Website exists already, with all product images. Possible to add Zen?

Hi all,

I spend quite a few hours with zen so far, installed it and played around, added categories etc, just to understand how it works.

My question is actually very simple.

A client approached me asking me to fix his shopping cart system, which was made with the Agoria shopping cart, but for some reason does not work anymore. He cannot get in touch with his old webmaster to fix this.
I don't know PHP or mySQL, but am a bit familiar with content-management systems and such.
Instead of trying to fix the mess i thought it would be easier to install a complete new shopping cart system, so i installed zen.

it seems to be more complicated than i want it to be. In zen i apparently need to create all products and categories in the admin area, add images and then change the template to make it similar with the main website.

Please have a look at my client's current website:

http://mitchelrubindesigns.com/neckties.htm

There it was set up so you had to click on any product image, and the product was put in a shopping cart.
The payment worked like that: the system collected the credit card information, which he than MANUALLY ran through his little merchant terminal. Sounds very simple to me.

I don't want to set-up a complete new store, uploading all product images, creating categories etc. I want to use what I have and just add on some functionality.

What I want:

Is it possible to keep the website as it currently is, with all product images as they are etc, and just add some code so that a product is put in a shopping cart once you click on it.

My client does NOT want paypal, because he doesn't want to have any middlemen in his transactions.

It would be great to get ANY hints on how to proceed. I am really a beginner with shopping carts, and all i know is how to set-up a cart in paypal :wacko:

Thank you and sorry for not being able to make this request shorter. After all, I am female :D

A.

The short answer is no. You can't use the existing site with Zen Cart as the back end. It will be easier in the long run to convert all the data to Zen Cart. If the data is in a mySQL database, you might be able to manipulate it into Zen Cart, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Zen Cart has a built in credit card module which will allow your client to process the credit cards offline. For security reasons, part of the cc number is stored in the database and the rest is emailed to the store owner.

There are only ?what? about 50 to 100 items on the site? Other than Template design and artwork it would only take a day or so to add the items and descriptions.

You could leave the current site in place while you are developing the new site, then once you are done [because the search engines already have indexed your pages] leave them there with links back to the appropriate cart pages.

That way you get the WIN because you have page rank, but you also have an html page to index and get the search engines to find the new site...

My $.02 Worth
JOhn ><>

Ok, great. Thank you.

So it looks like even with any other system it is not possible to keep it as easy I want it to be, and use the existing pages and images?
I really have to completely set-up a new store?

If this is the case, I will have to post in the "Business Issues" section and find someone else to do it.

Thanks to you as well, Stuff4Toys. You are right, it is not that complicated, but I only estimated $250 for setting up a Paypal cart, now he changed his mind after talking to friends who recommended him NOT to go with Paypal.

For $250 I don't want to deal with that ;-)

well if you are only charging $25 per hour, you could almost get it done. If he already runs credit cards on a local terminal, then the CC capture is already in Zen-Cart. No extra setup is required.

You might boost him up a little when you sell him all the advanced features of Zen Cart. Looking at his current site, I would suggest the "Cherry Zen" template, in a more subtle color shade, then install Image Handler II and possibly Lightbox and a few other add-ons.

JOhn ><>

On a slow connection I can add 50 to 80 items in 3 or 4 hours. With a Great High Speed connection I can add 50 items an hour without breaking a sweat. You have all the text and images in place so it's mostly a cut n paste operation.

You can write off a little labor to gain experience, then you are armed to join the fray of professional eCommerce developers.

JOhn ><>

I agree with Stuff4Toys. It'll be easier to set up and maintain a Zen Cart than a PayPal cart. The Holzheimer's site in my sig used to be an html setup with PayPal buttons. i converted to Zen Cart to make it easier on myself when the owner wants to add merchandise.

Thanks guys. You are all totally right, and in the long-term it would probably be better to recreate the whole thing. I also think the design is terrible and needs an update.

Before I make the decision on how to proceed I tried my luck in an Agora forum, and see what the folks over there have to say to the current problem with the cart.

I would love to become more familiar with shopping carts, since he is not the first one interested in getting one. Unfortunately, I will go on vacation next week, which just does not give me the time to deal with it.

Again, thanks everyone for your fast replies and suggestions, I really appreciate it and may be back once I start setting up the cart in Zen...