The Search Has Begun
Hello again. The last week sure went by fast. I found my list hiding in a pile of papers. Of course, right where I left it. Once again, the search is under way that bright shiny new shopping cart. Remember, this search takes place on my lunch hour at my day job and a few evenings so it's kind of slow. Boy, do I know how to live. My co-workers are getting used to turned down lunch invites. I sit at my desk, eating my mesquite turkey wrap and yogurt and the home grown tomatoes I've been scoring from my buddy Dean. Money can't buy those you know. I pull out my list and go to shopping-cart-reviews.com and begin to mark carts off my list. So far, I haven't circled many. I find they don't figure tax by state, shipping or they have limits on products or categories. These are things that are important to me. Those options are easy to figure out and pretty easy to prioritize. It's the options for language and source code that have me a little befuddled. I feel like I'm a cave person being asked what options I would like on my new Ford Truck. Heck, I just recently found out about the wheel and now you want to know if I want my truck to run on gas, diesel, or would I rather have a hybrid?
Nonetheless, I feel the pressure to move forward even if I'm getting a little lost in the terminology. I'm hoping at some point I can figure out what ASP, PHP, and Cold Fusion (sounds like a refreshing drink to me) are and whether or not I need the source code. I know ASP and PHP are languages (or at least I think they might be) but I've got to figure out what they mean to me. Since I am not a programmer...yet, I feel like I'm relying a little too much on luck right now to get the right options. This makes me nervous.
As I read through the various reviews that some carts have, I notice that several of the reviewers have tried numerous carts before settling on the shopping cart of their dreams. This is scary. I don't like trading cars and I don't want to do the shopping cart hop either. I have about four thousand products I would like to sell on the web.... not an easy move if I decide I don't like one. I really don't want to spend the next two years trying out carts and changing carts. I hope this is not the norm.
Continuing on, I read that Practical Ecommerce will be presenting a "Shopping Cart Roundup" in the September issue. It might be worth the wait. Kerry says it should be available in late August....hmmmmm. This could be just what I've been waiting for... that and a winning lottery ticket.
In the meantime, I will forge ahead and make my own list. I can download and try a few. I'm sure this will be enough to keep me busy until the September issue hits my mailbox.
Till next time, Sandy
