Zencart has it’s good side….and bad side

What are the best aspects of this product?

The developers are quite adept at coding, but as is with most open source carts they would rather code the cart than document the logic, processes and procedures properly. Fast and easy to Install, Plugins and modules are a breeze to install, and the shipping with UPS, USPS and FedEx modules actually work very well, albeit some are legacy and apply older functions than what the carriers have progressed into. Payment module for Paypal still utilizes Soap and remains very operational but not able to utilize some very nice, simple functionality such as PayPal's Pay Later blurb, which is an excellent "window shopper to buyer" conversion tool. Lay-Away features, another excellent conversion concept, Lay-By (Lay-Buys) won't work for your Lay-Away plan, but there are other Lay-away Module options you can check out. Not as nice and easy to work with as another Open Source cart's customer interface presentation, but they have free, working templates compared to the others buy and fail extensions. Support is a bit above typical, even though it's just another forum where you can only hope to get solutions to any of the many inadequately documented features and functions, I get the feeling so far the contributors really want to help solve problems and there doesn't seem to be many of those "contributors" you find on the other cart guys that are high on themselves and treat you disrespectfully and down right rudely, thinking they are a gift to you and want to make sure you're absolutely aware they're doing this free and only give a bit of information (Out of the kindness in their hearts) and if you want all of it to contact them with your payment information Over all, this is hands down the best Open Source cart I have researched thus far and I recommend it first.

What aspects are problematic or could work better?

Documentation is a shortcoming, much of it is nothing more than a reflection of the menu's you see in the admin panel, no added information or logic of the feature/function to help you determine the best selection for your use. There a places in the configs that it's extremely difficult to determine the intent for and no offer of the logic or what the feature option are....do you put in text, numbers a 1 a 0 a 2 ????? What would whatever the entry is, do? Some of those free templates will destroy your current site, make absolutely sure you copy the entire cart as a straight-forward backup before trying to install one. An expensive lesson learned by yours truly.

What features/services would you like to see in future versions of this product?

Updated functionality for Payment and Shipping Modules. Payment and shipping options are, hands down, the the best tools available to close the sale and certainly should be kept up-to-date. All the little things can be taken care of in time. Lay-Away plans and other installment presentations, such as the PP Pay Later. PayPay offers Pay Later to all customers, all there is to it's use is a "Pay Later" button to the checkout page.

What specific problems in your company were solved by this product?

Well, it's a trade off- In order to gain functionality for shipping options, we had to sacrifice functionality with payments, presentation and ease of use.

Are you a current user of this product?

Yes