Shopping carts

[Dan Jenkins]

On 2/9/2011 8:54 PM, Benjamin Scott wrote:
>  On Wed, Feb 9, 2011, Dan Jenkins <dan at rastech.com> wrote:
> > I am looking for a shopping cart solution to add to several
> > existing web sites I admin ... ... The url would be invoked solely
> > via a localhost interface from one program to the receiving cart
> > ... ... A separate request would check-out ... ... The actual
> > order must, in most cases, be manually processed ... ... The order
> > would be encrypted and emailed (again, to a local email server ...
>  You might want to clarify what you're looking for here. Most
>  commerce systems I've used assume a human being using a web browser
>  at the other end of an HTTP transaction. They present the catalog,
>  allow the human to pick products from that catalog and put them in
>  the cart, and then checkout -- enter payment and shipping info. The
>  UI is done via HTTP and HTML and a web browser. HTTP cookies track
>  cart state (or at least, a session ID).
>
>  You're saying you want to submit items via local channels (thereby
>  implying you'll do the catalog, too), checkout via local channels,
>  submit order info via local channels... what exactly does that leave
>  for the commerce system to *do*? :-)
>
>  When it comes to the server side of commerce systems, I've only ever
>  really dealt with Zen Cart (a fork of osCommerce). It gets the job
>  done, and is a relatively simple system and thus easier to fit into
>  one's head. And free. There's a strong user community web forum.
>  There's a web knowledgebase, which is good because the code I had to
>  deal with was not well commented. The design didn't strike me as
>  overly modular. So it might be tough to adapt it to... whatever it
>  is you're doing.

Yeah, my description is poor. A little background might make it clearer. 
I admin some web stores. They carry unique items. I mean unique exactly: 
there is one of each item being sold. I already have a catalog system, 
which works fine. When someone orders an item, a single order form is 
created, from which the customer "checks out" by completing the form 
which is encrypted and emailed internally. Customers do not have to 
login to purchase, and no customer information is retained on the server 
at all.

The immediate task I want is to create a shopping cart, which allows a 
customer to add items to the cart and continue shopping, and then check 
out, get an order form with all the items included and complete one step 
for payment (instead of one per item). Again, no customer information is 
to be stored on the server, and no login to purchase is required.

We want to retain the current ordering system indefinitely (one form per 
item and immediate payment for each purchase). We want to provide the 
optional shopping cart system for those who choose that. Additionally, 
the shopping cart would allow us to handle non-unique items (parts, 
accessories, and such), which we currently handle entirely manually.

We do not want to perform credit card approval through the shopping cart 
for several reasons. So, the goal of the shopping cart is simply to 
aggregate multiple orders into a single order settlement. It does seem 
like a fairly simple task, however, none of the carts I've examined 
appear to handle this scenario.

To add complication, we have an auction site which needs a very similar 
solution. It is a closed source solution. To compound the issue, the 
number of web stores is due to proliferate twenty-fold in the near 
future to "boutiques" for each class of good. Some of those boutiques 
will sell non-unique items primarily. So, a single, simple shopping cart 
(for want of a better name) should work for all of these separate needs, 
and provide a consistent interface across all the sites. The last 
complication

My hypothetical interface was just a suggestion. Other methods would be 
fine.