or not being able to require a specific attribute you create. The attribute system used by Magento is leading and is lacking in lots of eCommerce available. Not saying it should be as complex as this one, but having an attribute system with attribute sets is sort of a 'must have'.
Looking back at core commerce for 5.6, the functionality I would have liked is a concept of product types, and a means of declaring attributes for each type as well as for products overall. Products is both an attribute category and a container for product types, each of which is an attribute category.
For example,
- a product type of 'car' would have a number of doors, a number of seats, a size of engine.
- a product type of 'shoe' would have a size.
both would have a colour
I don't want to have an unused 'number of doors' attribute available to a 'shoe', but not used. I just don't want it there in the first place.
[EDIT - have I just described the same as ramon?]
A major bug that needs avoiding if/when implemented in community store is checking and consolidation of stock control. 5.6 Core eCommerce does not check stock levels at the final stage of checkout, so 2 carts proceeding through checkout can both successfully buy the last remaining item in stock. (The window within such issues can occur is actually far worse than that, but this last minute scenario should convey the concept).
For example,
- a product type of 'car' would have a number of doors, a number of seats, a size of engine.
- a product type of 'shoe' would have a size.
both would have a colour
I don't want to have an unused 'number of doors' attribute available to a 'shoe', but not used. I just don't want it there in the first place.
[EDIT - have I just described the same as ramon?]
A major bug that needs avoiding if/when implemented in community store is checking and consolidation of stock control. 5.6 Core eCommerce does not check stock levels at the final stage of checkout, so 2 carts proceeding through checkout can both successfully buy the last remaining item in stock. (The window within such issues can occur is actually far worse than that, but this last minute scenario should convey the concept).
Yes, John. This is what I more or less described. You can create attributes, and 1 attribute can be assigned to multiple attribute sets (or groups, or however you want to name it). This way you don't need to create an attribute twice and an attribute doesn't have to be available for each product type (a product type is then a attibute set/attribute group/whatever you call it).
There will be a few default attributes, like "Title/name", "Categories", "Thumbnail" etc. etc. These attributes have their own field type, like "text", "image", "categories", "url", "file" etc. etc. etc.
That will make it available for a whole lot of people! And among these, at least John and me lol.
There will be a few default attributes, like "Title/name", "Categories", "Thumbnail" etc. etc. These attributes have their own field type, like "text", "image", "categories", "url", "file" etc. etc. etc.
That will make it available for a whole lot of people! And among these, at least John and me lol.
What are the critical features you feel are missing from Community Store?