I currently have a shopping cart system, but it is a bit difficult for me to administer, so I'm looking around at replacing it.
1. For my current shopping cart system setting it up to accept paypal was a giant (how do I put this) pain. I hope that I can just enter my paypal account info and the coffeecup SCC magically does everything and I get paid?
2. Setting up my shipping was a (how do I put this) nightmare. However, once I got it setup, it automatically checks with USPS to check weight, destination, and figures the cost. Does Coffeecup SCC tie into shipping providers (USPS, FEDEX, UPS, etc). and provide accurate costs (even if USPS or others raise their rates), or is it more like you enter a flat rate that is automatically charged?
3. My shop has 500-1000 products. Is there any problem having that many items?
4. Can the shop have coupon codes? For example just before the final checkout the cart asks "enter coupon code" the purchaser enters the code and gets 15% off or a specific dollar amount off, etc.
5. I sell audio, can I incorporate the Coffeecup jukebox so purchasers can play the audio? (I can currently use the Coffeecup jukebox, if the cart uses something else, that's fine, I just want to be sure it can play audio.
6. The biggest thing is: can it handle download files. And I mean huge zip files. Right now for a single product I break the zip files into 50MB each and 1 product may have 10 zip files associated with it - a total of 500MB. If the cart just gives a link to a directory where I put the zip files that would be fine.

I hope that the Coffeecup Shopping Cart can suit my needs. I've used coffeecup products in the past and they have worked well for me. The critical aspect is the downloading.

Thanks,

Hiya Jeff, I'll answer in numbers lol:

1. It's pretty easy and the instructions are detailed in the help file of the SCC to tell you exactly where to get the information you need (there's a special key code you need from PayPal to enter).

2. No unfortunately there is no tie in to any service for shipping. You enter your shipping in whatever increments you want to use. You can set it up to collect a flat rate; or have it increment the amount by a percentage or a fixed amount with each added item; and various other ways. When the Pro version of SCC is released there will also be a weight based system which will allow you to set up a weight based shipping system if that will help also. The system is pretty nice, takes a bit of time to setup, but it's very easy to setup.

3. I believe the max items right now is around 1200, that will increase tremendously with the Pro version of SCC release also.

4. Not at this time, it is expected in a future update to the Pro version of SCC after it is released. It won't be in the initial release unfortunately, but we're hoping it won't be a real long wait on the update for that issue.

5. You can insert HTML code and Scripts using the HTML tool on any of your main pages and in your product pages. I have not used that program, but the Form Builder works with it flawlessly so I would assume the Jukebox will also

6. Download handling is not incorporated in SCC at this time either. That is also a feature request that we're pretty sure will be added in the Pro version in a future update to that program. It won't be in the initial release of SCC Pro unfortunately.

Other than the downloading and coupons, the SCC is pretty powerful, but if those 2 issues are counterproductive for you I would wait until the release of SCC Pro and it's subsequent updates that will address those 2 issues. You can however purchase it anytime you like, learn the ropes of the program and put up a test shop to see how it all works. I believe there is a 7 day trial period for this and the SCD programs so you can take them for a test run too.

If you'd like to see it in action, feel free to visit my shop in my signature or the many others in many of the forum users signatures and get an idea of what you can do with it. My shop incorporates pages from the SCC program and separate HTML pages outside of the program and as you can see they go are very matchable and it wasn't real difficult to do with a little help from my friends here on the forums...
ok maybe a lot of help since I am not good at CSS layouts yet hehe.

Good luck on your decisions and hopefully the SCC Pro release will come soon as well as the updates that you are needing for your shop

Hi again Jo Ann. Can I ask about this part as I have just entered my paypal email address - to accept Website Payments Standard, and ticked the appropriate box to accept these.

1. It's pretty easy and the instructions are detailed in the help file of the SCC to tell you exactly where to get the information you need (there's a special key code you need from PayPal to enter).

I didn't get a code from Paypal, and I can't see anywhere to put a code in SCC. Have I done something wrong?

And to Jeff, the software is very user friendly and you can build the shopping cart in no time. I had never used any Coffee Cup software previously, and I picked it up very quickly.

You wont get a code, because you dont have to embed the cgi like you do the other shopping cart systems. It administers it through your "token"/email address.

Bren

There are 2 different methods you can use in SCC with PayPal. You can use PayPal Express or Website Payments Standard. Express you just enter in your PayPal e-mail address. To use Payments Standard, click the ? under the payments tab and it will walk you through the steps you need to take.

Thanks Eric & Scott.

I'm using Payments Standard, and I clicked on the ? and it just says to enter my Paypal email address associated with my personal or business account.

This is what I have done, and I have tested the cart as far as I can without actually buying something, and it shows up the cart items, total & my email at the top with the two options of logging in or entering credit card details, so I guess it's working correctly! Looks good to me anyway. Won't know for sure until someone buys something!

Awesome! Head over to http://www.coffeecup.com/forums/shoppin … hops-here/ and post your shop here.

Thanks for the information.
I am glad to hear that setting up Paypal is easy.
For the shipping, I think it would be better for a "live" connection to carriers to get more accurate prices, (I just hate either paying or charging a $5.00 flat fee for a cheap object when the shipping is really only 2 or 3 dollars. But I can certainly live with it.
The downloads are the feature I really want/need. On the boards someone else mentioned Linklok Paypal, a script or something by: http://www.vibralogix.com/linklokipn/
Has anyone actually integrated this into their Coffeecup store? It sounds like it might be a solution, but I am hesitant to install Coffeecup, then the first thing I do is modify it (or possibly break it).

And I sure that coupons are on the list of features to be included in some release (again not a deal breaker but they are nice to be able to give out.)


Thanks,
Jeff

Hiya Jeff,

For the shipping situation, keep in mind you do not have to charge a flat fee and call it good. You can collect the info from your shipping companies and insert it as if it were being shipped that way and your customer would just choose the shipping option that best fits their purchase and needs. It can very easily be mimicking a normal shipping setup, but... the main difference is that your customer needs to choose the correct one themselves rather than just choosing what company to ship with.

This can sometimes be a pain, but if you include a nice paragraph explaining the process and letting them know they need to choose the correct one in order to get their order as quickly serviced as possible, and that choosing the wrong one could delay their order or create separate billing charges, they are usually pretty good about it.

Give it a whirl and see how it's setup and then upload it and see how it affects the cart page and you can better judge if it's what you need or not.

As for the downloads script, that's something above my head at this time, never heard of it and I will take a look at it and see what it's all about, but I'm sure others will have a better idea on if it's useful or not.

Keep in mind also, if you break the cart, you can always reinstall it. Best way that I've found is to setup what I need. Then copy the files to a safe location and play with the test ones. This way if you break it you can always put it back. There isn't a whole lot of support for edited files that the cart creates, but there are some on the forums that are pretty good with it and helpful too so give it a shot and see I guess.

Have fun with it and good luck!

Don't forget that shipping costs for a business are not just the physical freight charge, but also the cost of packaging materials, someone's time to wrap it and perhaps someone physically taking the item to the Post office.

The user defined weight based shipping that will be a feature of the forthcoming pro version, will allow you to give extremely accurate shipping quotes. You'll be able to set that up however you want it and specify the carriers that you will use.