What are the advantages of using and open source shopping cart?

Price, number of add-ons available, number of payment gateways available, low cost hosting, and large developer and merchant community. A better questions would be "what are the disadvantages of closed source shopping cart."

Oscommerce has attracted a community of over 100,000 registered users who are developers and store owners who contribute to it's success. Over 3000 extra features that have been developed and made available by the Oscommerce community. This is unique to this shopping cart. An amazing feat. If it doesn't cater to ones need out of the box then there is likely an add-on available. Free of course.

Why don't some users use Oscommerce?

As of milestone two the graphic design is quite difficult to change. Developers can easily change it but merchants with no coding skills would find it too difficult and need to hire a developer. The design layer and application layer are not separate. On the next version milestone three the framework will allow the design and application layer will be separate so design changes will be much easier. No editing of source code would be necessary. This is just one of the new advantages of the next Oscommerce release due out in 2006.

When is milestone 3 to be released.

The beta is available now; and the final version should be available sometime in 2006.

Does the Oscommerce allow for integration of financial and shipping software to help automate customer relations, inventory, etc?

There are add-ons available for this.

Does Oscommerce offer the same amount of payment gateways as other carts?

Oscommerce offers many more gateways than other carts because so many were developed by other developers around the world.

How do the Oscommerce developers make a living it the cart is free?

The main developer is supported by donations and others make a living by operating their own website design services that are separate from the Oscommerce project.

Who are the lead developers of Oscommerce?

Harald Ponce de Leon and Christian Lescuyer.

Does 1st Choice offer Oscommerce web hosting?

Yes, our web hosting solutions are affordable, secure, and reliable.

I'm not a developer and need help setting up Oscommerce; can 1st Choice help me?

Of course; please visit our free estimate page to get started.

Checkout Oscommerce feedback from merchants using Oscommerce.