Helpful Information

Category: osCommerce

Manual Order Entry

Hello folks.
I notice there's not a lot of activity in this OSCommerce Forum and I can't find an Introductions topic, so here I am anyway. Does anyone use OSCommerce and also take Phone/Fax Orders? I do. So we wrote our own software to accomplish the task. I know there are a lot of PhP contributions out there already, but all of them fall short of what we needed and a few are actually dangerous to use.

I'd like to know if anyone likes (or dislikes) what we've done. Please look at it and make comments here.

Thanks.

Actually, it looks like there's no activity in these forums at all ...

After reading through the information you provide on your web site I think this product would work great for manual order. This product would work great for companies that have custom orders. But I don't think this would work well for a company that needs an automated order process. I am not trying to say that is the market you are going after. The market it seems that you are going after is companies that take phone and fax orders.

Just my two cents of the subject.

Adam

What would be your suggestion if for someone that needs a job like this? I can only think of OSCommerce. http://imagicon.info/cat/6-22/1.gif

I've read many posts on several forums about manual order entry, including the OSCommerce forums. There are several PhP contributions that attempt to provide manual order entry - some are good, some are not. All of them require a programmer or very tech-oriented person to install and maintain. Some actually want you to log in as the customer or use a master password to be able to enter the order.

@adamcroshaw
you say - "But I don't think this would work well for a company that needs an automated order process ..."

That is true. But OSCommerce by default is an "automated order process" and provides that function very well. I have an E-store that sells Wild Bird products, and I use OSCommerce there. I was getting many calls and emails from people who wanted to buy a certain item but had trouble with the internet, navigating the site, or just wanted to talk with a real person to place an order. After entering many orders manually using the OSCommerce features, I decided that there had to be a better way.

I looked for several weeks just about everywhere and found nothing that was inexpensive enough to use. Some of the big "pay-providers" do have Manual order entry features that work well, but I couldn't justify paying high dollar every month for something I could do for myself.

This app is what I came up with and I use it every day.

My app is designed to augment the website E-Store and allow the store owner to accept phone and fax orders as an alternative to website shopping. A merchant who has a bricks and mortar store with walk-in customers and a website for "automated ordering" needs a positive way to bring everything together for reporting and tax purposes. This app provides that, and a whole lot more. If an owner has several websites my app will handle that, too.

@olsen
you say - "What would be your suggestion if for someone that needs a job like this? I can only think of OSCommerce. "

If you're saying what I think you mean, I think you need a Manual Order Entry solution for your website. There are several out there, including mine. Visit the official OSCommerce site to see what's available. I'm not going to try to sell my solution to you here. Look around. There are many out there.

If you're looking for shopping cart software that's based on oscommerce, again there are several out there. Each has its' own set of features - some good, some not so good.

I didn't mean to get so lengthy here .. sorry.
Mike

Thanks Mike for your comments!

I agree with what you have to say. Great discussion. I wish I could add more but unfortunately I am not as familiar with the E-Commerce world as I would like to be.

Adam

I intend to stop in here as often as possible Adam. If it's ok with you folks I'll post some of my E-Commerce experiences. Some might even be helpful to the store owners who host with westhost.

I've got my affiliate link set up on my website now, so if I get lucky I will be sending new customers over here, too.

Mike

Mike,
It would be great if you stopped by and posted now and then. It gets a bit lonely of late here. :) Like Adam, I don't deal with e-commerce much but we do get questions about it from time to time.

I will. I've subscribed to this thread so I get the email once a day when someone posts, so if any of the members want help they should post their questions/problems here. If the answer might benefit others I'll start a new thread about it.

Sometimes it might take me a day or two to answer, but I'll try to be here as often as I can.

Thanks Mike and Shawn for participating in the forums. Yes the more the participation the better:) But you guys are pros when it comes to that.

Thanks

Adam

I appreciate the confidence.

As to participation, I'm finding more and more people are just 'Lurking' and wanting something free. If there's nothing for free they move on.

As I said in a previous post -

"I've subscribed to this thread so I get the email once a day when someone posts, so if any of the members want help they should post their questions/problems here. If the answer might benefit others I'll start a new thread about it."

If it's an OSCommerce problem or a programming issue, I'll help as much as I can.

:)