osCommerce Online Merchant 2

osCommerce is open source, so has the benefit of being free and supported by an online community. Another great benefit of open-source products is the number of add-ons and plug-ins the community develops to enhance the product's features. osCommerce is no different, with more than 4,600 packages at the time of writing.

We talked to companies that have used osCommerce, and it became clear one of the problems is the number of packages: how do you choose? You also have to ask yourself how can you be sure that a particular combination will work together.

There's no route for a paid support service as there sometimes is with open-source products, so if you have problems with your shop you're reliant on the eagerness of the rest of the community to help.

Also bear in mind that while the product may be free, you'll still spend considerable time setting it up and applying your design, to say nothing of paying for hosting costs as well as purchasing your own SSL certificate. The initial cost of software is often only a small part of the cost of selling online.

When building a website that handles financial transactions any problems could cost you money. The osCommerce website claims there are over 13,000 shops online using this product, so we decided to have a look at some. While many worked well, several had broken pages with scripting errors. There's no substitute for thorough testing of your e-commerce solution. If a user has one bad experience with your site it's unlikely they'll come back.

We also heard that getting osCommerce to work with the UK's VAT laws can be tricky. If you're serious about e-commerce make sure you have the level of support that you need on the product you choose.

If you do pick osCommerce then you must be happy making coding changes and configuring servers.

Author: Mark Newton