Thread

I want to start a movement.  A movement to jump start the development of a HOT eCommerce application that we EE lovers can call our own. 

Aren’t you tired of all the forum threads about which eCommerce solution works best with EE?  Or, what eCommerce solution you work with?  Or, this extension works well with EE, but the developer stopped short of finishing the project?  I know I am tired of it and want something unique to the EE community!

I believe we should build one that is built on CI, can integrate in to EE (likely 2.0), that is as cool looking and functions as slick as Magento, but uses an easy customizable templating system. 

I want to take a step out to see who is with me. I am willing to partially fund this initiative and throw my hat in the ring to help design it.  Who is willing to join me!

Comon’ guys!  Let’s push this through!

I’ll throw my hat in there with you grantmx! There’s no reason why we can’t have a tag and template based EE-integrated e-commerce system. We’d be unstoppable.

If it supports Australian payments then we can help fund something!

Or we can continue to buy EE and help EllisLab fund someone who is dedicated to that role?

Sure!  Lets throw that in to the bucket.  AU, EU, US payment systems.  All the major country players in the EE community. 

The only issue is that I’ve seen no urgency on getting a full commerce module out from Ellis Labs.  I’ve seen posts going back to 2006 for a full ecommerce module.  And the from the forums, eCommerce solutions are a hot and ongoing topic.

I’m on board to help fund it!  Would it be a viable option to pay Varien, the makers of Magento, to expedite their “bridge” between EE and Magento?  I know their site runs EE and uses Magento for their store.  When you login at magento.com, you’re logged in to both EE and Magento.  I’ve read a post over there that they have intentions on releasing it, but don’t have it ready for public consumption.

The only issue is that I’ve seen no urgency on getting a full commerce module out from Ellis Labs.  I’ve seen posts going back to 2006 for a full ecommerce module.  And the from the forums, eCommerce solutions are a hot and ongoing topic.

Couldn’t agree more, Grant. I’m currently testing several cart scripts and e-commerce really is in a sad state. Currently trying to decide between Cubecart and Interspire, but I’d love a native EE solution. Development on the fabled EE-commerce module seems to have grinded to a halt no doubt because of the major overhaul of the code base for EE2.0

@stephenslater - Do you have contacts over there at Varien?  The only issue that I have with Magento is that is so troublesome to skin.  Unlike EE, you have to work around there native structure, rather it working around yours.  I would love to see a group of us create something comparable to Magento, but with EE’s native flexibility.

@e - It’s extremely sad.  I think a tight e-commerce system would take EE to a whole new level in the eyes of the top enterprises out there.  Not to mention, put more cash in our pockets.  😉

Glad you’re on board!

I do not have any contacts at Varien.  There is no doubt that a native EE commerce system would be a hit.  Do we have the resources within this community to make it happen?  (I suggested a Magento bridge for something we could have until there is a native EE solution)

I believe Paul was the main developer working on the Ellis Lab solution.  Since his departure, I can only assume development on it stopped.

I believe Paul was the main developer working on the Ellis Lab solution.  Since his departure, I can only assume development on it stopped.

That most definitely could be correct. Would be nice to get some feedback from the Tech crew on that though.

Best wishes,

Mark

Forgot Magento. I think we should take CoolCommerce and further the code to support payment gateways other than foxycart (authorize.net, etc..,). Half the work is done. I’ve been personally looking at taking the development over (either myself or by hiring a developer), but timing is everyting.

CoolCommerce is cool, but not robust enough for me.  It’s more of a bridge than a full out app. We want a full app!

but that what i’m sayin, make it a full app

CoolCommerce is cool, but not robust enough for me.  It’s more of a bridge than a full out app. We want a full app!

Well do we all need FULL e-commerce features right now?

I’d prefer the CoolCommerce solution and if it’s half done and it at least supports other credit cards etc then that should be good enough for the time being.

I do not have any contacts at Varien.  There is no doubt that a native EE commerce system would be a hit.  Do we have the resources within this community to make it happen?  (I suggested a Magento bridge for something we could have until there is a native EE solution)

I believe Paul was the main developer working on the Ellis Lab solution.  Since his departure, I can only assume development on it stopped.

Key word there is assume.  I wouldn’t assume anything.  😉

E-commerce is quite broad.  A big new shiny e-commerce module is not so great if it doesn’t serve your needs.  I imagine that is the challenge that the Ellislab developers are having with the e-commerce module.  Providing something that would satisfy everyones needs is likely to be extremely difficult.

There appears to be a bridge of sorts available.  Amember seems to have a magento plugin as well as one for EE.

Last I checked (quite some time ago) the Amember to EE plugin was outdated and not fully working but it was very simple and would have been easy to modify or rewrite from scratch.

Dealing with the limitations of three different systems could be frustrating. The integration wouldn’t be perfect but with some work I imagine it could be functional enough.  Honestly, this is probably as good as any Magento to EE bridge would get.

The main problem I had with Amember is that the passwords are stored in the DB in the clear.  If someone were to exploit a flaw in anything installed on your site and get access to the database then your customers passwords could get compromised.  Many people use the same password for everything so this could be a huge deal.

*Note:  There may be a solution for the password problem by now.  At one time they were talking about figuring something out.  Also, there may be a way to use Amember with users stored in the EE or Magento database rather than the Amember database.  As I recall there is multiple methods for integration.

Well do we all need FULL e-commerce features right now?

I’d prefer the CoolCommerce solution and if it’s half done and it at least supports other credit cards etc then that should be good enough for the time being.

Probably not all of us, and I’d image that CoolCommerce would be a viable stop gap.  The only issue is what we talked about in the Modules Forum, in yet another thread, where the developers of CoolCom. dropped the ball and are out of touch.

What do we do in the mean time?  Sit here and write ecomm thread after ecomm thread about this n’ that ecomm solution?  I don’t know about you guys, but it’s starting to frustrate me. 

Perhaps we can build off of the ColCom extension “platform” and broaden it to other carts beyond FoxyCart, like Magento or PHPCart.  However, even in that we are limited to the cart’s ability.

Hence, why we should develop our own shopping cart solution.  Yes, it’s a broad task, but it’s been done and with all the talent here, why can we?

I say, “Yes We Can!”