I understand, Jo Ann. I own quite a bit of your software and I'm very pleased with it. I was even an afilliate for your FlashStarter software which did pretty well back in the day.

Sadly, this one, as it stands now (you never know the future) just won't suit our client's needs. I'm done posting on the subject.

Good luck Patrick on whatever cart you end up using, I'm sure you'll find one with all the bells and whistles that will do the trick nicely

I don't agree Patrick.
I get very few if any emails from CC. I purchased what I have from CC because I went to their site knowing that they carry what I want and I bought it. Not because they bombarded me with junk email. As a consumer (not a businessman) I HATE junk emails and junk mail I get through the USPS (and that is a ton!) . I throw it all away and never read it. I will bet you 95% of the public is the same. Don't even get me started on telemarketers.

I run my business as if I were the customer. What would I want? And how would I like to be treated? Do I want to get a bunch of emails about new products and such? Not likely. I feel if my products are good enough, the customer will bookmark my page and come back the next time they need something.

Steven,

You are a company owner. It is your right to conduct your business however you see fit. I just did a scan of CoffeeCup software "aftermarket' emails...I beg to differ that they don't send out very many.

When I signed up with them, I WANTED them to send me email about new products, to stay abreast of what new software tools were available to make my job easier. This is not considered junk mail or spam as you errantly state.

When and if I tire of their email "aftermarket" promotions, which I have not for many years, all I have to do is move my index finger on my mouse and click UNSUBSCRIBE.

Whenever we do aftermarket email campaigns our sales figures jump, as most businesses realize. You can only send spam and junkmail to people who have not registered to be sent your aftermarket emails.

Most sites I have been to with their "Account Setup" do not state that the reason they are asking for your info is to send you "After-market" junk mail. That comes as a surprise later on when you get bombarded.

It is because of this bombardment that I, for one, no longer fill out "Account" info. I am tired of giving out my personal info and getting inundated with junk mail. My personal preference, sorry!!

I said CC does not send ME any, not talking about everyone else.

To me, perhaps the biggest annoyance is when you have to create a customer account just to see what the shipping charge is.

The biggest selling point of Cart Creator, is that potential customers don't have to fill out pages of information just to make a purchase. PayPal has over one hunded MILLION account holders and Google Checkout probably runs into high figures too. Just choose what you want, select the shipping on the cart page and all the costs are clearly shown to the customers before they even consider going out to the payment processor. From a customer's viewpoint, that is quick, clean and adds transparency to the transaction that many other carts lack.

Database driven carts are a mixed blessing. True they allow you to automate many processes, but you also have the hassles of setting them up and maintaining them. There is no practical way that a conventional sql database could be implemented at some later stage into Cart Creator, as the programming architecture is simply not compatible.

Coffeecup products are aimed at a niche market. Simple to use and simple to set up.

I could not agree more.
My life's philosophy: K.I.S.S.= Keep It Simple Stupid

YES! Could not agree more. I have left so many websites for that very reason, and I would never implement it on any site I own.

With regards to setting up Account details here, this is a Company where you might need to download the product again, or update your current software, so you need to come back from time to time to update an existing purchase.

I'd say most of us are selling tangible items that this would not be needed, so filling out a lot of personal data to purchase possibly a one time thing isn't the best solution for most of us. There are always exceptions, but out of the box software isn't going to be the best fit for every single cart website.

This is my first post although I've been very carefully reading the forum, the articles and virtually everything I can find in here about CC software.
Right now I am testing the SCCP & SCDP so I actually know what the program has to offer me. Before starting the evaluation, I have been studying the posts to get to the core of all the features it has to offer me. When I started testing, I knew of its limitations and so on, even though CC throughout the support articles and user forums give alternative options to fill in the blanks of the program.
I am pretty sure I am going to buy this software because it:
- allows me to quickly edit and upload the data to my server (as with the rest of the softwares sold by CC);
- it is as easy as 1-2-3
- it is a quick and cheap solution compared to the solutions I previously researched
- and i absolutely loved the template I designed for my store!
- ......

My only concern was - until I read this post - about the customer's data. I mean, I knew there had to be a way around this as no one on their perfect mind would sell shop-software without considering that option.
NEWBIE question....... Now I kind of understand the process, but I have some doubts as I can't remember/don't know what the process is with Paypal (the option I am selecting) and I have never used it as a seller:
- if the buyer has an account with Paypal, when a payment is sent, how do I know who the customer is and what address to send the order to?
- if i remember correctly, when i buy something with Paypal and, for instance, I want to use a different credit card than the one on my account, I do not sign in, but Paypal has a form where you can fill in some data - does the data the user inputs there have mandatory name, address and contact info fields or something like that?
(hope the above was understandable... sorry for my english! )


Sorry for the length of the message, but I had to "speak" my heart out!, speaking of which I never got spam from CC!!!

No matter how the payment was made using PayPal, you receive and email with all the pertinent information concerning the sale. It is also stored in your PayPal account.