My two pennies worth...the variable pricing option is critical for the pro version where the price changes according to the size, colour, finish etc.

Also one thing I would personally like to see is image protection for the products. I know this sounds a bit strange, but the majority of the clients I am/will be creating shops for are selling photos and/or paintings etc, and in a similar way to how the CC Photo Gallery works, the images need protection from being printed or saved direct from the shopping cart when the image is enlarged and it could do with a layering option to display a watermark.

Going one step further could be to build integration with CC Photo Gallery??....well this is a wish list after all.

Thanks for the interesting suggestions in the above posts. I certainly agree with most of them. My top priorities (for a site with ~130 photos, 4 sizes and 3 "options" (print only, matted print and framed print) for each) include:

1- Different prices for different options (with 12 different priced options for each of my "products" (each image) my cart/site simply can't be workable without this functionality.)

2- Subcategories - this will greatly ease/organize the large # of pictures.

3- Integration with CC Photo Gallery as suggested by Matt above would be wonderful !! My suggestions on how one might do this:

- include as an option a simple "add to cart" button as part of the "mouse over" area that drops down with information (title/etc) about the photo, or

- an "add current image to cart" button in addition to the "show albums" and "stop/start slideshow" buttons that are already implemented in CC Photo Gallery. This would save shoppers from having to search through the photos twice for the one's they like; once in the gallery, and once in the shopping cart.

Thanks for listening.

Whilst additions to the basic core functionality in the pro version in areas such as shipping, inventory control, sub categories and price definable options are all essential elements that will benefit every user and are absolutely vital to promote the product as a viable commercial product, this thread has interestingly enough opened up the diversity of potential users out there and their own particular needs.

The pro version will be an evolutionary process, but once the core functionality has been refined, the potential for items on this wish list to be added is a real possibility. It may be that in twelve months time, the pro version has radically changed from its initial vision, but the folks at Coffeecup NEED your input to ensure they take the program in the right direction.

Whilst not every wish will be granted due to technical complexity, or commercial considerations, if you have viable idea that could benefit the future pro version, make sure you add it to the wish list.

Please allow me to emphasize that I also agree with Will, and others, that better shipping features are essential, in addition to the suggestions in my previous post yesterday. Accurate calculation of actual shipping costs seems to be something that just about every web customer expects.

Since my particular application, artistic landscape, nature, etc, photos, doesn't really need inventory control - every item is made to order for each customer - I didn't mention that kind of feature. But I can certainly see how many, if not most, web sales businesses would view inventory tracking and control/stock numbers as essential. One certainly doesn't want to be in the position of showing an item for sale/selling an item that is actually "out of stock", or can't get more for weeks or months or maybe ever (for one-of-a-kind items).

Regarding image protection, I watermark all of the images I use before putting them in CC Photo Gallery or on other site pages (CC VSD) and recommend that others do the same. Most photo editing applications have this kind of function.

Over the past couple of months I've really enjoyed using CC tools to build my site which is now semi-live - it's being tested/commented on by friends, family, other photographers, etc. (using CC Website Access Manager to restrict access at this point.) I'm very much looking forward to the debut of Shopping Cart Creator Pro! And I'm really hoping that many of the functions/features being discussed in this thread will be included.

Many thanks for your kind attention.

Just curious on the Subcategories since I am not sure how they are being implemented, but will we be able to link specifically to a Category once this new system is implemented, so it will then only show the list of items in that particular Category? I will assume the Subcategory will then act like the Category does now where if you link to the Subcategory it will show the products themselves on the page, but I'm just wanting to know if Categories will show only a list of the items inside those Categories rather than a Full List with Categories and Subcategories both listed on the page?
Hopefully I'm making sense here lol, I know what I'm trying to ask, but not sure how to put it into words

We are not sure yet, that feature is still being worked on

Coffeecup products don't always follow convention Jo Ann, but in most cart software clicking on a category will open out a list of the sub categories within that category. For example say you have a category called 'Motorcycles', you may then have sub categories within that such as Honda, Ducati, Harley etc. Clicking on the 'Motorcycles' tab will then show the sub categories below it.

I'm sure the team will find an elegant solution for you.

KK, then I'll leave that as a suggestion if that's ok? To be able to have the Category, when clicked from the dropdown menu or from the Categories page itself, show the List of Subcategories only. Example for me would be:

I have multiple countries I am going to be having merchandise being sold from. So I want my Countries to be the Categories and the Subcategories will contain the types of items (such as Earrings, Necklaces, Artwork, etc.).
If someone hits the Africa category I would like them to be able to see only the subs for Africa on that page so they can shop specific categories easier. I hope that makes sense lol. It will probably be that way, but just want to suggest it in case it's not

LOL Dave, nice.

Tax collection needs tweaking too - Perhaps a combo box on the view cart page where there is no default shipping location selected and the buyer has to select a state or region before moving on to the payment gateway or the cart will not proceed. They can lie or make an accident, but that will a buyer booboo and not a merchant/shopping cart booboo. Easiest solution I can think of.

A lot of the core functions are being developed at the moment Tom, as the pro version is getting a lot of new functionality. At some stage the drop downs on the cart page, as well as the option drop downs on the item description will eventually need to be refined to need a positive input from the user. The logical way is to have a 'Please Select' as the first default box and to reject processing with a warning message, unless the customer chooses a valid option. That way the customer has made a decision rather than inadvertently going with whatever the default is.

Whilst it would be unfair to call some customers dumb, some need all the help they can get.