Cost: Starts at $19.99 per month for everything.

Supported payment types: Supports Bank of America, 2Checkout, Authorize.net, Google Checkout, PayPal, LinkPoint, VeriSign, Trust Commerce and many others.

Supported shipping options: Supports real-time shipping via UPS®, USPS, FedEx® and Canada Post. Also provides custom shipping tables allowing you to:

• Calculate cost based on the weight of the products purchased.
• Calculate cost based on the total order.
• Calculate cost based on the number of items.
• Use a flat fee for shipping calculation.
• Offer free shipping.

Pros: Unlike other shopping cart programs, 3dcart uses search engine friendly URL’s in your store.

My thoughts: 3dcart offers so many features built right in, no extra mods to install or configure. They handle all the backend programming, you just set up your store and add products. Very newbie friendly, they provide tutorials, training videos, knowledge base, forums, online help center, and telephone/email support for your store. 3dcart was designed for those new to ecommerce.

Where to download: Visit their website to set up your account.

Related posts:

1. X-Cart Gold
2. X-Cart Pro
3. 1stShoppingCart

Cost: Free. Premium accounts start at only $8 per month

Supported payment types: PayPal Standard, Nochex and Paymate, checks/money orders, or you can also save credit card data (encrypted) to process later manually. They do not process cards, you MUST have a merchant account. If you upgrade to a Premium account, you have access to  PayPal, Authorize.net, 2Checkout, WorldPay, plus over a dozen others.

Supported shipping options: Supports up to 8 different shipping methods, like flat fee shipping, shipping by price, by weight. The premium version also  integrates with UPS, Fedex and USPS rate service.

Pros: Free SSL. Excellent if you need to accept online credit card payments but cannot afford to purchase your own secure certificate (Go Daddy sells them for $30 and up ). Free built-in mTracker script, allowing you to set up your own affiliate program.

Cons: Users are directed away from your website to checkout and make payment.

My thoughts: I have worked with clients using Mals-e for almost 8 years and never had any troubles with it. If you are working with a limited budget and need to set up a basic cart, Mals-e should work okay for you. The main downside to using this cart is that you have to work with HTML to add the code to your web pages.

Where to download: Visit their website to set up your account.

Related posts:

1. Free shopping carts
2. osCommerce
3. Zen Cart

Cost: Starts at $29 per month

Supported payment types: Bank of America, PayPal, 2Checkout, AuthorizeNet, Trust Commerce, LinkPoint, WorldPay plus many others.

Supported shipping options: Integrates with Fedex, DHL, Canada Post, UPS, and USPS.

My thoughts: 1ShoppingCart.com is the all-in-one, one-stop-shop for eCommerce. More than just a shopping cart, they provide essential marketing tools you need like autoresponders, ad trackers, affiliate programs, online questionnaires, online database management, newsletters and email broadcasting to your database of prospects, clients and affiliates, and much more.

Where to download: Visit their website to purchase the software.

Related posts:

1. X-Cart Gold
2. X-Cart Pro
3. 3DCart

X-Cart Pro solution is ideal for:

Online store selling products from multiple suppliers.
Web-supermarket with several departments.
Online distributor/wholesaler.
Internet mall with joint catalog.

Cost: $575 one time fee

Supported payment types: E-Gold, NetPay, PayPal, 2Checkout, AuthorizeNet, Google Checkout, LinkPoint, PayNet, PayPro, WebCraft plus dozens more.

Supported shipping options: Real time UPS, USPS, and FedEx. Unlimited number of custom-defined delivery methods. Flate rate, weight, order total and per-item based shipping. Different weight limits for different delivery methods.

My thoughts: Recommended for companies running multi-vendor online stores and companies willing to offer a place in their online store to third party businesses. For the low price,  X-Cart is one of the best shopping cart systems in the world.

Where to download: Visit their website to purchase the software.

Related posts:

1. X-Cart Gold
2. 3DCart
3. Zen Cart

Cost: $229 one time fee

Supported payment types: E-Gold, NetPay, PayPal, 2Checkout, AuthorizeNet, Google Checkout, LinkPoint, PayNet, PayPro, WebCraft plus dozens more.

Supported shipping options: Real time UPS, USPS, and FedEx. Unlimited number of custom-defined delivery methods. Flate rate, weight, order total and per-item based shipping. Different weight limits for different delivery methods.

My thoughts: Shopping cart software trusted by thousands of successful business owners worldwide. Web-based administrator area and installation wizard make setup and maintenance of the shopping cart as easy as point and click. No PHP or other programming knowledge is required to set up and run a world class online store. For the low price,  X-Cart is one of the best shopping cart systems in the world.

Where to download: Visit their website to purchase the software.

Related posts:

1. X-Cart Pro
2. 3DCart
3. Zen Cart

Cost: The script itself is free to download, and there are no monthly fees. If you plan on accepting credit cards directly through the shopping cart, you will want to purchase a secure certificate. (Go Daddy sells them for less than $30 per year).

Supported payment types: 2Checkout, Authorize.net, ChronoPay, iPayment, PayQuake, Trust Commerce, PayPal, C.O.D., checks, and money orders.

You can also set the cart to collect (not process) credit card information to process manually through your merchant account.

Supported shipping options: UPS, USPS, free shipping, flat rate, table rates.

My thoughts: I have installed and customized osCommerce for a few different clients (some who later switched to Zen Cart). Before discovering it’s close cousin ZenCart, it was one of my favorite free shopping cart systems. Like Zen Cart, osCommerce is very easy to use and manage once you have it set-up.

My biggest irk with osCommerce is that gift certificates/vouchers are not included with a standard install. I have yet to have a client NOT need this feature. It also lacks a text field option (for personalizing products), but does include check box, radio and drop-down options standard. Both vouchers and text fields can be added by installing a contribution but Zen Cart includes these built-in which makes life so much easier. Especially if you have limited scripting experience.

OsCommerce is easier (less files compared to Zen Cart) to install but more difficult to customize. If you run into trouble or need help customizing the design of the shopping cart, please contact me for a quote.

Where to download: Visit their website to download the script for free.

Since osCommerce is so popular, many web hosts (including HostGator, whom I use) now include it with their hosting plans. Just click on the script in your control panel (usually listed under Fantastico) and they install it for you.

osCommerce is still a good script, especially compared to some of the other free options out there. I still recommend osCommerce to someone who wants to set-up their store quickly and does not need gift certificate options or any personalizing of products. But if you have a choice, go with Zen Cart.

Free osCommerce Tutorials

How to install osCommerce at HostGator

Related posts:

1. Zen Cart
2. Free shopping carts
3. Mals-e

Cost: The script itself is free to download, and there are no monthly fees. If you plan on accepting credit cards directly through the shopping cart, you will want to purchase a secure certificate. (Go Daddy sells them for less than $30 per year).

Supported payment types: LinkPoint API, YourPay API, Authorize.net AIM, Authorize.net SIM, PayPal, C.O.D. (cash on delivery), checks, and also money orders.

You can also set the cart to collect (not process) credit card information to process manually through your merchant account.

Supported shipping options: UPS, USPS, free shipping, flat rate, table rates.

My thoughts: I have installed and customized Zen Cart dozens of times and it is by far my favorite shopping cart. What I love best about the cart is that it is so easy for my clients to use and manage on their own (helping them avoid costly maintenance fees).

The admin area includes an editor allowing you to change text on pages without messing with HTML. Compared to similar shopping carts, Zen Cart is easy to install and customize. But if you run into trouble or need help customizing the design of the shopping cart, please contact me for a quote.

Where to download: Visit their website to download for free.

Many web hosts (including HostGator, whom I use) include Zen Cart with their hosting plans. Just click on the script in your control panel (usually listed under Fantastico) and they install it for you.

Free ZenCart Tutorials

How to install ZenCart
How to install ZenCart at GoDaddy
How to install ZenCart at HostGator
How to install a new ZenCart template
How to change the background color in ZenCart
How to edit the header image in ZenCart
More ZenCart tutorials

Related posts:

1. osCommerce
2. Free shopping carts
3. X-Cart Gold

Many of my clients working with a limited budget choose to use Mals-e free shopping cart. This option is free and includes a secure connection to accept credit card payments.

You simply visit their website, sign-up for a free account and start adding snippets of code to your website and your online store is ready to accept orders. Mals-e includes an easy-to-use online admin area where you can edit the colors of the shopping cart, personalize email invoices, manage orders, etc.

The main downside to using this cart is that you either have to have HTML knowledge to add the code to your web pages, or you have to pay someone who does to do it for you.

Another option is to use a script (either CGI/Perl, PHP or ASP) and while there are literally hundreds to choose from (which range from free to thousands of dollars) ZenCart is my favorite shopping cart script available.

The script is free to download and it is much easy to work with and customize than it’s closely related competitor osCommerce (which some of my clients do opt to use as it is still a good (free) shopping cart option).

ZenCart allows for multiple shipping and payment options, and is completely ran by an easy-to-use admin control panel where you add/edit/delete products with the click of a mouse. No HTML skills are needed unless you want to customize the cart appearance dramatically. ZenCart includes a mailing list and automates the entire ordering process for both you and your customers.

If you are looking for a simple shopping cart option and plan on using PayPal as your only accepted payment method, than I would recommend using the shopping cart PayPal includes for free with all business accounts. It’s easy to use and they generate the HTML code for you (you simply paste it into your pages).

If you need help choosing a shopping cart that’s right for your business, please feel free to contact me with questions. I am also available to help you set-up or install a variety of shopping cart scripts for a very affordable price.

Related posts:

1. Zen Cart
2. osCommerce
3. Mals-e