ECommerce options, shopping carts, etc.

[devenh]

I am trying to determine the easiest way to implement a shopping cart with EE 1.5.

I would like a customer to be able to view a photo, click a "buy print" button, and then be given a choice of print sizes, paper types, and crop options. For a given image, they should be able to to pick multiple sizes, paper types, etc. For example, for image 9999 they might want 6 5x7's and 2 8x10's. Quantity discounts would be available when ordering multiple copies of the same image. The system would handle credit card payments.

The existing EE commerce options seem to be pretty limited based on my testing (let me know if I'm wrong on this).

My options seem to be (feel free to add alternatives):

1. Add to EE by writing additional php/mysql code

2. Use an existing shopping cart app (or write a custom one) running on my server

3. Use a shopping cart provided by PayPal or other credit card processing service (e.g. www.mypaysystems.com)

Has anyone faced this issue and how did you proceed?

Are there any near term enhancements planned to EE that would address any of these requirements? If not, would anyone want to pool resoucres and implement such a system?

Now, if I could jump to a specific technical question: Can the current "buy print" button that is displayed when the EE commerce options are enabled be customized and, if so, can it contain a session id so that as a customer browses and adds to their cart that their selections are kept seperate from another customer shopping at the same time?

Deven

[Pekka]

I am trying to determine the easiest way to implement a shopping cart with EE 1.5.

I would like a customer to be able to view a photo, click a "buy print" button, and then be given a choice of print sizes, paper types, and crop options. For a given image, they should be able to to pick multiple sizes, paper types, etc. For example, for image 9999 they might want 6 5x7's and 2 8x10's. Quantity discounts would be available when ordering multiple copies of the same image. The system would handle credit card payments.

The existing EE commerce options seem to be pretty limited based on my testing (let me know if I'm wrong on this).

Example: http://photography-on-the.net/gallery/order.php?photo=1&u=476-164-digital

Select Paypal cart. From now on you set up print size and paper quality and add it to Paypal cart. By clicking Add to cart you move from EE to Paypal cart system - EE commerce passes all the data to that cart system (i.e order number). Paypal Cart remembers its contents by cookies.

If you go again to http://photography-on-the.net/gallery/order.php?photo=1&u=476-164-digital and select Shutterfly cart and then click "add to cart" EE will pass the thumb and info on print size image into Shutterfly and you can keep on processing your order there.

This is how EE Commerce works now. You can set it up to use any form-based data feeding system. As www.mypaysystems.com (looks interesting btw) has also form based input to their payment system it is possible to make EE commerce template for them, too.

Are there any near term enhancements planned to EE that would address any of these requirements? If not, would anyone want to pool resoucres and implement such a system?

Yes, right after 1.5 is final I will start doing
- lightbox and it's integration to EE commerce
- authorization system for direct file retrieval, with extensive logging and usage reporting (this is for media image buyers).
- and anything else which might be needed to make selling photos easier.

Now, if I could jump to a specific technical question: Can the current "buy print" button that is displayed when the EE commerce options are enabled be customized and, if so, can it contain a session id so that as a customer browses and adds to their cart that their selections are kept seperate from another customer shopping at the same time?

Selections are now separate - each user clicking the same order button opens personal EE commerce page - they do not share info. When I'll add lightbox feature, then a session id (actually I'll use more robust id system) will be used to identify user.