30🐝 Vs PS for a newb

[OwainD]

Hi everyone,

I'm a total newb when it comes to e-commerce selling and before I go down a road that will take time and energy I want to figure out the platform that suits me best

I'm an open source obsessive so I'd like to support am OS platform. Are 30bees and prestashop the best options? I note that Woo is also open source but their cheapest option is way out of my budget.

Thanks!

[the.rampage.rado]

Welcome to the forum!


IMHO TB is far better option than PS8, Woo or Magento if you're just starting.

It scales well, there are plenty of modules available (both free and paid) and if some of the themes from TB does not work 'design-wise' for you there are many PS1.6 themes that will work just fine (few simple tweaks by any php dev here and there in order to make them php8 ready) and you're good to go.

OS is fine but supporting the project is vital for it's future development. So if you choose TB and you fall in love with it down the road please consider supporting the developers that keep the core bugfree and running on the latest server software.

Cheers!

[OwainD]

Rest assured on my support; I'm a vocal advocate of open source in policy, a translator on a number of projects and have donated thousands of euros to a range of projects over the years 🤝

I'm interested in drop shipping art products, does anyone have experience of this with 30🐝 in the UK?

[Pietroalberto]

TB is good for what you want to do and then start with almost no expense, but business is something else .......... it's not enough to know or buy "tricks" to become David Copperfield, you need other skills

[veganline]

Thirtybees is almost cheapest, but costs a few £$€ monthly in server space
There are threads on this forum about the cheapest server and database that this thing runs on, and you can get the price down to very few pounds / dollars / euro a month, depending on hacks you use to get a secure server system such as using cloudflare secure server. Once you have the server space, Thirtybees has free modules for the essentials, I have found, lots of free features that I only think about once I am in business. It's different from Prestashop in that way; they charge for more of the modules. [Edit: cheaper than WooCommerce too]

Cheapest option is  Byethost or Attractsoft free servers and no inventory database: you only pay for the domain name.
You would have to find a way of getting a secure server certificate, again perhaps via Cloudflare.
You could construct a flat file web site any way that you know how, and add links to a Paypal shopping cart. (Talking of flat-file web sites, I read that they can be hosted on Github personal server space which is very fast, but I have never done it.)
I guess that a shopping cart with cut-and-paste buttons to go on your site, like the Paypal one, can't have an inventory: a product can run out of stock and still be for sale on your site which is for most merchants a bad thing. [Edit: a google search for "remote hosted shopping cart" might find other options. I used to use Mals E-commerce. I suggest Paypal because they are a payment processor and have a free remote hosted shopping cart., so you get two in one]
You might find software like Litecart that might work on a free server and keep an inventory and keep the shopping cart on the same domain, but if it works on a free server it's bound to be very limited, and there's always the risk of basic features being charged-for, as with Woo. There are loads of programs that you can try to install on a free server, but run-out of space or file quotas or some restriction like that. [Edit: Byethost and Attractsoft do allow databases and one click installs. Byethost offers a Softaculous one click installer and Attractsoft have their own limited one called Zacky, but both can install programs which don't work on the free web space: good for practicing the first click but bad for trying to make something work. You can even try to install Magento which a vast bloated program and doesn't work on a lot of paid servers.

After comments below and agreeing in part: the danger is that you pay 50 £$€ for a plugin, spend a weekend or two learning that the thing allows no pages of text or something obvious like that, and then loose the benefit when you have to move-on to Thirtybees. The nearly free options are best for proof of concept, hobbies like self publishing or band merchandise sites, un-profitable businesses being run-down, small charities, projects done as a favour without full agreement on how it will work... that kind of thing]

Conclusion
Thirtybees is one of the cheapest options for most projects. 

Thirtybees is best for nearly everyone because it is scalable and reliable and has so many free features, but if you are just testing an idea and you know how to make a basic web site on a free server, something like a remote hosted shopping cart is a bit cheaper.

Edited October 8, 2023 by veganline
I had the word "conclusion" in twice / added "something like a remote hosted shopping cart"

[nickz]

On 9/25/2023 at 10:01 AM, veganline said:

Cheapest option is  Byethost or Attractsoft free servers and no inventory database: you only pay for the domain name.

go cheap on a business venture has exactly one outcome. Downwards.

Edited September 26, 2023 by nickz