I've been working in e-commerce for the last ten years. The first site I worked on used a simple asp script for ordering that quickly passed by the wayside. Then the switch was made to Miva 4. This was a definite step up. However, then Miva upgraded to version 5, and I then switched to a different cart. However, I came back recently to Miva 5 - unfortunately.

Miva has some good ideas, but support for the product is terrible. Basic level support through your host varies and depends on your host. Anything above and beyond requires Miva's atrocious support. Also, Miva has traded in on its initial popularity as one of the most popular carts and basically trapped its users into using a handful of developers to make their site usable. This is because Miva uses its own language on the programming end. There are pluses and minuses to this language/system, the biggest minus being you have to learn a new language to work with Miva's back-end or hire someone who knows it. The second major problem with Miva is that it uses modules that the site owners have to purchase in addition to paying for their cart, to add functionality to their site. The premise isn't bad. However, unlike Miva 4, Miva 5 is barely usable without at least some modules. At this point they have simply fallen well behind the curve on what a cart should offer at its base level.

While working on a less well known (non-Miva) cart, it became clear that we needed to change systems. This is when I came across the 3DCart Shopping Cart Software. It was well reviewed on a number of bulletin boards, and they offer a 15 day free trial for the user to see if it will work for them. I tried it - I love it. First off, importing and exporting is done using Excel based CSV files - ie. a spreadsheet. No need for XML or third party interpreters. Second, editing products is very easy, editing categories is fairly easy. It comes in with numerous built in templates that you can edit significantly if you are familiar with CSS and HTML. Even if you don't know HTML and CSS you can still make changes to graphics, colors, and fonts simply. Depending on what level of cart you use, mailing lists, reports, twitter and facebook updates, shopping engine feeds, and much more are built in at no extra charge. 3DCart offers a wide range of payment gateways that are easy to set up and use. Order processing is effective, feature rich, yet simple. Finally, for those using Miva or another popular shopping cart, 3dCart offers a conversion service for an easy switch over. In short 3dCart is very affordable, easy to use, and feature rich - good for newbies and experts alike. Right now if you sign up for 3dCart you get a fifteen day free trial. It is certainly worth trying out.