Suggestions What CC needs to be better

[Guest cntgifts]

i think theres one real big thing wrong with CC dont get me wrong i love it and the support here is the greatest and ive been with osc and zencart and i know trying to get an answer there is like trying to find a needle in a hay stack

anyways to CCs problem

MODS

theres 2 many people running there own mod stores there for all the good mods dont get released for free you gotta pay for them.

i realize its work but for alot of you guys i bet can sit down and code something in an hour or so

probably made it for your own site why not release it to the public and ask for donations to support you and your great work i am sure people would be willing to donate

Yeah if the mod is huge with like a ton of file edits yeah charge for it

you can make money that way make money isntalling mods for people

Ill probably get hated on for this but im sorry its how i feel and i think Cubecart would be way better off with my if this was done

[Guest tbladecki]

cntgifts.....

I am in agreement with you (for the most part) there are a lot of good MODS out there and it would seem as though pepole should be more willing to give them out for free, to make CC the only shopping cart that is worth installing. If we currently having 1/2 mil plus users getting CC out to even more users and potentinal porgrammers and devlopers should be the goal for everyone, or at least IMHO.

On the other hand, I am also in agreement with the programmers that do charge a modest fee for thier work. I am in the process of learning how to program and while I am doing it for my own benefits, I would love to be able to create MODs for all the users of CC out there. But through learning how to, and working on it over the past few weeks, I understand that some of the MOD require a tremendous amount of work and time away from family, or at least for me. I also think that by paying for some of them I can save myself a lot of time and energy if somone already has written what I need:)

I would like to wrap up by saying that there has to be a happy medium and we just need to figure out what that is.. I think that any MOD that would be classified as a MAJOR or extremly complicated (2-3 Hours) of programming should be paid for, as for minor, or small MODs, giving them out should not cause to many problems... as far as donations any one that works on any part of making somones life a little less complicated deserves a little token of appreciation. I say this with guilt has I have not registered my copy of CC yet but I can not, until have completly tested and confirmed that it is going to work.... at this time I do believe that is the product that I need, althought I need to do a little work I can not beat the price and all the work that everyone puts in to this product.

For all of those who work on MODs or core coding and programming,....THANK YOU and I hope that CC hits the 1 mil mark soon, the more people that we have using it the better it will become!!!!!

Just my 2 cents

[Guest]

I do agree with you CNTgifts. And for nearly a year, all the mods I made were free. But it took a *lot* of my time and I just can't afford to do that for donations anymore. So I set up a website where all of my mods can be purchased. Some are still free, and most are very cheap, but a few of the major ones, I charge a larger price for as they are indeed very major mods that took a *long* time to code.

I also agree that there are too many mod stores out there, which is why I created the One-Stop Mod Shop, where anybody with a mod can get it listed ANd several modders do in fact have there mods and designs listed there already :lol:

[Guest]

Hmm one question I have for you cntgifts

i realize its work but for alot of you guys i bet can sit down and code something in an hour or so

An hours work is an hours work, would you come round my house tomorrow and spend an hour doing my ironing (for nothing).

Most of the hacks are free

small mods are like $5/$10

Contact a web design company and get some quotes in the uk they charge £25/hour (roughly $50) so i think its a fair price.

There are a lot of mod shops agreed but then some have been around more than others and no offence meant but i know who I trust for mods/design work.

The download section has over 100 free mods for v2 and the ones for v3 are increasing but then its new and we are still making them.

And yes bookers site is da bomb an excellent idea and im on it!

my 2 cents

[roban]

It's not a question of doing something free for one or two people. It becomes 5, 10, 15, 20 and alot of time and time is money. I don't agree that people would donate when they can get something for free. BTW look at all the people who post snippets of code here for others to move search boxes and change the color of this or that. There is a ton of stuff that gets handed down for nothing and that's the nature of open source. I know, I know CC is NOT open source but it gets developed similarly. If I take the time to learn how to do something and develop a scheme for doing it and it benefits others, then why shouldn't I get remunerated for it, especially if it helps you to make money.

[Guest EverythingWeb]

I think Roban has hit the nail on the head in his last sentence:

especially if it helps you to make money.

There really is nothing more to add to that. 95% of CubeCart stores out there will be setup to sell a product or service. And 9 times out of 10, a shop selling something is making money (else it wouldn't be in business, right?).

Is it really an issue to pay for something which will help YOU make MORE money? Thats the reason people modify their stores - they want to attract more custom, sell more products, make it easier to sell....all these lead to increased sales and increased profit.

The other part of modifications which no-one has mentioned here, is the support element. A lot of people using mods will require some form of support - something not quite working right, and it is usually the mod developer who has to answer these questions, when invariably they have their own business/house/family to attend to.

Take Brooky for instance - he works full time on this project - with the license fees to cover his cost of living plus running the project (servers, etc). Everyone in theory could use CubeCart unlicensed - but then what would happen to development?

I think it is more than fair to pay not only for the software itself, but also for modifications which someone else has spent the time developing.

(Please don't see this as a attack - in fact cntgifts, you have opened a very interesting debate, and for that I congratulate you!)

[Guest hobbyofkings]

I see it as being like shop fitting. My store is online but all the normal considerations apply. You want good location so you get a good domain name and try to up your search rankings...

If you want your shop to look like it has been 'painted and fitted' by a couple of community service types then you get a mediocre job. If you want your shop to shine / be characterful and functional then you get a professional. What does professional mean by definition? - A person who gets paid sounds familiar.

I am more than happy to pay for notable adjustments to my store. I don't think it is unreasonable. My store has a 'rent' of $60 a year, my shop fitting will probably end up costing me $500 or so, thats fine, that the way it should be. In the real world I'd be paying that for bookshelves and carpet and cleaning and windows and displays and signs ..........

Big thanks to all the people who are doing Mods. The other thing to say about it is that by paying the modder you get exactly what you want, taking account of your existing modifications ect... Much easier.

Just my Opinion

[Guest zman]

Don't take this wrong but I find it "funny" how you complain about TOO MANY mod stores. If there were NONE people would complain that nobody makes mods for CubeCart and would go elsewhere. I happen to LIKE a lot of different mod stores and a lot of different choices. I have purchased mods from I believe 4 or 5 different mod stores. Why? Because not one had all that I wanted

Since guys running mod stores are independent (expect booker with his mod store which has multiple modders) one can't expect to be able to get all mods in one location and therefore there will be several different mod stores out there each having mods which perform different functions.

I have noticed that some of the modders do seem to charge considerably more than others. It would be "nice" if they were cheaper but they're not so if you want it you pay for it I personally think some of the modders who charge a bit more than some of the others might be better off if they lower their price and work instead on selling their mods in a greater volume instead of just one here and there. That typically works better because in this case, the work is already done, it's a digital download which generally requires no additional "effort/work" on the part of the modder, and by having more people buy their mods (by having them cheaper) they get more exposure and thus sell even more of their mods! In the end they make more $$$ by selling their mods cheaper. That's the way I look at it anyway

But, should they give away their mods? No way. These things take time and people just don't work for free and shouldn't. Many of the modders here donate their time to the community by answering questions (that others probably can't answer I'll point out ) in the forums. Their payback is selling a mod on their site for $5 or $10 or whatever. I'm cool with that! I think most the modders here have very good pricing on their mods and, using booker as an example, I think his mods are priced like what I'm talking about above with volume vs one here and there as most of his mods are very reasonable. I have purchased more expensive mods elsewhere that weren't available on booker's site. The mod was $25 and had a few different bugs. I fixed a couple myself and still waiting on the fix for about a month now for the bigger bug. That's a bit frustrating to pay that much and have it not work correctly and still not have it working correctly but oh well

I think I know where your thoughts are coming from though as there is a much larger amount of mods which require payment for this php "project" than with others. However, if you think of it, this php project called CubeCart lends itself very easily to being able to SELL the mods very easily because that's what this php program does! I've dealt with several different php programs... picture type programs, cms programs, bulletin boards, etc. In those programs the huge majority of mods are FREE. The only time you pay is if you want something very custom. With CubeCart, a good portion of the mods you have to pay for. However, with that being said, if a simple cart is integrated with say PostNuke, I bet a large number of the free hacks out there will show up in the PostNuke cart as pay mods So, I don't think the people/community at CubeCart are that much different than the others, it's just much easier to be able to sell the mods and that, in my opinion, is why more mods require purchase here than at some of the other php programs out there.

I also think the custom work done by some of the guys here is way more than reasonable! I had booker do a modification to one of his mods for me and it is GREAT. However, I know for a fact he lost money on me because we spent A LOT of time troubleshooting this one. LOL! However, I think it is just a short term "loss" because once he puts it up on his site I think several will find it valuable.

[Guest cntgifts]

just saying thats the difference between cc and other look at osc theres big free mods getting released there every single day but t oget somethign zen and osc have for free you gotta pay for it here

[Guest EverythingWeb]

Thats because the likes of osC & Zen are true Open Source pieces of software - CubeCart, simply put - is not.

There are ones out there that are closed source and hence development and features rely on the respective company to develop and progress, whereas here the modders can code something which may later get released as part of the base code.

With the likes of open-source software, you may not get updates for months (osC) and you will also get software which is about as hard to skin as serving coffee from a chocolate teapot!

CubeCart has many advantages over open-source such as osC (*in my eyes*) but your opinion is your opinion which you are quite entitled to - and you shouldn't get shot down for it.

However, please do understand that comparing osC to CubeCart is quite a minefield in terms of the feature list, and support available.

At the end of the day, if you want to maximise your stores profits by not investing $69 in the license fee, and the odd $5 mod, then that is purely your choice. Personally I would pay a lot more for the license - even if it were just to see continued development. At the end of the day, we aren't just lining the pockets of the developers, but we are paying for continued development, which means future releases every few weeks, which in turn means more features, which ultimately all leads to more money for the store owner - us guys.

This is quite an interesting debate - those members with red lines underneath their names are more likely to be biased towards CubeCart - I know for one I am - but I have very valid reasons for being so.

Btw, have you noticed how 99% of osC shops you see look almost identical? Thats because its a PITA to re-skin. CubeCart makes skinning an absolute breaze. Maybe some mods aren't yet available for CubeCart, I'm not denying that, and maybe some you will have to pay for - but my suggestion is stick with it - it will grow and expand. Its very early days yet.

Hope this view from a very happy CubeCart user goes part way to understanding our commitment to CubeCart, and in turn, theirs to the communities.

PS: Here is the link if you fancy helping support the development. Believe me, you won't (or shouldn't) feel disgruntled.

http://www.cubecart.com/site/purchase/

[Guest cntgifts]

believe me id be glad to pay for the license if i had the extra $69 cuz its well worth it like i said the support here is bar noen above the others.

As of right now i am just getting my store up and am not making any money with it whatso ever and am kinda financially drained right now as i recently lost my full time job due to back problems..

im not hating on cube cart if i was i would not be here i was on osc and got sick of the support there weeks with no replies so here i am

Cube cart is hands down the best shopping cart i have come acrossed

[Guest sunshine]

I'm pretty new here and have been checked around for mods. Yes, there are a number of them I know CC3.2 is rather new and Brooky is soon to be coming out with 3.3 so I thought I'd wait until he releases it. The prices I found were reasonable to me, particulary because I'm newly deviating from html. My only request is, if anyone happens to do any new skins or style sheets, it would be nice to have an option of not so masculine looking ones What I mean is CC also has lady members or a target market geared more for the female.

And not to deviate from topic but since I'm giving my 2cents, it would be nice if Brooky or whoever is in charge here, could create a category of CC stores for easier viewing and find. There's pages and pages of stores! This would make it easier for members to purchase and support from other member.

peace

[Guest hobbyofkings]

CubeCart stores listing

But I agree it is not obvious in its location, a more prominent link could be in order

[Guest EverythingWeb]

hobbyofkings,

I think sunshine meant a list of Mod-Shops, not live shops (well, thats how I read it).

You're quite right sunshine, there isn't a list of paid-for mods. There is a list of free ones, but they may not be everything that you need.

cntgifts - good luck with getting your store up & running. I hope that you get it up as best you can, start making money and then want to pay the license fee - I'm pretty sure you will. :)

[Guest]

Basically, its all about supply and demand.

If the demand is there, the mods will (evenually, I am sure) get written. if a mod is too expensive, say so. you may not appreciate the amount of time and effort the developer has put in and I am sure they will explain. if there is enough demand, another modder may develop their own version of a mod.

In the case of mods being too expensive, its hard to tell but some of my FREE mods were easily over 10 hours in development/testing. (you have to allow for testing).

I have seen mod bundles for sale by some modders which save a lot on the individual prices. obviously, these are all from the same modder. maybe someone wants to approach several modders and produce mega mod bundles where each modder gets a slice?... :)

[Guest Mini]

You have to be prepared to spend money in order to make money.

[Guest]

I am going to add my 2 cents here on this matter.

1. yes people look at OSC for many many things 1 its free ( cubecart is some what free ) and there mods to OSC are free.. BUT you get what you pay for. has anyone tryed to get support for OSC or the mods you get from OSC.. you really dont get much support at all.

2. I made free cube cart mods to try and help boost the mods for cubecart.

I stoped making mods due to not very many people thanked me or supported my free mods all they did was cry about them and wented me to mod my mods to do what they wented or people e-mailed me to make them a free mod but never sent me a thank you letter or any type of support for that matter.. I recall this one site I did took me 3 days to do I installed there store. made the mods for it and installed them. made them a back up of the store so all they had to do was reinstall the store if they crashed it.. and all I got was a week later the guy asked me to go it again for free cuse he crashed it and lost his backup copy.

So there for I feel if you dont even like the free stuff and have to complain about fine go buy the pay mods and see if the mod store will support all your added needs for free..

Remember the free modders out there have a life too they go to work, run a busniess, Have kids, and do more then just sit here for hours making a mod and testing it for free. and when they do make them for free please support them..

You may not like what i said but hey its the facts of life people.

AFKsky

[Guest megagente]

yes, you are right. These stuff is free, so people must expect not to get all for free on a blink of an eye without paying. For example I need a minimum amount to buy mod for my 3.0.2 store, but I was not able to modify the database yet, due to some technical problems here. If no help appears I will try to make the changes myself, pay for help, or go this way.

[Guest]

due to some technical problems here. If no help appears I will try to make the changes myself, pay for help, or go this way.

is the problem with your web host?

[Guest sunshine]

I think it would be beneficial if there was a "Mod Stores" area where all mods can be found; Bonus Freebies and opportunities to purchase. A centralized area for CC cart users to look. i know when I try googling, alot of other unrelated sites come up and I think this is because Modders name it differently.

Another suggestion is to create a centralized area for CC Cart Stores with basic categories such as Electronics, Design, Home, etc... Right now when you click through the tons of pages, it's purely random searching. Of course cycle the featured stores.

[Guest]

There used to be a third-party-sites area to cubecart, where mod stores were listed. With the update of the site, that section was removed and has yet to be implemented again. After that, I tried creating a shop that could host everybodies mods, to create a single place where cubecart users could shop for mods (link in sig). For the main part, this has worked. But there are still modders out there who want to go it for themselves.

[Guest sunshine]

Hi Booker,

I just visited both of your sites and happy to see you have a good deal to offer. I'm sure I'll be purchasing from you. Do you use Dreamweaver? I just purchased the Studio 8. Tried tp play around with it but it's been so long that I'm lost. BTW would you happen to know when the 3.3 is going to be released? As in near future?

[Guest]

I use dreamweaver for all my designs,coding and mods and use mx at the moment i got the email yesterday about studi0 8 what do u think would you recommend it?

v3.0.3 soon according to brooky

[Guest]

Nope - no Dreamweaver for me..

I use a nice, simple text editor to do all my mods... And I use photoshop for image manipulation.

[Guest sunshine]

I was using Photoshop 7 until now. As for Studio 8, Fireworks is very much comparable to Photoshop. Dreaweaver presents very clean and orderly. very well-packed program. Actually, the Studio is quite complete. Cleans html a breeze. They advertise the same for CSS but i've got no clue on that yet. There's tons for me to learn because I haven't touched it since my GD college days at MassArt but better to learn now and be better later.

Amazon offers Dreamweaver upgrades for less than $200 and a full Studio Upgrade for under $400. I see the Studio as a better deal for the long run because all the programs are designed to integrate and compliment well. Thus far, I'm quite impressed and happy with my purchase. BTW you can upgrade to the Studio so long as you have any Macro product.

Would I recommend it? Well, with the forward movement of web language and the need to streamline both the language and the ability to present; I would say this suites at the top of the list for ensuring those needs are met. :cry: