what's the best ecommerce plugin for wordpress?

Question

I would like to design an eCommerce website with WordPress. I don't want to do it from scratch so I'm looking for a free plugin. The features I expect it to have are:

• shopping carts
• shipping modules (Canada post etc..)
• payment using Paypal
• customizable themes

I came across : WP-eCommerce

it claims to be free, however I found out that some documents require payment. All the payments, shipping modules are not free, am I right?

Actually, I'm not very familiar with Wordpress, if possible, could someone suggest an easy to pick up, but powerful enough eCommerce plugin for Wordpress?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Wordpress.org has an extensive list of all of the various extensions and add-ons that are publicly available. If you look under all results with the ecommerce tag, you might find something that better suits your needs. If you are already using Wordpress as your content management system, why not just outsource the shipping and order management with something like Paypal or Google Checkout? Just have your catalog and if they like it, the can click "order with Paypal" or some such.

Also, I just went and looked up WP eCommerce and it is incredibly generous what they offer out of the box for free. The things that cost are listed at the Gold Cart premiumm upgrades page, and from what I can tell, most of the features you could do own your own, other than the added payment options (none of which I've heard of).

Answer 2

Trick question: WordPress, a very simplistic blogging platform, should never be stretched into something as intricate as an e-commerce solution. An e-commerce offering a simple blogging module is another matter entirely.

Since you don't know much about WordPress anyway, you may want to consider using a e-commerce platform like magentocommerce.com, zen-cart.com, or oscommerce.com. All of them are PHP/MySQL based, like WordPress.

Answer 3

WP-eCommerce is the only plugin for WordPress worth looking at when it comes to eCommerce. You do get a lot for free.

That said, Alex makes some great points about how WordPress is NOT ideal for eCommerce.

However, after having completed 2 websites with WP-eCommerce and 2 websites with Magento Commerce, I can say that there is a HUGE difference in the time it takes to complete.

WP-eCommerce can be set up relatively quickly with very little customization to get it to look decent in your own WP Theme. A full eCommerce system such as Magento, on the other hand, has a huge learning curve and you will spend 3 times as long anytime you want to change anything.

It all depends what you're going for. If you want something simple that can be tweaked a little but doesn't need to be a great robust long-term solution, I would definitely consider WP-eCommerce. Otherwise, go for a real eCommerce platform.

Alternatively: Zen-Cart looks simpler than Magento but without some of the flexibility. Whatever you do, DON'T go anywhere near osCommerce.

Answer 4

You should take a look at the PHPurchase wordpress ecommerce plugin. It's got great features to sell digital products, physical products, and even recurring billing/subscription products. There are membership management features built in so you can require an active subscription to see certain content on your site. And, perhaps best of all, it is backed by real, professional support. Check it out here: http://www.PHPurchase.com

Answer 5

I'm still looking for a good Free Plugin. Just to learn how the system works.