Software shopping

[shaun]

Hey ya'll - I am software shopping for the next few days, and I appreciate any input any of you might have.

First on the list is a shopping cart. I know NADA about this technology, but we are wasting our time taking credit card orders via phone and <*gasp*> email. We have nearly 200 movie titles, so this needs to be a realtively powerful item, AND needs to be able to be handled by seriously non technical types.

Number two on the list is a good bulk emailer. Not for spamming, but for newsletters. Right now, I am looking at emill, broadcast, and arial. I am a tech type, so complexity isn't important - but good can-spam legal features are vital - easy database operations, good merge funtionality, and integrated db scrubbing of unsubscribes and bounces are important to me.

Finally - ok, we are going VOD with our movies in 2006. What I know about VOD could fit on the head of a pin. Remember, please, what I have said about non-tech types needing to run it. Did I mention 200 movies? I did. Did I mention that this needs to be simple enough for folks who like using AOL? (No, they are NOT silly-heads, they are film-makers, and quite good at it!)

Thanks all!

Shaun

[DEVELISH]

Shopping Cart / Online Shop: http://www.oscommerce.com/

DEV.

[Lee]

First on the list is a shopping cart. I know NADA about this technology, but we are wasting our time taking credit card orders via phone and <*gasp*> email. We have nearly 200 movie titles, so this needs to be a realtively powerful item, AND needs to be able to be handled by seriously non technical types.

As Develish mentioned, OSCommerce is a good script and, as an added bonus, its free

There is also a script called WebmasterCart that is a paid script we have been using for the last few months on http://www.rainbowcontent.com however, i would say, if you intend to take credit cards online, you should, if you dont already have one, consider getting a merchant account, you can email mitch @ netbilling.com and he'll be able to hook you up with all the info you will need for that

Number two on the list is a good bulk emailer. Not for spamming, but for newsletters. Right now, I am looking at emill, broadcast, and arial. I am a tech type, so complexity isn't important - but good can-spam legal features are vital - easy database operations, good merge funtionality, and integrated db scrubbing of unsubscribes and bounces are important to me.

We use a script called SubscribeMePro, youll have to use Google for the URL to the site though (sorry) i beleive it cost us around $50 or so and, its a very good script

Finally - ok, we are going VOD with our movies in 2006. What I know about VOD could fit on the head of a pin. Remember, please, what I have said about non-tech types needing to run it. Did I mention 200 movies? I did. Did I mention that this needs to be simple enough for folks who like using AOL? (No, they are NOT silly-heads, they are film-makers, and quite good at it!)

For the VOD stuff, i highly recommend you check out the scripts at http://www.3xscripts.com (or it could be http://www.x3scripts.com i can never remember which is the right url LOL) from what i recall, they have a PPV / VOD script available.

Hope that helps

Regards,

Lee

[Chilihost]

oscommerce is a good script but it is hard for non-technical people to set up. webmastercart seems to be an easier option, so do zendcart and x-cart.

if you are really non-technical, I would suggest hiring someone with experience setting these up as sometimes even the simplest things (like setting up shipping depending on where the order is coming from) are really hard to do.

good luck!

cheers,
Luke