Advice for my ecommerce site

General Discussion
#1

I’ve been considering ways to monetize the sites I’m building (including WebPublisher.xyz, my learning blog for CP), and in addition to offering my writing services… I think I’d like to have a source of passive income too. So I’m thinking of creating my own store of digital products that will sell, for example, PDF versions of my blog posts and other ebooks I’ll write.

I don’t want a hosted ecommerce platform though, like Shopify… I prefer a self-hosted, open-source solution that won’t cost me too much money while I’m still building my writing business… Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a ready-made ecommerce web app like PrestaShop that will work on my DIY webhost without low-level tinkering, which is, to be honest, still beyond my skills.

My best choice, it seems to me, given my expertise level, is to just use WordPress and an ecommerce plugin like Easy Digital Downloads. But… I don’t want to use WordPress anymore, and EDD seems to be compatible with ClassicPress (I haven’t tried it yet), and so another possible option is to use CP with EDD…

However, EDD is a WordPress plugin, and I worry that it might stop supporting older versions WordPress (and thus stop working in CP), and so I hesitate to follow this option.

Any advice then on how I should proceed? Should I go ahead and build my store using CP and EDD, and simply hope for the best?

Note: @fwolf is working on a hard fork of WooCommerce – re:Commerce – and so, assuming that digital download will be possible on that (I don’t know yet), perhaps I can use CP + EDD as a temporary solution as I wait for this new plugin to be released and to mature a bit.

#2

I will continue looking for a dedicated ecommerce web app that I can use in my web host. I had only looked at the more popular ones, like PrestaShop and Magento, before I gave up, but I’ve just found a list of more less-known ecommerce apps that I can try.

I prefer using a dedicated ecommerce web app that works out of the box (over a WordPress/ClassicPress setup installed with ecommerce plugins) because I will only have limited time to maintain this site in the future. But if there really is nothing I can find that suits my purposes and my tech skill level… then, yes, I will have to use a WP/CP setup with ecommerce plugins.

#3

If you can code, then you could build this yourself with a custom post type and a form linking to your payment processor. If not, don’t overcomplicate things, especially as this probably won’t get you much income at all.

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#4

No, I can’t code. And you’re right, I’m not expecting much income from it, at least not at the beginning. I am yet to build my audience and network. That’s why I’m just looking for an inexpensive, out-of-the-box solution.

#5

Since your needs are basic, I would recommend going with CP and Classic Commerce. Classic Commerce works just fine, especially for your needs. Later, once Fabian finishes his fork of WooCommerce you’ll be able to switch from Classic Commerce.

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#6

Thanks. I will definitely consider this. I checked the website and CC supports both downloadable products and PayPal out-of-the box.

Do you know the maximum file size that Force Download can handle? I don’t know yet if my webhost supports X-Sendfile…

I’m also thinking of publishing public domain literature, and those can be large in size.

#7

CC, being a fork of woocommerce - misses at least 3 security updates involving core wc code, PayPal gateway and others.

Imo cc shouldn’t be used, recommended or even accessible for download at all.

Not without active maintenance that at least makes sure the security issues are either not affecting it or getting backported.

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#8

I agree with that. It’s a huge project in its own right, and it really needs a team behind it

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#9

I haven’t yet made my final decision, but I think I’ll be using Zen Cart. It’s a nearly out-of-the-box solution (I might only need to install a new theme and a captcha plugin), is being actively developed, has great support for digital downloads, and it works in my web host with only a few changes in php.ini. It also has a built-in support for PayPal, particularly Express Checkout. (PayPal is the only payment processor I can use for now.)

Anyway, thanks for the info about ClassicCommerce. Even without it, I’m already thinking of not using CC because it only has built-in support for PayPal Standard, which is, as far as I know, already deprecated.

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