Will Zen Cart work for Me

[Skor]

I'm really trying to find an ecommerce solution and am strongly considering zen cart. Here's my deal. I have a site which offers fused glass jewelry and home decor. Each piece is a one-off; it is unique. The site I have now is built in PHP and MySQL. A MySQL database drives the inventory pages for Earrings, Necklaces and home items as well as a detail page should a visitor click on an item. Once an item sells I change the status from "A" (for Active) to "S" for sold.

My core question is this: Can I use my existing database with Zen Cart?

Can they co-exist or do I need to rework the bulk of my site to sustain the current look and feel.

Also, I have considered using the PayPal IPN as the credit card gateway are there any issues in doing this?

Thanks much,

Skor

[kobra]

Trying to use a current site and link to cart functions is a much asked question.

The answer is always NO. There is by far too much in the way of security through sessions and the like to effectively make this possible. While there is nothing that is impossible, the investment in time to code such an animal far out weighs the time that it takes to use the Cart as your TOTAL site.

The mysql data question cannot be answered from the meager information that you have provided, but I would venture that most of it cannot be used owing to how it is currently structured, but this is a guess.

ZenCart can handle your one off items with ease and no intervention from you. Just set the quantity to "1" and as soon as it is purchased another cannot also purchase it. It can be set to drop when sold or to indicate "sold-out" so it remains visible.

PayPal IPN is installed as part of ZenCart and works to a "T".

The basic method used in Zencart is that there is a minimal product listing where many items in a category can be viewed and selecting one transfers one to a product info page for just that item where you have the details listed as you currently have on your separate page now.

Bassically, a much easier method of management than individual html pages.