OsCommerce Web Hosting

OsCommerce Web Hosting

osCommerce is an open source; eCommerce and online store management software program. It can run on any web server that has PHP and MySQL installed. It is available under the GNU General Public License and comes free of cost. This application offers an ideal online shop e-commerce solution and comes loaded with rich features and functionalities. It coherently facilitates the entire process of setting up, running and maintaining online stores with least effort sans the regular limitations, costs or other charges.

osCommerce is being widely used worldwide; with over 150,800 store owners and developers utilizing the software and add-ons are being contributed on a daily basis. There are over 4,200 add-ons available thus far; which have been created by the community thereby enhancing the functionality and features of this highly utilizable application. osCommerce combines Open Source solutions to provide a free and open e-commerce platform, which includes the powerful PHP web scripting language and the fast MySQL database server. It can smoothly operate on any PHP 4.1+ enabled web server running on Linux, Solaris, BSD, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows environments.
osCommerce first started in March 2000; in Germany by project founder and leader Harald Ponce de Leon as The Exchange Project.
Currently; over 12,666 registered live shops world wide; are availing its benefits. The osCommerce Online Merchant is an all-inclusive online store solution that comprises of both a catalog front-end and an administration tool backend which can be easily installed and configured over a web-based installation procedure. It offers a basic set of functionality that meets the common needs of all online businesses. The application can be modified and augmented as well as customized to meet the specific needs of any business.
The software is still in the evolution process; but its Milestone releases are considered to be stable and highly reliable. Its key features comprise of:
General Functionality:

• Compatible with all PHP 4 versions
• All features enabled by default for a complete out-of-the-box solution
• Object oriented backend (MS3)
• Completely multilingual with English, German, and Spanish provided by default

Setup and Installation:

• Automatic web-browser based installation and upgrade procedure

Design/Layout:

• Template structure implementation to; allow layout changes to be adaptive, easy, and quickly to make (MS3) and allow easy integration into an existing site (MS3)
• Support for dynamic images

Administration and backend functionality:

• Supports unlimited products and categories; Products-to-categories structure and Categories-to-categories structure.
• Add/Edit/Remove categories, products, manufacturers, customers, and reviews
• Support for physical (shippable) and virtual (downloadable) products
• Administration area secured with a username and password defined during installation (MS3)
• Ability to contact customers directly via email or newsletters
• Easily backup and restore the database
• Print invoices and packaging lists from the order screen
• Statistics for products and customers
• Multilingual support
• Multi currency support (Automatically update currency exchange rates).
• Select what to display, and in what order, in the product listing page
• Support for static and dynamic banners with full statistics

Customer/Front-end Functionality:

• All orders stored in the database for fast and efficient retrieval
• Customers can view their order history and order statuses
• Customers can maintain their accounts
• Temporary shopping cart for guests and permanent shopping cart for customers
• Fast and friendly quick search and advanced search features
• Product reviews for an interactive shopping experience
• Foreseen checkout procedure
• Secure transactions with SSL
• Number of products in each category can be shown or hidden
• Global and per-category bestseller lists
• Display what other customers have ordered with the current product shown
• Breadcrumb trail for easy site navigation
• Address book for multiple shipping and billing addresses

Product Functionality:

• Dynamic product attributes relationship
• HTML based product descriptions
• Automated display of specials
• Control if out of stock products can still be shown and are available for purchase
• Customers can subscribe to products to receive related emails/newsletters

Payment Functionality:

• Accept numerous offline payment processing (cheque, money orders, offline credit care processing)
• Accept numerous online payment processing (2CheckOut, PayPal, Authorize.net, iPayment).
• Disable certain payment services based on a zone basis.

Shipping Functionality:

• Weight, price, and destination based shipping modules
• Real-time quotes available (UPS, USPS, FedEx…)
• Free shipping based on amount and destination
• Disable certain shipping services based on a zone basis

Tax Functionality:

• Flexible tax implementation on a state and country basis
• Set different tax rates for different products
• Charge tax on shipping on a per shipping service basis

The osCommerce website features a knowledgebase section which contains all relevant and informative documents; for everyone from store owners to developers to educate themselves further, and effectively address issues such as installation on local and remote / hosted servers, configuration and administration guides, and general tutorials, frequently asked questions, help, tips, tricks, and how-to guides. Since the software is open source; it gives its users the flexibility and option of using the software, learning the software and joining, sharing and actively participating in the online community to further enhance the product’s functionality and utility. Contributions are provided by the community which is in the form of project add-ons, feature updates, language packs, and extended modules. All the contributed work is available under the GNU General Public License or compatible license.