WP e-Commerce, WordPress Plugin
Mon, 21 April, 2008 – 4:06 pm
I've been working on setting up my new site and decided to try out the WP e-Commerce plugin on it for dealing with selling the products. I would have used Secure Delivery however I need to give the option of a shopping cart to visitors as most will hopefully purchase two products, the main product and an upgrade license (more on this another time).
WP e-Commerce is just like any other plugin for the installation. Just unzip the files and upload the directory to your plugins directory, and activate it in the WordPress admin. You then get an extra menu for it, where you can set your shop settings, other preferences, and start adding categories, brands and product information. It can deal with physical products or digital products, the latter was what I was interested in. You can also easily select which fields to have in the form on the front end, and which of these fields to send PayPal so that they're prefilled. As I'm only looking to sell digital products I took the address details out as these are not needed.
The lite version of this plugin allows you to sell products via PayPal only. Whilst it's called 'lite' it's not that simple as such. You can have your products in categories, there's a shopping basket and it uses the PayPal IPN for instant notification. I've not gone through the whole process but I would assume that if you're selling a digital product it will also then provide a download link to the buyer to download the product, as I've had the option to set how many times the product can be downloaded by the buyer.
There are optional extras that cost a little extra (very little to be honest!) which I may look at in the future if the site gets busy enough to need them. Whilst I could have coded this all myself I figured that it was worth looking at the plugin and to be honest it's a good plugin to use. I may also convert one of our other product selling sites over to it as that's been needing a shopping basket for months but I've just not had the time to sit down and really finish the coding myself. With this plugin I could probably get everything added over a couple of days (100+ products) and convert the site to WordPress and hopefully, if my thinking is right, see the sales rocket 
So if you're after a free, light, product selling script then this is a good option to look at.
Doh- Oh well, I guess you'll like the Secure Delivery update we are working on releasing in a week or two where we add cart support
By Chance on Tue, 22 April, 2008
Hey Chance, that's good news
I probably won't have this new site done before then so will hold off until I see your new release 
By Sarah on Tue, 22 April, 2008
I was thinking of using this plugin when I got my new design site up. We'll see how it goes. Is it easy to use?
By Jenny on Fri, 25 April, 2008
Hey Jenny, yeah it's pretty easy to use once you work out what does what (I ticked the wrong boxes at first and wondered why my product images were not showing!). I spent last night altering some of the core code however as I didn't like some of the markup it output, however it's not too bad otherwise. It's simpler to use than osCommerce that's for sure! Of course you lose some flexibility than if you used your own custom code but at the end of the day time is a factor and this gets things done quicker
By Sarah on Fri, 25 April, 2008
Thanks for your post. I hope that our e-Commerce plugin for WordPress works for you.nnWe fancy it as quite a powerful e-commerce solution these days.nnAnyway if there is anything we can do to help let me know.nnRegards,nnDan
By Dan Milward on Mon, 19 May, 2008
Hi Dan, cheers for you comment. My only gripe would be the markup used on the front end output, but otherwise it's a great plugin so far, I've not set the site live that's using it yet, still uploading all the products!
By Sarah on Mon, 19 May, 2008
Let us know how you get on.nnOne of our plans for the next major release is to make it more template driven and CSS based… stay tuned
nnCiao,nnDan
By Dan Milward on Mon, 19 May, 2008
I am looking into magento (just search for magentocommerce in google) now because i never liked osCommerce much. It is brandnew and suitable for some serious business. And of course it is free.nAnd the standard-design is good to look at without much work.
By Musashi on Thu, 22 May, 2008
I've looked at Magneto, whilst it sounds good it still seems a bit overkill for a basic digital product site. I also wasn't keen on the output and design, although I'm sure with a bit of work you could improve on that.
By Sarah on Thu, 22 May, 2008
And Magneto won't integrate with WordPress.nnAlmost all of the other packages base your entire website around the shopping cart – this is fine except they are not very good at being a normal website too. I'm not sure how good magneto is – but some of the other packages are terrible.nnWP e-Commerce bolts onto WordPress the best blogging and CMS platform there is. So you will get the best of both worlds. You get a powerful modern website with industrial strength / modern e-Commerce features.
By Dan Milward on Thu, 22 May, 2008
My first impression of e-commerce plugin was hopeful.nnBut I'm struck (as others are) by the total lack of meaningful documentation.nnBy documentation, I mean "instructions for people who aren't YOU so that they can learn how to use the software you've developed and, hopefully, later upgrade and pay you"nnI can't find how to upload an mp3 file as a product. Pretty basic stuff but no instructions anywhere.nnAnd in looking, all I find is unhappy people who also can't make your software work. No guides, no resolved queries. That's business suicide, where I come from.nnIs the problem that the developers actually don't know how to monetise their efforts and end up dumping their anger and frustration on the people they sucker into investing their valuable time and effort on their projects?nnWhatever the reason for the total lack of 'how to' documentation, I think it's costing you in terms of your online reputation and ultimately, the numbers of people who will pay for your premium product – which just seems counterproductive to me…?
By Sam Deeks on Wed, 11 June, 2008
Hi Sam, Sorry but you seem to have me confused with one of the plugin developers. I didn't develop this plugin so maybe you need to voice your complaints to them directly?nnDan Milward, who's commented on this post, is a developer, but this isn't his site.nnPersonally I've found the plugin very simple and easy to use, uploading a digital product (such as an MP3 file) is very straightforward. Create a new product and at the bottom it asks you to upload the file.nnHowever, as I said at the start. This isn't my plugin so you need to voice your complaints on their forum, not my blog.nnThanks
By Sarah on Wed, 11 June, 2008
Yep, sorry Sarah, I know it's nothing to do with you. I started off making a comment after seeing your post and the follow up comments and by the end I was addressing it to Dan (who has posted here). My apologies.nnPlease feel free to take it and this one off.nnI arrived at this post by Googling "How do I upload a digital file with wordpress e-commerce plugin?" or very similar – so don't be surprised if more people arrive looking for clues!nnCheers!
By Sam Deeks on Wed, 11 June, 2008
No problem Sam. In answer to your question of how to upload an MP3 file, I double checked the plugin on one of my sites and the last option when adding a product is 'Product Download' where you can either select an already uploaded product or upload a new one. That's where you'd add your MP3 file.nnI've uploaded over 100 digital products to the site using this plugin without a problem. Hope that solves your question.
By Sarah on Wed, 11 June, 2008
Sarah I am sorry this happpened on your site. Sam I'm sorry you struggled to get things working!!nnJust so everybody knows though we are working on a new documentation page which is available on our site – plus there is a "ton" of info on the forums (including MP3 instructions) for people that choose to read it.nnI'm also working out how to bring back the wiki that we had to unfortunatly take down…nnAnyway. More good news is that we've just uploaded a new version 3.6.6
By Dan Milward on Wed, 11 June, 2008
Dan, no problem
Will take a look at the new plugin version once I get a spare few minutes 
By Sarah on Wed, 11 June, 2008
Dan,nnWhere is the forum with this information?
By Andrew on Sat, 14 June, 2008
Hi Andrew. Our forums are at:nnhttp://www.instinct.co.nz/forumsnnHi Sarah. Thanks for your email the other day on affiliate stuff. I am presently meditating on which system to use / how to do this.nnCiao,nnDan
By Dan Milward on Mon, 16 June, 2008
In my opinion, its better to use other open source software for ecommerce website such as Magento, zencart, oscommerce etc.nnIf you want to have a blog for your e-commerce site, i suggest to just add wordpress later on as you can transfer the design later on.nneView list of open source software
By Ramzwatcher on Sun, 22 June, 2008
I did not know that there was an commerce plugin for WP, I thought it was only Blogging software. 60,000 users thus far and integrating into all the big providers, Google, Paypal etc. Thanks for the heads up.
By Goran Giertz on Sun, 22 June, 2008
@Ramzwatcher – The plugin is open source software. Zencart and osCommerce are overbloated scripts and Magento is a bit much to power a basic digital product download site. Imagine if you had 5 products to sell. Would you build a shop to sell those 5 products, or just get a small stall on the market? Similar idea. Why use a major shopping script to sell 5 products? I'd rather save my bandwidth and disk space, but the amount of time it would require with each upgrade.nn@Goran – No problem. It's a nice little plugin.
By Sarah on Sun, 22 June, 2008
@Ramzwatcher – I tend to disagree too. WordPress is so much more then just a blogging tool, it is one of the best website frameworks in the world.nnFor me a good solid framework is the most important factor in any website – regardless whether it is e-commerce site, a blog, an events site, or just whatever.nnIf you start with a great website framwork (WordPress), and then add a great e-Commerce solution (WP e-Commerce) then you get the best of both worlds.nnMy problem with most of the other solutions available is that they try to be everything to everybody…
By Dan Milward on Mon, 23 June, 2008
Personally I love os-commerce. I just wish there was a way to smoothly intigrate os-commerce into wordpress. wordpress is the best choice for many of my low budget clients with real business they need online. WP offers me and them everything we need without me having to reinvent the wheel…all ready to go and easy for them to use right out of the opensource box.
nnAlthough I think this plugin has lots of potential I agree with Sarah, I find the GUI part of it awkward. The functionality seems to be well done and getting better as they develop it. But I would suggest keeping it simple, but go for more of a os-commerce type GUI or look and feel. Is that more of what you are looking for Sarah?nnRJ
By RJ Levesque, Jr. on Thu, 26 June, 2008
Personally I hate osCommerce! I only have one client with two sites on it but I'm really not a fan of osCommerce at all. I also don't have a problem with the GUI part of the WP eCommerce plugin. I find it pretty simple and straightforward to use.
By Sarah on Mon, 30 June, 2008
I have a question about the download functionality in WP E commerce. I had not problem uploading the MP3 file. But I must be missing something. When I finish the PayPal payment process I don't see a link where I can download the MP3 file. Also, the link the leads back to my site does not work either. Any ideas?nHere is the site: http://www.MusicForAnimals.org
By Christian Neeser on Wed, 30 July, 2008
Hi Christian,nnYour best option is probably to try the support forum on the site for WP e-Commerce
By Sarah on Sun, 3 August, 2008
We've had a lot of success with OS commerce too. However as an e-commerce platform it's not the fastest out of the box it can be very rigid if you're doing something out of the ordinary with it. I prefer these WP plugins for some projects because they separate the site from the shop. Which means they can be bolted onto more or less any site. This gives the flexible and bespoke edge sometime lacking from OS installs. Just my opinion though.nnJim
By ecommerce-uk on Tue, 5 August, 2008
Hi, I'm looking for a wordpress plugin that let me create an e-commerce site without really selling any product – I want to promote a catalogue of products and send the user directly to an affiliate site. Does WP e-Commerce let me do that?? importing a products catalog and defining an external link for the "Buy Now" action?nThanks
By Kalhorda on Wed, 27 August, 2008
Kalhorda, please see Dan's response (a developer of the plugin) below.
By Sarah on Wed, 27 August, 2008
Sarah; Hope things are well. Have you seen our new site design and documentation project?nnKalhorda; We are actually talking about two import modules + you can use the "external link" under advanced options to send people an affiliates site… Importing will definitely happen
By Dan Milward on Wed, 27 August, 2008
Hi Dan, cheers for your response as always. I'll be honest, I've had barely any time to do or look at anything besides client work! I'll try and remember to take a look one evening this week
By Sarah on Wed, 27 August, 2008
I have installed the ecommerce on my site and being totally new to coding and all the bells and whistles that go with word press I found it quite daunting. but i read and read the forum until I think I configured the return ipn right. but now my dilemma is how to set up the download link to begin with. I know it must be done or rather I think it must be done in variations. where to start, what to put. I have now downloads and the variation as .zip. but where do i put the link per item. totally confused.. I would ask on the forum but wp forums don't take kind to beginners. if anyone can help it would be appreciated. Thanks
By robyn samples on Wed, 29 October, 2008
Hi Robyn,
So if I've read your comment right you've got everything set up but you want to offer digital products for sale? When you add a product at the very bottom is the image/thumbnail options, below this is the option to upload the product if it's an image or file eg. MP3. This is where you add your product. It will then be stored on the server but encrypted.
Then when someone buys the product, once they've paid they'll get the download link automatically.
If that's not what you're after you may need to explain it a little more
By Sarah on Wed, 29 October, 2008
hi sarah I saw where your speaking of . to be more specific . I want a .zip download off of a ftp client. I have 8 gals designing digital scrapping products. so were all .zips or .rar we ftp and that is how I try to keep count of what the gals upload so I pay them straight once they have a sale. so to upload I need to have them input a url thats off my ftp. like http://www.(mysite)/wp-content.....lename.zip … how do i do this?
Thanks Robyn
By robyn samples on Thu, 30 October, 2008
Hi Robyn, you can upload the zip via the product downloads page I mentioned in my last comment. FTPing the product directly to your site will
a: Not be picked up by WP eCommerce
b: Be unencrypted so anyone looking can find all your products and download without paying.
When you upload your product via the plugin pages it will store the file on your FTP hosting, under the uploads directory. When someone pays for that particular product the site knows which file to unencrypt and give them a download link for.
If you put the files on manually then there's no way (to my knowledge) of telling the WP eCommerce plugin where to retrieve the file for a sale.
I hope that makes sense. The idea with the plugin is that it's self contained and doesn't require you to use FT P.
By Sarah on Thu, 30 October, 2008
Hi Sarah, Okay so each gal uploads from her computer at that spot, then I can go into the ftp and keep a control there of whos done what. thats sounds simple enough. They will love it! no having to figure our their url's. lol
I already saw posts on having problems with doing the downloads via paypal, so I went and changed my configuration with paypal as to how they had said to in the forum. Its like I guess I'm working backwards, lol.. I hope I did it right with the ipn url's and stuff. we will find out. But at least us gals can start inputting our designs now. Thanks again
Robyn
Hey where having a Halloween party starting at midnight tonight, come on over. I will be giving out prizes all night and all day tommorrow and tommorow night, some cosmetics, psp siggy tags and scrapbook items for digital use. you just might win something. lol
You are most welcome if you can stop by.
Thanks so much Sarah I really do appreciate it and you are so much nicer than nasty word press techs. ( you don't evan want to know, lol)
By robyn samples on Thu, 30 October, 2008
Hey Robyn,
I think once you start using it fully you'll get to grips with how it works. Post back up here if you get stuck with anything and I'll do my best to help out
By Sarah on Sun, 2 November, 2008
sarah, i guess there is a problem with the line breaker symbol (\n) coze i read the comments and sometimes it goes like "nn" where u need "\n\n"
just thought to mention that out, anyway have a nice day and great stuff u got here
By Riadh on Tue, 9 December, 2008
Hi Riadh, yes when I imported my old AIS blog into my main site, it lost all the line breaks in both the posts and comments. My guess is it lost the forwardslash before the newlines.
I've just not had the time to sit and fix 200 posts!
By Sarah on Wed, 10 December, 2008
Boo
Are you still using wp e-commerce Sarah? We're planning on using it at work for a client's new site but I can't find many demo samples. Could do with some feedback from someone who's not going to BS me with "sales" type talk. If you've got 5 mins spare I would love to hear from you on it. Thanks!
By Jem on Wed, 15 April, 2009
wp-ecommerce still lacks any meaningful documentation. It is a feature rich product, but it's not efficient to use as you have to trial-and-error every aspect of the thing. You'd do much better buying just about any commercial shopping cart software that has decent documentation.
By Brad on Fri, 29 May, 2009
If you've got the budget to buy a shopping cart or have one written then sure, JShop is probably a better option or a custom built one is always more suitable. But for a free shopping cart, this cart does exactly what you need with a few extra features in for good measure. I've not needed any documentation to set the bulk of it up and have referred to the documentation and searching the forum on their site for anything I'm not sure of.
Yes I've also hacked a few files around to set things up how I want them to be but I really wouldn't say that you have to 'trial-and-error' every aspect. It's pretty straightforward to use.
By Sarah on Sat, 30 May, 2009
I've been documenting my adventures with creating a download store with WP e-Commerce and PayPal
Writing it down for the next person at
http://titanwest.com/blog/2009.....th-paypal/
How to turn on the IPN, PDT, and such on PayPal, but it still doesn't work for me.
Basically, PayPal returns a status of Pending, so the download link is not available in the first email or the Transaction page.
I've tried the forum with no additional info.
the link appears in the email if I manually change the order status, but that is not acceptable.
Anyone have a working example of WP e-Commerce using PayPal and creating automatic links? Maybe post an example of the return ULR from PayPal so I can see if I am getting the right variable
By Ryan on Fri, 16 October, 2009