kbdunham

I’m still frustrated Lisa. I put my ecommerce needs aside for about a month as I had other fish to fry. But I am now faced with the issue of once and for all…the decision MUST be made and the problem MUST be solved. Like you, I am no code demon, but I get by and am willing to learn.

Whenever I go over to Shopp’s forums I just blow a gasket. How sloooowwwwwww can one release a friggin’ update? My god!! People have been screaming for over a year for some of the functionality they are promising in version 1.1 (did you hear any angels sing and harps play when I said VERSION 1.1????) You must have because we’ve all be waiting for the darn thing for what seems like an eon now.

And still, they will not put into this new version supposedly out in June one of the two things I need. “Maybe version 1.2” they say. I just blew another gasket thinking about it.

So much for $55 down the tube. Problem is… I can’t find anything else for a WP ecommerce plugin that does what I want it to do without a need for a doctorate in programming because of all the friggin’ bugs or non-funcionality you’ll have to “fix”.

I’ll stop ranting now…I need to go take on of the green pills.

It appears that the problem is resolved and that the issue WAS DreamWeaver.

I went into the WP-admin and changed Permalinks and saved. In the past, this would have re-written my .htaccess file.

Using FileZilla, and downloading the file, the .htaccess was NOT changed and the code I typed at the bottom was still there.

AGAIN – DON’T USE DREAMWEAVER TO WORK WITH HTACCESS FILES!!

Okay….I think I found the problem…and if this is the case I am so sorry for the stupid issue.

I was using Dreamweaver to download, correct and upload the file. Remember, I’m on a Mac and it was the most obvious way for me to be able to SEE the file. I couldn’t even see the .htaccess file if I logged in to the backend of my hosting server and tried to find it through their file server. I couldn’t see the file when using Firefox’s FTP program, FireFTP.

I COULD see it using Dreamweaver – both the hosted and my local version so that’s what I used.

So I figured if YOU could do it, then what might be different from what you’re doing and what I’m doing and thought – DREAMWEAVER!

SO I downloaded Filezilla which DID allow me to see the file – both the hosted version and the local version.

Once downloaded, I renamed the local version to 1.htaccess so it would appear, changed the file using TextEdit – uploaded it via FileZilla and renamed the hosted version back to .htaccess.

So far, I don’t have the permalinks problem so apparently Dreamweaver was causing the issues.

UGH – sorry.

Moral of the story: Don’t use DreamWeaver to work with .htaccess files.

I want to work with this a few more minutes before I mark this issue “Solved.” But if it appears to be fixed, then I’ll come back and do so.

Thanks for your help and patience.

E-gads…on both hosted and local versions, that threw a 500 error and so I couldn’t even get to the homepage or the admin area.

Hi DJ Psycho, I can’t help you with the eShop but if you’re willing to spend a little money, you might look into eStore plugin. It is developed for e-commerce setup with digital downloads.

I haven’t used it but have looked at several ecommerce plugins for WP. I was very impressed with the developer’s willingness to answer questions via the forum…not something all paid plugins do.

I should also say that in terms of the all the plugins, the guy over at eShop was another developer who answered questions via his forum, so you might ask over there if you need a free WP ecommerce plugin.

Okay, thanks. Unfortunately, it was already enabled, so that wasn’t the culprit.

MMMMMM….thanks t31os_, but that one is over my head. I have no idea how to do what you’re suggesting.

But just to see if it made a difference, I tried your idea on the hosted version of my wordpress site – putting my code at the top of the htaccess file – it didn’t help. I got the same results as before.

I did notice that I was using WordPress version 2.9.2 instead of 2.9.1. My version wasn’t available in the drop-down box when I started this thread. Could that make a difference?

Putting the code on top doesn’t help. To make sure there wasn’t something wrong with the code i’m typing in, I even went so as far to cut/paste the code WP wrote in the file then resaved…so there isn’t anything NEW, just a resaved version of what WP provided. And I’m still getting the same issue — when I go back to my WP blog, all permalinks no longer work and all but the homepage gives me 404 errors.

To save time, this last test was done on my MAMP only…don’t see the need to attempt on the hosted version since I can’t even solve the issue on my local version.

In regards to eStore, my update: The guy Amin answered my questions promptly and when I had more questions for clarification, he came back and answered more. He doesn’t tout his plugin as the panacea for all ecommerce solutions and will even tell you that upfront.

The plugin isn’t free and I wouldn’t consider it for large ecommerce sites…but I am seriously looking at it for my own use and for any clients who need to sell digital-wares and/or just have a few things to sell on their site without complicated shipping issues.

Big pluses for the quick forum feedback from the developer over at eStore. Because…..after a few days AND a help ticket submitted I AM STILL WAITING FOR ANY RESPONSE from the plugin Shopp — AVOID THIS PLUGIN AT ALL COSTS unless its exactly what you want and you don’t want any support, because it doesn’t look like you’ll get any.

HI Calicosun,
I appreciate your opinion and when I get more time, I might look into learning how to use it. I am not a code-demon but I’m also not a slacker either. The product seemed very cumbersome and as though it would take a great deal of effort just to get something to happen. Since I personally am not in need of such a big ecommerce solution, I moved on — to what yet? I don’t know — still looking. When it comes time to looking into solutions for my clients, I might take another look – I just don’t have that much time to devote to it right now.

My biggest problem in researching the plugin and trying to find opinions and solutions was this: Every time I looked on a DIFFERENT website other than Instinct’s own…if someone expressed their honest opinion and stated they didn’t like it or found it buggy or cumbersome or whatever, one of the developers of the plugin would come on the site and totally scorch “the offending complainer”. I didn’t see that they were being rude or out-of-line. Just expressing their honest opinion. But yet this guy would come back over and over and over again to tout his plugin’s miraculous abilities and try to make the “offender” look like a dirt-bag loser.

I have a REAL problem with that. I wanted to tell him I felt he should stop spending so much time trolling the web looking for fights to pick and just stay on his own forums and make his plugin the best possible. But it wasn’t worth the effort to me.

It was a real turn-off for me as well as the people commenting on his remarks. But he just continued. Oy.

My experiences:
WP-ecommerce = I just couldn’t get it to work. I couldn’t get the products to show up and after looking around and seeing all the complaints, I moved on, trying to avoid too many migraines.

So I moved on to Shopp ($55) = My mistake thinking a paid plugin actually offered support. You get very little response from the forum and they are VERY slow to actually deliver the upgrades in releases they promise. According to their forum, they are promising all these great upgrades in version 1.1. I saw this offered around version 1.08…they are now on version 1.017 after a year. I gave up.

eShop is free and pretty good, but you better be willing to live with products being posted on pages. Because as we’re told over and over again on the forum, that’s the way the plugin was originally designed to function. YEs, they have added the functionality to add products to POSTS…but wait a minute. Those shortcodes don’t work so well for getting a gallery view of your products onto a PAGE. You can do it…but it ain’t pretty. However, the guy over on their forums (sorry, all names have merged together at this point) is at least willing to RESPOND to your questions. Something I’m not seeing for the paid plugins. The biggest thing this plugin needs is the ELEGANT solution to post to POSTS AND a good tutorial system. Ironically, in a past-life I was an Instructional Designer and trainer and would have been more than willing to offer up some help in this matter…but not if I can’t use the product.

Zingiri was just weird. Sorry. I deleted it after about five minutes.

I have some questions asked on the support forum for eStore – another paid plugin. I don’t want a repeat of Shopp. If they answer, i’ll report back. If they don’t, I’ll report back because I think that is just as telling, if not more.

I think I’ve tried another one, but can’t remember the name because quite frankly, I’m getting confused and very disheartened.

PHPurchase is another paid product so I have no experience with it. I think they offer a money-back guarantee. Conveniently, Shopp does not. So I might take a look there next. But doubtful. I’ve pretty much given up all hope but came here as one last resort. Seems as though I can’t find any reports here either regarding a good and solid WP + ecommerce solution.

Yes please….I am on my fourth ecommerce plugin for WP and have given up. I can’t find any, paid or free, that work as expected and intended….ah heck, one that JUST WORKS!! Even some of the paid plugins offer no support or help, so don’t assume that’s the answer because its not.
I really LOVE WordPress and wanted dearly to make this happen.

I agree with corrynews12. If you’re golden and have no issues, then you’ll be fine. But they are slow to respond and very slow to make the changes they promise they’re working on. One problem I have they’ve been talking about putting it in version 1.1 for over a year now. The promises started around version 1.08; they are currently on version 1.017….what are we going for….version 1.0100 before actually releasing 1.1? Geez.

Big problems for me are basic in other plugins:
(1) You can’t setup your shop to accept offline payments.
(2) They have this really weird thing with the way they’ve setup their variations and tied it to inventory…it doesn’t work like expected and as it does with almost every other plugin out there.

The plugin has a lot going for it and quite frankly, these 2 issues seemed so common-sense I didn’t even think to look closely to see if these were a part of the current release. My bad.

So the bottom line: Make absolutely certain it has the functionality you want….because you won’t get a refund, you’ll be waiting forever for the next major release….and you’ll get very little support and help from the people who code/sell the thing.

Good luck.