OsCommerce www.oscommerce.com is an open source online e-commerce software solution that is available for free under the GNU General Public License. osCommerce was started in March 2000 in Germany by project founder and leader Herald Ponce de Leon. Every year the members of the community join forces in designing more add-on features to increase the feasibility and functionality in all areas of development. The new version 3.0 is planned to hit the market and it will have a template feature that will allow users to create a more unique layout for their site.
OsCommerce was designed with a rich set of out of the box online shopping cart functionality that allows store owners to setup, run, and maintain their online stores with minimum effort, and no costs, fees, or limitations involved. This software was designed for ease of install and usability for any online store owner from newbie to techno king.
Is this software compatible with your server?
OsCommerce can be used on any web server that has PHP and MySQL installed. Most of the web host providers have included this software for a general automatic install from your account control panel or within the Fantastico control panel, depending on which host provider you have gone with. If you do not have the automatic install capability, the osCommerce software is available from main site for downloading and installing manually.
You will need to know where to access your files, usually under the file manager option in your control panel, to FTP your extracted files into the correct folder. You can use this software as a standalone site, meaning you can choose to install in the root directory of your domain, and have the store as you main index; or you can choose to install in a sub directory as an add on, an example being http://www.yoursite.com/store.
Although the oscommerce is not the “ultimate” e-commerce solution, it is by no means “basic”; with the capabilities of customizing to meet the specific needs of ones own business.
Getting your store installed and online
For manual install
If you are downloading and installing the software manually you can obtain the download at http://www.oscommerce.com/solutions/downloads Save the folder to your desktop as you will not need to upload the entire thing for installation purposes. When it is finished, it is a zip folder, so you will need to unzip the folder. If you are using Windows XP you can just right click on the folder and choose the unzip option. Often times if you just double click the folder it will unzip as well.
Once you have extracted the files into a new folder on your desktop, open it up and take a look at it. You will be needing the folder named catalog to FTP to your server.
You will want to transfer/upload your extracted oscommerce folder from your desktop to your hosting account. You will need an FTP client in order to do this. An FTP client enables you to transfer large amounts of files quickly and directly into where you would like it to be on your hosting server without any long time manual hassles of uploading each file alone. I find Filezilla is quite an easy to use FTP client.
Once you have entered you host address, username, and password (all things that should have been in your welcome email when you signed up with your hosting account), the FTP client connects your computer directly to your server.
Depending on what hosting company you are with, your files might be listed under www. or public-html. Drag the oscommerce folder with your mouse to the left hand side and drop it in the folder on your right (shop)
Next you will need to create a MySQL database. You can find the icon in your control panel like the following picture below:
In order to create a new database all you need to do is enter the desired name for the database in the New Database field, then click the [Create Database] button. You will also have to create a username; this is so you will have access to the database. You should see the option underneath for name and password.
Then go to the next option and make sure you add the username to your database, and checking to make sure all privileges are given.
Next you will need to open a new browser and type in http://yourserver/catalog/install/ to get to the configurations. You will need to fill in the information for your database server (local host), username, and password, and the database name you created.
You may need to set permissions on /catalog/includes/configure.php to 777 from within your control panel if you find you are getting security warnings.
Finally you will need to set the following permissions to complete the install:
Installation Troubleshooting
Although there are often not many complications with install as long as permissions are set and the information for databases are correct, one error you may encounter is with the Stylesheet configuration.
Follow the instructions below to correct.
Stylesheet: All images are broken
If a page shows everything right except the graphics and formatting are missing then go to that page and change the link of your stylesheet in whatever file is not displaying correctly:
<LINK href=”../oscommerce/catalog/catalog/stylesheet.css” type=text/css rel=stylesheet>
All you have to do is find that line in and correct the path to point to your actual stylesheet.css.
<link rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” href=”stylesheet.css”>
If you find you are not clear on some of the configurations or settings, there is a complete easy to follow manual included in the osCommerce folder that you have just extracted to your desktop.
Installing Automatically from within your host server
If you are using a hosting server such as Go Daddy, Host Gator, or IX, you will most likely be working from a Linux based platform. This makes no difference in the general install of this software. You will be using the cPanel as your control panel.
You will be able to find the Fantastico icon at the bottom right (little blue smilie face).Once you click on the icon you will be taken to another control panel such as the following illustration.
You will need to click the menu on the left hand side about two-thirds of the way down to find the osCommerce link to add the install option. When you have arrived at this screen you will just click on the link for new installation which will pop up an installation screen. This will require 6.72 MB of disk space available on your server, which most people should not have a problem with.
This will bring you to the install page where you will need to enter your installation location, which if you only have one domain on your account will automatically be there for you to choose. You will need to choose which directory to install into. If you would just like your store to be your website then choosing to install in your root directory is the best choice, so you can leave this spot blank.
Next you need to choose an admin username and password. This will be needed for when you log into your oscommerce control panel for modifications and adding products.
Then you would need to choose your shop name, owner’s name(or company), company email you will be using when you send emails out to customers, It will ask for a SSL and hostname, you may need to find that out. Leave it as “No”; you can always change it later within the osCommerce control panel.
You then have to choose what options you would like for when the customer registers. The default is set to “No”, and I did not find the need to change it as it is mostly personal questions that do not apply for sales.
Once you have clicked on install the system will inform you of where it has installed the files, on what database, and provide you with a url address for access to your osCommerce control panel. Be sure to bookmark the url. You will need to go in there every day for your configurations.
There great thing about an automated install from these programs, is that if there is a problem installing, they will tell you where, and it is usually just a matter of chmod settings and permissions which can be set in your cPanel. I did not run into any install problems when I was installing. If for any reason you do run into a problem and have to delete your database, most hosting servers back up their databases every day, and you can contact them for support. Otherwise a reinstall, ensuring the directory is correct, and permissions are set, should resolve the issue.
Using your osCommerce control Panel to setup your store properties
When you log into your osCommerce control panel you should see a screen similar to this one:
There are many properties you can set up. This software allows you to add as many products and categories as you would like, with add/edit and remove options as needed. You can sell either physical products or downloadable items. You can contact your customers through email, and can create monthly newsletters to go out with product updates. It is easy to back up and restore your database. You can also print out the invoices and packaging slips when needing to send out the items. You can accept multiple currencies which will convert through the many gateway/payment processing services such as Paypal, 2Checkout, Authorize.net and more.
All customers receive access to their own personal account panel in which they can track their orders, view their history, add additional shipping or billing addresses, or check reviews of products.
When you are adding you products you can choose whether to display the quantity available, when stock is expected to be available again if out of stock, a list of best sellers and specials, and the latest added inventory.
The hardest part is probably setting the shipping options. You will need to set different variables if you plan to ship to more than one country, or else you will lose money. There are many options to use for zoning, countries, UPS, express mail, air mail, total on complete shipment, amount per item, and calculating shipment by weight.
This software is very easy to navigate and most of your customers will have no problems going from the products page to the checkout page for completion of their order.
The following is a screen shot of a typical order page:
Comparisons with other e-commerce software
Right from the ease of install to the many features this software provides, it is one of the best open source free software to use for small business. Similar products such as Zencart and CubeCart provide fewer options for shipping, inventory management, product attributes, newsletter and email options, or adding any add-ons such as adding an affiliate program.
Some problems may be found when trying to set up product attributes in osCommerce, although there are plug-ins that can be found and used to help with the process. For more add-ons such as themes and templates or extended shipping modules, visit http://addons.oscommerce.com/
I also found that configuring the setting for downloadable products was a much more difficult process than Cube Cart. There is a multiple step process within osCommerce to setup this feature, being first you have to add the product with description, picture and price in your inventory, specifying that it is a download, then you need to go into your product attributes section and fill out the information for the download. I found not all times, the configurations would be accepted and the product uploaded to the server. In Cube Cart it is done all on one page, with the ease and ability of only having to enter configurations in one section. The download section in Cube cart is a simple check box, and typing in the address to where you have uploaded your product on your server so the system will be able to automatically send it upon receipt of payment through Paypal.
Although the company is no longer supporting the v2.2 and PHP 4 due to the recent addition of the 3.0 and PHP 5, there is a great forum providing constant tips, tricks, solutions to changing PHP files when modifying different aspects, and more at the osComnerce main site located here http://forums.oscommerce.com/
Conclusion
If you would like to set up a store as a first time user, or if you are a small business who would like to keep your expenses to a minimum to provide more money for your marketing, this is the perfect solution to maintaining a professional, competitive online presence in the e-commerce society. Some configurations such as adding plug-ins, changing attributes, and modifying a logo, may be more complex for a new beginner who has no programming knowledge at all. In that case I suggest for a new business owner who would like to setup and run an ecommerce shop, the PHP based CubeCart software is the easiest to install, configure, and manipulate with no prior programming knowledge required, although add-ons, expansive template options, and extended features are not available.
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Melanie Bremner has been running an online business teaching software programs to new beginners for the last 6 years. She creates lesson plans with easy to follow instructions in which she teaches to her students in an online classroom for which anyone globally can participate. She is presently living in Toronto, Canada.
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Ecommerce solutions can prove beneficial for ones staying far and across the world and yet benefit from the wonderful offers on ready provision form a counter part on other side of the world. Another path breaking innovation of IT in collaboration with the World Wide Web. Facilitating reach to a ‘shopping fest’ from the comfort of one’s home!
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