I am new to Cart Creator and have to say I like it so far. I have been using CubeCart for about 10 years now and know it inside and out. With all the changes going on over there I have started looking for a new cart for my stores. I have a lot of stores.... I bought Cart Creator Pro a few3 days ago and have had fun playing with it all weekend.
Here's what I have noticed so far with Cart Creator Pro and my wish list so far...
1. Using the sku as the identifier is problematic. Setting up an ID code for each item is what made CubeCart much more stable and usable. Just a thought
2. Not having customer info or a customer login is a huge problem for me. I cannot provide any tracking info for my customers and they all want that. It is a feature that is required to compete in the ecom market. I know using a flat file datebase does not allow for the security required but what if you compiled the code using Ion Cube or Zend to access it and put the DB in the server root or something? It's been about 10 years since I've worked with a flat file DB so please excuse me if that sounds silly...
3. Why a flat file DB only? My knowledge is in SQL and it works great. Very secure and allows for a lot more flexibility. Yes, it increases server load and adds a lot of complexity and security requirements BUT... it's fast, clean, easily expandable and a safe way to store data. Again, just a thought...
4. I need to have differnt shipping options for different countries and I do not see how to do that. When a person orders it has to show only those options available to them, based on their address. Since they can't enter an address this is not possible with your cart. Big problem for me
5. Multiple categories is a must. If you split the cats out of the product feed and setup another feed just for categories that allows you to put them in as many cats as you like with a simple check box or drop down. It would be fantastic and not involve TOO much coding.
6. Start a mod store for us users and an easy way to add them to the software. That would make this one incredible cart. Everyone has a differnt need. Let them select which mods best fit them. Charge something like $5 to $20 each (depending on complexity and time involved) and you can even allow 3rd party mods if you choose. Take and buck or two from each sale of a 3rd party mod... it's a goldmine (I have about $350 in store bought mods in my CubeCart 4 script and I do most of my own coding). This way we can choose how we want our store to work and what works best for us.
I have only been using this for about 3 days now so this is just what I see so far. I LOVE the Designer Pro combo. Making changes is very easy and so far pretty robust. I haven't had to go into the code yet which is a good thing. I haven't had the need to. Biggest gripe about CubeCart owas doing upgrades. Since I had hacked the code so much everytime I did an upgrade it would take 3 days. If I don't have to change any code for this cart I'll be a happy man!
Keep up the good work and I'll keep suggesting ideas as I see opportunites to improve this great software.
Bill Cooke