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Confessions of a CubeCart Junkie


kinetic

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HI! My Name is Kinetic.. and Im a CubeCart Junkie

(Hi Kinetic!)

A little about me

Im a web developer I build CubeCart based web sites for my e-commerce clients I also build brochure type sites for my non e-commerce clients I live in Florida with my GF and her 3 kids Im into drumming, Sci Fi and playing on my PS3 Ive been using CubeCart since the old days when it was called e-Store back when there was no Devillion and Alistair preferred to be called brooky. My member number is 482 Ive been around that long I own 8 v4 licenses, 13 Copyright removal keys and have built 16 stores using cubecart and my support wont run out till June 11 2010. The reason I have stayed is for a couple of reasons.

Why I love CubeCart

1) CubeCart is flexible.

It allows us to modify and add to its core functionality. every store is different and has different needs or features with allof them requiring the the same basic functions like customer registration, checkout routines etc. I have built several sites that have taken CubeCart into uncharted territories from a Construction Education Site where they sell their classes, to a site that sells event tickets to their yearly Christmas Gala and alot of different things in between.

2) CubeCart is EASY to skin.

It allows me as a designer to create eye catching skins that are unique for each of my clients. I dont sell pre made "colorized" versions of the stock skins as I feel this is a slap in the face to any store. Each store should have a unique brand and or identity and a pre made skin that others maybe hundreds are using as well is a sure fire way to make your site fade into the background. Each site I do using CubeCart I usually start with the classic skin as it is the most close to being XHTML compliant out of the box and each site i do has a custom, unique, beautiful identity.

3) CubeCart is easy on site owners to learn

An e-commerce system is useless if the site owner cant take care of its customers and fulfill orders easily. CubeCart allows my site owners (with guidance from me) to manage, maintain, edit, update their site and products easily if you follow the format of each of the sites forms CubeCart is really set up on the admin side very well not like some carts like OS Commerce where the admin is set up so that you need a PHd in OS commerce to understand what is where and how the heck do you use it. each section in the Admin CP is well thought out and each section will help you thru what needs to be done. So that when you do get an order it is easy to make sure your customers are taken care of and in this day and age Customer support is all there really is to distinguish yourself from all the other sites out there.

4)E-commerce s NOT for the weak nor the timid or the broke

The old saying is true "It takes money to make money" Doing e-commerce shouldnt be taken lightly care in choosing a web developer or designer should be done get to know them ask to see past sites contact the site owenrs to see if the designer or developer treated them right. You wouldnt allow just ayone to come in and build you a bathroom addition toyour house nor would you build it yourself unless you knew exactly what you were doing would you? Same with building an online store. 95% of online retailers fail within 6 months of the 5% that make it past the first 6 months only 2 percent make it.... Why do so many fail? Plain and simple they didnt do their homework... They didnt get a good designer, they didnt take the extra step to get a solid host but ran with a cheapo host, they didnt get a real SSL Certificate and use a shared one, they dont get a real merchant provider like Authnet or linkpoint to take credit cards and rely only on paypal and or google checkout. Now dont get me wrong Paypal is great so is google checkout and offering them as choices at check out is one of the reasons I love CubeCart , its ability to offer multiple check out options. But without a real gateway provider like authnet or linkpoint and your site under SSL most people wont buy from you. Why? because either they hate paypal, dont want to sign up for google or believe you are not serious because you dont offer a real gateway that keeps them on your site.

CubeCart is a wonderful system. It is always evolving. It has a solid team of knowledgeable developers behind it always improving it. They provide EXCELLENT support. And offer not 1 but 2 different communities for getting help thru a forum environment. If you are new to CubeCart or even if you have been around for awhile not making use of their support system if you have a paid license for v4 or not READING thru the forums is only going to get you into trouble...

Ive been around this long because CubeCart offered me a chance to learn what really makes a good e-commerce system and all of my clients have been very satisfied with their results from using CubeCart

heck its even how I got started learning php and MySql by looking at their code and figuring out how to make it work the way I needed it to.

Sure CubeCart has bugs sure it has flaws but its bugs and flaws are easy to catch and fix and its development team works hard to fix them when WE report them

and every server we put CubeCart on will always bring up things that were never accounted for or never even dreamt of happening and Devellion is quick to ensure that CubeCart works on as many server types that are available.

Im proud to be a CubeCart designer and developer and it has made sure my family keeps a roof over our head by allowing me to create beautiful skins, mod and extend it code for better functionality and new features and allows me to help my clients get a grip on what it REALLY means to sell your goods or services online.

Im a web developer and I love CubeCart and Im proud to say it!

Kinetic :on2long:

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WOW!! :)

I am a CubeCart developer and I luv Kinetic.

Seriously... thanks for such a brilliantly motivating, honest and genuine post. People might think we have paid you to write it! :) I know that even though CubeCart is continually growing we will never forget our roots and take for granted those who have supported us and stayed with us over the past years.

Cheers to an exciting and prosperous 2009 for us all.

Thanks again Kinetic you have really made us feel proud and smile today.

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I couldn't agree more with Kinetic. I found CubeCart whilst looking for a needle in a haystack... a skinning system that I could customise exactly how I wanted without having to hunt for snippets of HTML amongst a plethora of PHP coded files.

Bingo.... CubeCart ahoy! My interest grew further when I was warmly received by those regulars answering my early questions, and found this cart system to be the ideal package for my 'less than IT savvy' clients to get to grips with. CubeCart gave the essentials in an easy to understand administration system, and enhancements can be made by investing in addons to make it exactly how my clients wanted it. Absolutely Perfect :)

Go CubeCart! Go Devellion! Keep up the good work :)

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Great posts guys and I totally agree! I use nothing but cubecart on all 12 of my stores and love it. Of course it has made me learn more about php than I ever had planned too (not enough yet, but still working on it!), but thats not a bad thing! The ease of skinning and adding mods are my favorite aspects of cubecart - makes it easy to make each store unique. I always recommend cubecart.

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Guest Brivtech

I have it on good authority that The Alan Parsons Project's official website uses CubeCart for its online sales! :) Thinking of getting their re-mastered compilation album one of these days.

I have to agree with Mysty - My knowledge of php has significantly improved enough that I'm now writing my own applications rather than paying for someone else to do the work. I've gone from web designer to web developer in the space of 2 years. In fact, CubeCart has proven so easy to work with, that I have an enterprise system running with about 90% of the files modified, where the cubecart core now accounts for about 70% of the overall code. I've found that helping set customers up with a customised system is far more productive than simply offering them a standard system and letting them get on with it.

I came here a lot later than Kinetic, when CubeCart 2 was still in it's glory days, and CC3 had just been launched! I'm rapidly catching up, winning more and more new customer contracts, and the important thing is that my customers are happy using a CubeCart-based system, and their business is ongoing as I continually upgrade their stores as and when needed. I've seen people come and go, some circumstances defy belief, others impatient or bad tempered.

Although I got rid of the coder I was useing (This was probably about 2½ years ago or so), I'm starting to get busy with web work, that I'm soon going to have to take on a graphics designer to knock out skins and a coder to help with some of the projects I have. Could I have got this far without CubeCart? It is possible, but I doubt it - I worked with many different eCommerce systems over the past 8 years, and none have been so flexible as far as customisation goes - This is one of the main strengths of CubeCart.

A long time before CubeCart, I was involved with the development of Cossax Webshop many eons ago through one of their financial backers. When completed, the project was sold off to an Israeli company, who started increasing the software price, becoming unaffordable for small customers, and putting too many limitations on the number of products available, etc. in the process. Interestingly, while their website is still running, their clients list has disappeared, and they have removed the purchase links. There have been a lot of systems that have come and gone over the years, some that are still going strong, and then there's CubeCart - Going strong, with a bright outlook to the future.

My only message to the developers is don't price yourselves out of the market in the future, and pay attention to the small details - You'll carry on going from strength to strength, and Porshes will be commonplace in the Devellion parking lot all in good time! Al, I see you in a Maserati one day! :)

One of the reasons I'm happy to moderate these forums is I feel it's giving something back to the community that has helped me in the past and still from time to times does so. Being here about 3 years now, my thanks go to everyone who contributes to these forums, and of course Al, and his development team. I'm very much looking forward for some of the new features from the development blog to start coming through into release form.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest degsey69

I have it on good authority that The Alan Parsons Project's official website uses CubeCart for its online sales!

Hate to disapoint you but their store is not cubecart, unless I am missing something here. Lets put it this way is not V3 or V4.

Degsey

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