I signed up with Authorize.Net after I set up my CC shopping cart. I need automated recurring billing integrated into my payment options because I want my customers to be able to make payments toward my service. Easy enough, I thought. Just enter a little info, click a couple buttons, pay my monthly ARB service, and move on with my life...

I have learned that it doesn't exactly work that way. Even though the term "developer" came up a few times in my conversation with a rep from Authorize.Net, I chose to ignore it. I now see that integrating the ARB into my site is much more complicated than I thought and I am in over my head.

I believe the ARB is integrated into the shopping cart software. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to do this? I may have to hire someone, but I wanted to try working through it myself.

The only problem with hiring someone to make this happen is that when you update the cart from the program, you may lose the customization you paid for.

I have learned that CC Shopping Cart Creator Pro does not support the automated recurring billing. Believe me, I do not want to get into hiring someone to do my shopping cart updates. However, the ARB option is necessary for my business, so I have got to figure out something. I have spent a lot of time putting together my CC Shopping Cart and integrating it with Authorize.Net only to learn that my cart does not support ARB. I should have looked into everything before I got started.

So now I am looking at putting together another type of shopping cart. Zencart was suggested. I know it will be a lot of work, which I'm fine with, but I was scheduled to launch my site this week, and now I am looking for shopping cart software.

Any suggestions? I really want to do this myself to save hiring out my work (for a number of reasons). CC Shopping Cart Creator Pro is so perfect for everything I am looking for - the way it looks, displays images, smooth operation...only it doesn't support ARB. I'll just have to set that aside for now until (hopefully) it will work with ARB in the future. If there are any easy suggestions to for me to get my cart up and going quickly, I'm ready to hear them

I have set up a few Zen Cart sites. The only thing I dislike about ZC is that even if you follow the override system it uses to customize the scripts, it is still a pain to update without possibly breaking changes made. I now favor Open Cart as it has a cleaner update process, as well as having a more modern look and feel. PrestaShop is also good. The heavy hitter is Magento but it is harder on shared resources (more so than the others). I'm sure all of these include some sort of recurring billing plugin or addon. Whatever you choose, make sure it's easy to update and do it. Outdated scripts get hacked.

You also have plenty of online cart systems like Amazon, etc but don't what has recurring billing.

Good luck.

Tom,

I decided to go with OpenCart. Thank you so much for the suggestion! It was no trouble integrating into my website. And you are right - it is very easy to update. I really like it.

Have you ever set up any Automated Recurring Billing accounts? I may have to hire someone to set up that connection for me, but at least I can make my own shopping cart updates and revisions.

Thanks again for all of your helpful advice.

Amy

You are welcome. Sorry, I have not set up recurring billing. Good luck.