Looking for an offline website/shopping cart

[Jim Poor]

I'm making some changes to my on-site sales and am looking for a simple site / shopping cart that will run offline.

Basically, I want folks to be able to view, select and print a list of images and come to me for payment.

Best as HTML that will run off any old hard drive, but I do have a mini sever that I can take along if I really have to.

Any ideas?

Best,
Jim

[Cam Monroe]

You could instal apache, php, and mysql on any computer, online or off.
You wouldn't need any special cart software, use zen cart....oscommerse, or what ever your favorite is.
Personally I try to stay away from online processing if possible, I much prefer the traditional methods....safer, and far less expensive.

The big problem is that offline, you have no way to verify the payment.
Are you going to call it in on the spot?, or store the transactions till you get home then connect to your procesing company?

Does your processing company offer a POS package?
such as:
Payment Services LLC

Our bank refered my wife to that company, when she open her dog grooming shop.
We bought the terminal (ouch, but still better than paying monthly rentel IMHO)
She uses it on location, with a hardline phone...but has the option to store transactions when not connected.
For real time (not at the shop) processing, they also offer a machine that connects to a blackberry type phone, or a fully funtioning standalone machine with cell phone service built in.

Payment services sent a rep to her shop to set everything up.
I know they service the Asheville/Knoxville area...we have used them here for 3 years now.
Talk to your provider if you have one, call Payment services, or ask at your bank for something similar in your area.

[Jim Poor]

It isn't as simple as that unfortunately. One can't just run WAMP or MAMP and be set or else I'd just be running an off-line copy of my current website / shopping cart.

There are / were two close options. EOS template which will run off any disc without any of the WAMP/MAMP components is close, but it has a few very significant shortfalls.

The other is the ULTIMATE Deluxe from onefshop.com, however the on-location module is no longer available since the developer got tired of fielding support calls from folks who couldn't set up a LAN.

Payment would be manual, but in locations where there is connectivity, automated payments could work too. I have a CC proccessor already that works with or without connectivity.

Verifying payments isn't a HUGE concern since nothing is going home with the clients. Everything is processed and shipped later.

[Cam Monroe]

I run WAMP to test software, and play legend of the green dragon.....I don't see why you couldn't run it for a shopping cart...it just wouldn't connect, and would store the information for later.
or am I missing something about the cart configuration?


If you have to process manually anyway, how about just building html/css galleries?
You could use jalbum for a quick way, but you sound like you could (or would prefer) to build it from scratch.

Then just swipe/card imprint in person.

[Jim Poor]

I have been building HTML galleries, but they have no shopping cart capability and that is beyond my html skills.

As for the "why" I really don't know, but there is a lot of effort being put into getting my current shopping cart running in an off-line configuration and nobody has been able to do it yet.

I don't know of any jalbum export modules that would do the trick. The developer of Ultimate Deluxe, which is a jalbum export preset insists it will not work without internet connectivity.

[Cam Monroe]

I think I found out why from zen cart.

merchant's Terms of Service (TOS) will be very clear that you're not allowed to store customer credit card numbers in a retrieval system

That is why the CC numbers are X'ed out, but you can get then emailed to you for offline processing.
Zen Cart(tm) Tutorials and FAQs - How do I set up the basic Credit Card module,...

So all the software is designed to deny offline processing by default...to block cc number storage.


It could be worked around by also instaling a local email system....but configuring that goes WAY over my head.

[dakwegmo]

If you're running windows have you given XAMPP a try. There's a PortableApp version that will let you run a web server from a USB drive. That should let you use your existing site.

[elkidogz]

I think I've made something close to what you want. I've made a php "website" that generated a gallery of images based off a directory which had the images... Then it used an ajax shadowbox to open a larger version of the picture, mine had the EXIF information on it as well.

you could create a form for each of the galleries, the client would click on a bullet to select the picture they wanted, the php handler could make a file that would give you the file names of all the selected images your client wants prints of, you could even make a check box for an array of products. each photo would have a set of options for the client to select from.

the php handler on the laptop could even generate an invoice for you... just depends on how much information you want to include on it. Get there information, and then once you get back to the office, you can process it as you like, that way you could take checks, or cash or what have you.

[mseigafuse]

Take a look at TTG Highslide Pro - TTG Highslide Gallery Pro — The Turning Gate

It lets you build galleries with client proofing, shopping cart, etc all from Lightroom. Very easy, no html/css coding needed. It can either "publish" to a server (via FTP), or simply export to a folder on your computer. I would think you could then browse it locally 100% on the PC - but that would be easy to confirm with a free trial or a question posted to the site (the author is pretty responsive).

Mike

[Jim Poor]

I've looked at that. Lightroom is quite slow for the volume of images I produce on location, plus I believe all the galleries have to be generated at once rather than after each separate event. I also think it has a file limit that is too low for what I need.

Originally Posted by mseigafuse

Take a look at TTG Highslide Pro - TTG Highslide Gallery Pro — The Turning Gate

It lets you build galleries with client proofing, shopping cart, etc all from Lightroom. Very easy, no html/css coding needed. It can either "publish" to a server (via FTP), or simply export to a folder on your computer. I would think you could then browse it locally 100% on the PC - but that would be easy to confirm with a free trial or a question posted to the site (the author is pretty responsive).

Mike