redSHOP 
Version
1.1.11 (last update on Aug 13, 2012)
Rating
Compatibility
Reviews
62
License
GPLv2 or later
Non-Commercial
Type
Date Added
13 March 2010
Editor's Note
- This extension has additional addons listed in an extension specific category.
- This extension requires registration to download.
Now with more than 100 extensions, modules and plugins + even more 3rd party extensions and support from the template clubs Rockettheme, Gavickpro, Joomlabamboo!
Try the demo and check out redSHOP and all of the ecommerce features here: http://redshop.demo.redcomponent.com
This is the most advanced webshop system ever created for Joomla - It is light years ahead of any other webshop or cart component for Joomla.
See full Changelog and why we have the most updated extension on JED here:
http://redcomponent.com/changelogs/redshop-changelog
See presentation video on
http://redcomponent.com/redcomponent/redshop
So what is redSHOP? redSHOP is a Content Creation Kit style of webshop / webshop tool where you got the most access ever given to any user to completely style around and change thier webshop, without alot more knowledge then HTML and a bit of CSS.
redSHOP offers never earlier seen functionality in webshops - redSHOP offers functionality only seen in software with licenses costing more then upto 1000 times more then a 12 Month Pro Subscription costs.
The goal of redSHOP was to take the normal 20% users can do and the 80% thats happens in the php files - and switch it around - so with redSHOP you, the user, can do 80% of everything yourself!!!
In a summarized version this is what redSHOP is:
•100% MVC - Perhaps the most amount of menu items available in Joomla History!
•Unlimited products
•Unlimited categories
•Unlimited manufacturers
•22 Different image sizes on the fly from config settings
•Image AI system for flipping X and Y coordinates on higher than wider images
•Internal Template system - Rewrite almost any screen using templates
•Dynamic Fields - Create new fields for products, categories or manufacturers on the fly
•Complete tagging system - Insert new fields into templates using tags
•Textlibrary system
•Prices, Sale Prices, Volume Prices, Shopper Group Prices
•Related products
•Accessory products - Group products by primary product and make special prices
•Virtual Attribute system with visual navigation and option to upload pictures per attribute and set priceadjustment per attribute or subattribute (including product sku and stockroom)
•Parent / Child product relations
•100% Built in SEO/SEF control (using sh404sef)
•Shoppergroups - B2B Portal system
•Shoppergroup prices - all through redSHOP
•Shoppergroup ACL - Control access to specific categories for B2B Customers
•ACTION EMAILS - Send up to 3 emails on each sale all automated
•Order Catalog feature with action emails
•Product sample feature with action emails
•Vouchers - Create vouchers with option of selecting a specific product and if you want free shipping or not
•Copuons - Create discountcoupons for users or globally
•Discounts with runn
I used Redshop on two sites. I´m a not-stupid but-no-programmer-Joomla user, I don´t know much about PHP and CSS.
Redshop appeared to be a BAD choice then.
It took me HOURS of tweeking, contacting the support, waiting, contacting again, trying myself and so on.
Especially the tweeking the graphics is a pain in the b...
The support is okay, a little slow sometimes, they know what they are talking about, but they are (as programmers) not very good in explaining one like me, what to do. So you have to define your questions VERY precisely.
Even if you pay for the Pro (which I did) you won´t get better or faster support. I actually never found out what I paid for.
It took me a couple of weeks to set up each shop. The second shop wasn´t easier than the first one: I simply couldn´t remember the menues again, even though I tried the whole process before.
I´m an Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) and have been working professionally with 3D for 15 years. But I really don´t understand the menues in Redshop.
In the end I thought it was me that was stupid and that I shouldn´t work with webshops (even though it just SHOULD be software that everybody can learn).
Untill I found Hikashop.
Other Joomla based shops are probably good. But it took me a SINGLE day to set up a simple shop.
I contacted the support a few times and got an answer in 20 minutes. And (even though they are French;-)) I understand what they are talking about.
Redshop appeared to be a BAD choice then.
It took me HOURS of tweeking, contacting the support, waiting, contacting again, trying myself and so on.
Especially the tweeking the graphics is a pain in the b...
The support is okay, a little slow sometimes, they know what they are talking about, but they are (as programmers) not very good in explaining one like me, what to do. So you have to define your questions VERY precisely.
Even if you pay for the Pro (which I did) you won´t get better or faster support. I actually never found out what I paid for.
It took me a couple of weeks to set up each shop. The second shop wasn´t easier than the first one: I simply couldn´t remember the menues again, even though I tried the whole process before.
I´m an Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) and have been working professionally with 3D for 15 years. But I really don´t understand the menues in Redshop.
In the end I thought it was me that was stupid and that I shouldn´t work with webshops (even though it just SHOULD be software that everybody can learn).
Untill I found Hikashop.
Other Joomla based shops are probably good. But it took me a SINGLE day to set up a simple shop.
I contacted the support a few times and got an answer in 20 minutes. And (even though they are French;-)) I understand what they are talking about.
There is so much to like about RedShop - the templates, the options, the stockroom. I didn't even get a chance to consider the extra extensions and paid-for areas because the documentation gets you started and then drops you off a cliff. The free version is buggy and the forum feels like the blind leading the blind. It's just users and it seems like most of them are having the same problems with nowhere to turn besides the paid subscription.
This appears to be a very slick product. Feature rich, nicely styled, fairly intuitive interface, and mainly I was hoping it would be a great alternative to virtuemart because it uses a nested, tag based templating structure.
2 thumbs up for that, however customising that structure is basically impossible without painstakingly working through them manually and hunting around on forums because there's simply no documentation on the template tag meanings, or their hierarchy.
The relevant page on their support wiki just lists 4 empty subheadings without any content! Same deal with the css parts of the documentation - just 3 empty subheadings!
It boggles the mind as to why they'd go to all that trouble of building a nice templating system, and then leave people hanging without the most basic documentation on using it when the extension has been around for 3 years now.
(Yes, many of the templates/tags are intuitive, but plenty aren't and you really have to go hunting to find some of the most basic things that you NEED to customise to get it working out of the box)
Other programs like xcart use a similar system but they have a "webmaster" mode which lets you hover over parts of the site on the front end and get visual cues as to which template/tag to edit. Or at the very least they could have commented the code so that the relevant tag could be identified by using firebug.
Not sure if it's just an oversite, a gap in documentation due to version changes or a deliberate attempt to make the free version look good, but very difficult to use without signing up for the $250 version that comes with some support, though from what I can see you don't get any extra documentation or user manuals if you sign up for a paid membership.
2 thumbs up for that, however customising that structure is basically impossible without painstakingly working through them manually and hunting around on forums because there's simply no documentation on the template tag meanings, or their hierarchy.
The relevant page on their support wiki just lists 4 empty subheadings without any content! Same deal with the css parts of the documentation - just 3 empty subheadings!
It boggles the mind as to why they'd go to all that trouble of building a nice templating system, and then leave people hanging without the most basic documentation on using it when the extension has been around for 3 years now.
(Yes, many of the templates/tags are intuitive, but plenty aren't and you really have to go hunting to find some of the most basic things that you NEED to customise to get it working out of the box)
Other programs like xcart use a similar system but they have a "webmaster" mode which lets you hover over parts of the site on the front end and get visual cues as to which template/tag to edit. Or at the very least they could have commented the code so that the relevant tag could be identified by using firebug.
Not sure if it's just an oversite, a gap in documentation due to version changes or a deliberate attempt to make the free version look good, but very difficult to use without signing up for the $250 version that comes with some support, though from what I can see you don't get any extra documentation or user manuals if you sign up for a paid membership.
Redshop funtions are great, it has many useful functions, you need to read wiki to config it properly, but some functions are hard to use, and document is not completely so i have submit some tickets to ask how to config(for example: custom field for product).
They did NOT support via forum at all, if you post a question in the forum, you need to wait until die to get answer, event you report bug, it seems be ignored in the forum.
You need to paid to membership to ask anything. But support via ticket(paid membership) is effective but sometime it takes few days to get bug fixed.
The template is terrible, it's VERY HARD to use, if you use built-in editor to edit template, it always strip out the code and make me crazy. If you want to make many changes for redshop template, it seem be impossible to edit via editor. Some tags seems not be updated as they will not be replaced properly by redshop, and description for the tags is poor, so hard to understand what the tag use for. And redshop template use many tables that does not meet the model web standarta and have some W3C error in their template. I asked for support, they said that i can overwrite redshop template, but in this case, it's not friendly because it use mixed redshop tags and php code, and i have to go to backend to check for each redshop tag. And in some case, it's hard to use(For example, check for condition, because it's not php varible, just a string that will be replaced when redshop parse the template), it think redshop MUST improve their template in the next version.
Redshop backend config is complex with many settings, and it's not friendly for end-user, if you are developer and want to use redshop build the shop for your non-tech clients, you need to spend time to teach them how to use.
And if you need a any cusmization, the fee is VERY HIGH, you need to consider this before you buy if you can do any customization by yourself. The price of Membership subscription is higher when compair with other shop cart extension in the market, and they will charge you 350 Euro for new payment gateway(i asked), event they will have right to sell it to other users. And 100Euro per hour for any custom work, event with some MUST HAVE features that redshop is missing, for example: Redshop will not send active code on registration if you use this feature in native joomla registraion form(so you MUST turn this function off to use redshop registration form), or captcha on the 'Ask question about product' form(i get many spam email via this form and have to build it myself because i ask them but they did not want to impove it, they said they don't have any plan for this but can do for custom work, and the fee to build it is very high(100Euro/h)),...
So redshop is not for simple shopping cart and just with few products, it's only for complex shopping cart and for who are expert in code, and can config and do customization theirself(i need to spend a month to learn how to config it, edit some code to fit my needs and test it all) or for who willing to pay 100 euro per hour for custom work by redshop staffs.
For now, i just give it average rating and wait for the new version if they improve the component, i'll consider to give it higher rating.
They did NOT support via forum at all, if you post a question in the forum, you need to wait until die to get answer, event you report bug, it seems be ignored in the forum.
You need to paid to membership to ask anything. But support via ticket(paid membership) is effective but sometime it takes few days to get bug fixed.
The template is terrible, it's VERY HARD to use, if you use built-in editor to edit template, it always strip out the code and make me crazy. If you want to make many changes for redshop template, it seem be impossible to edit via editor. Some tags seems not be updated as they will not be replaced properly by redshop, and description for the tags is poor, so hard to understand what the tag use for. And redshop template use many tables that does not meet the model web standarta and have some W3C error in their template. I asked for support, they said that i can overwrite redshop template, but in this case, it's not friendly because it use mixed redshop tags and php code, and i have to go to backend to check for each redshop tag. And in some case, it's hard to use(For example, check for condition, because it's not php varible, just a string that will be replaced when redshop parse the template), it think redshop MUST improve their template in the next version.
Redshop backend config is complex with many settings, and it's not friendly for end-user, if you are developer and want to use redshop build the shop for your non-tech clients, you need to spend time to teach them how to use.
And if you need a any cusmization, the fee is VERY HIGH, you need to consider this before you buy if you can do any customization by yourself. The price of Membership subscription is higher when compair with other shop cart extension in the market, and they will charge you 350 Euro for new payment gateway(i asked), event they will have right to sell it to other users. And 100Euro per hour for any custom work, event with some MUST HAVE features that redshop is missing, for example: Redshop will not send active code on registration if you use this feature in native joomla registraion form(so you MUST turn this function off to use redshop registration form), or captcha on the 'Ask question about product' form(i get many spam email via this form and have to build it myself because i ask them but they did not want to impove it, they said they don't have any plan for this but can do for custom work, and the fee to build it is very high(100Euro/h)),...
So redshop is not for simple shopping cart and just with few products, it's only for complex shopping cart and for who are expert in code, and can config and do customization theirself(i need to spend a month to learn how to config it, edit some code to fit my needs and test it all) or for who willing to pay 100 euro per hour for custom work by redshop staffs.
For now, i just give it average rating and wait for the new version if they improve the component, i'll consider to give it higher rating.
I have tried using this on one of our corporate website and I can say everything is easy to create using this component, the only thing I have seen is they don't seem to support the community (only the paid customers) and I think they just leave the forum stagnant even on the BUGS section. Though it is understandable that they need money to support themselves, the bugs must be fixed even if it is not reported by a paying member since it will help them get more potential customers. I'm planning on buying their support but seeing that there are more than 50+ unfixed bugs (totally ignored) in their forum, that is a major turn off. Again, I can only recommend this on a basic webshop if you want an easy to design framework, but if you want a fully featured cart, then get ready to fix the bugs on your own and get messy with the code.
I foresee redShop becoming the primary solution for Joomla shopping cart system. Sure it has growing pains just like so many other applications (If you have been working with VM since inception then you'll understand and the latest VM will cause nervous breakdown:-() and from appearances, the redShop dev team are committed to making it perfect.
The Notable Pros (Because they are so many)
Super flexible and scalable with its excellent smarty-like template system and custom fields which are easily edited right within the administration. Great that different templates can be assigned per item, per category.
The Attribute system is supreme and idiot proof (debatable) and further extends the flexibility.
Can function simultaneously as Catalog and Cart where VM is one or the other.
These guys get it when it comes to online shopping cart. So much flexibility I thought I was using a Magento enterprise system!
The Cons
Lacking 'perfect' documentation so a lot of logical figuring and Googling has to be done, but the same can be said for numerous components. Documentation or technical writing takes lots of time and usually requires totally separate staffing to do that accurately. Give it some time. I would rather the developers spend the time perfecting the functions and let Packt Publishing and other such services develop a manual.
Keep doing what you do redTeam! Your innovations are dynamic and well appreciated.
The Notable Pros (Because they are so many)
Super flexible and scalable with its excellent smarty-like template system and custom fields which are easily edited right within the administration. Great that different templates can be assigned per item, per category.
The Attribute system is supreme and idiot proof (debatable) and further extends the flexibility.
Can function simultaneously as Catalog and Cart where VM is one or the other.
These guys get it when it comes to online shopping cart. So much flexibility I thought I was using a Magento enterprise system!
The Cons
Lacking 'perfect' documentation so a lot of logical figuring and Googling has to be done, but the same can be said for numerous components. Documentation or technical writing takes lots of time and usually requires totally separate staffing to do that accurately. Give it some time. I would rather the developers spend the time perfecting the functions and let Packt Publishing and other such services develop a manual.
Keep doing what you do redTeam! Your innovations are dynamic and well appreciated.
Red as a company seem to have perfected the art of over engineering an extension.
So much so that last year I lost a customer that grossed me well over 3,000 GBP per anum all because every time red cart fixed something (sometimes taking days to login and apply the fix) some other element of the extension went wrong. Badly wrong in some cases.
Pros...
It worked right out of the box and I could setup a basic (and I mean very basic) shopping cart
Cons...
Support was rude and arrogant (my customer saw some of the comments and of-course this reflected badly on me)
Admin UI extremely complex and difficult to use
Fit for purpose (as mentioned above) if all you have is a few products
FYI...
I've hand coded carts, websites and web applications for well over 17 years and switched to Joomla simply to save development costs as clients are very concious about the cost of a project these days. Bad move in this case as Red cost me well over 5,000 GBP now as I would still have the client if it worked properly.
I've also held off writing a review as red was indeed still installed on one website of mine and I could not get it to uninstall without messing up the website but now I am free of red 100% and happy.
Sorry guys... You need to move the R&D in house and have more control and quicker, more professional response. It would help your business no end.
So much so that last year I lost a customer that grossed me well over 3,000 GBP per anum all because every time red cart fixed something (sometimes taking days to login and apply the fix) some other element of the extension went wrong. Badly wrong in some cases.
Pros...
It worked right out of the box and I could setup a basic (and I mean very basic) shopping cart
Cons...
Support was rude and arrogant (my customer saw some of the comments and of-course this reflected badly on me)
Admin UI extremely complex and difficult to use
Fit for purpose (as mentioned above) if all you have is a few products
FYI...
I've hand coded carts, websites and web applications for well over 17 years and switched to Joomla simply to save development costs as clients are very concious about the cost of a project these days. Bad move in this case as Red cost me well over 5,000 GBP now as I would still have the client if it worked properly.
I've also held off writing a review as red was indeed still installed on one website of mine and I could not get it to uninstall without messing up the website but now I am free of red 100% and happy.
Sorry guys... You need to move the R&D in house and have more control and quicker, more professional response. It would help your business no end.
Have wasted houers trying to use the product i have paid 12 month in advance for... but what a waste of money. My users dont understand the systems and it's totally ugly and difficult to configure templates. Furthermore lack of compatibility with joomlart templates and modules.
And REDsupport just refeer to joomlart support
And REDsupport just refeer to joomlart support
Owner's reply
If you are unable to make your own template and decide to use a template club template and have problems getting it to work you should contact the template clubs support.
We do not offer support for any template clubs templates - this should not be a surprice to anyone.
There is no other ecommerce components for Joomla that makes it easier to create template views than redSHOP does and it supports the Joomla Template Engine 100% and you can do template overrides for _all_ views in redSHOP directly in your Joomla Template.
But it is a requirement that you know how to work with Joomla templates to do that - again that can not be a surprice to anyone.
If you dont have the skills to work with templates and you want to do uniquel and custom webshops i suggest you hire someone to do the work for you - after all redSHOP can not come styled up for all template clubs templates and expecting so is completely unrealistic.
At first sight I thought this would be the best shop available.
Customization is endless with full access to page and module temples using tags.
Be prepared to spend weeks if not months to do this...Unfortunately these tags are not up to date or change without warning then display like COM_REDSHOP_TOTAL_PRIC...
The developers don't know how to handle tax rates and discounts; if you use coupon, vouchers, discount options the calculations are ALWAYS wrong! I posted on the forum, this topic is active since more than two months but no solution. Here I would like to point out that other Joomla e-commerce components DO handle this tax issue without problem!
Talking about their support; yes they answer very fast!
In fact the fast answer is "I will ask the devs for you"...then you can wait, wait, wait, post a message to bring the post up the forum and wait, wait, wait...
Another answer is always "Could you please send me following on 1. super admin details 2. ftp details 3. link to this post"
This is because their component is NOT working out of the box. they make adjustments to users website but do not update the downloadable files. The result is more and more errors issues for users when they update.
New releases with "No known bugs", a perfect joke. Take a look at their website and release news, look at changelog and the (long) list of bug fixes...
Also have a look at the recent topics of their forum and growing list of errors/bugs messages before you buy the (very) expensive component that is NOT working out of the box.
I should add the commercial version does not include support but have to pay 75€/hour to have them fix their buggy (this word is forbidden by the owner) component and modules.
Multilingual; it is not multilingual, you can only use one language and these languages (even the original English) are full of spelling mistakes. You will have to check the language files to correct the many mistakes and missing fields. No, they do not update the files themselves, they leave the errors for you...
I use (must say installed and customized) since end 2011 but today end April 2012 I still cannot use it live !!
If you find reviews helpful then read the ones below with many stars, read between the lines and you will understand these people are "happy with the many problems they face"!
I would have given a 5stars for this component if it only worked as the owner says it works. Unfortunately the main features like tax handling-coupons-discounts-gift and price update when products are added/removed from cart are not working.
I am very very disappointed but I still have hope the new 1.2 version will finally correct all these very soon and download a component and modules/plugins working out of the box, well I really hope so...or am I dreaming??
Its a shame because redshop includes many many interesting features other components don't.
Customization is endless with full access to page and module temples using tags.
Be prepared to spend weeks if not months to do this...Unfortunately these tags are not up to date or change without warning then display like COM_REDSHOP_TOTAL_PRIC...
The developers don't know how to handle tax rates and discounts; if you use coupon, vouchers, discount options the calculations are ALWAYS wrong! I posted on the forum, this topic is active since more than two months but no solution. Here I would like to point out that other Joomla e-commerce components DO handle this tax issue without problem!
Talking about their support; yes they answer very fast!
In fact the fast answer is "I will ask the devs for you"...then you can wait, wait, wait, post a message to bring the post up the forum and wait, wait, wait...
Another answer is always "Could you please send me following on 1. super admin details 2. ftp details 3. link to this post"
This is because their component is NOT working out of the box. they make adjustments to users website but do not update the downloadable files. The result is more and more errors issues for users when they update.
New releases with "No known bugs", a perfect joke. Take a look at their website and release news, look at changelog and the (long) list of bug fixes...
Also have a look at the recent topics of their forum and growing list of errors/bugs messages before you buy the (very) expensive component that is NOT working out of the box.
I should add the commercial version does not include support but have to pay 75€/hour to have them fix their buggy (this word is forbidden by the owner) component and modules.
Multilingual; it is not multilingual, you can only use one language and these languages (even the original English) are full of spelling mistakes. You will have to check the language files to correct the many mistakes and missing fields. No, they do not update the files themselves, they leave the errors for you...
I use (must say installed and customized) since end 2011 but today end April 2012 I still cannot use it live !!
If you find reviews helpful then read the ones below with many stars, read between the lines and you will understand these people are "happy with the many problems they face"!
I would have given a 5stars for this component if it only worked as the owner says it works. Unfortunately the main features like tax handling-coupons-discounts-gift and price update when products are added/removed from cart are not working.
I am very very disappointed but I still have hope the new 1.2 version will finally correct all these very soon and download a component and modules/plugins working out of the box, well I really hope so...or am I dreaming??
Its a shame because redshop includes many many interesting features other components don't.
Owner's reply
I am not quite sure you review is fully deserved.
However on two points i would like to agree with you.
1) our support system did not work and offering free support even onsite to all users have spread our efforts too thinly and causing to much waiting time and ineffeciency.
Therefore we will be introducing a new support ticket system for subscribers as part of the launch of the new redCOMPONENT.com website on the 1st of july.
This way we can garantee and dedicate the support to those who have a subscribtion and insure that the quality of the support is on par with what we want to do.
I guess with 100.000+ users running a support on a forum is just not working out.
2) Ease of use
redSHOP is built as a tool for ourselfes.
We do Joomla Ecommerce sites from 5000 to 200000 euros per website for clients - the tool we use is redSHOP.
So we released the exact same tool for ecommerce as we use in our consultancy business to the general public and there is no differences.
We are without a doubt the largest pure Joomla company on the planet and we work with our own tools including redSHOP.
Yes - our tech level is fairly high so we have no issues using redSHOP but part of the history of redSHOP is making it more and more userfriendly - even with lower tech skills.
In the coming redCOMPONENT.com relaunch we are introducing new templates that available for download + new kickstart packages so you can get going with a full redSHOP in less than 5 minutes.
Our new Demo site is actually built on one of these templates and can be found on http://redshop.demo.redcomponent.com/
I hope to see both of these points drasticly improving your experience in the future.
RedShop has made my site vastly better. The flexibility of RedShop is key. Adding custom fields, search tricks are all easy. And the developers do a great job at custom requests.
Great product!
Great product!
This is the first time i use redShop, and i can tell you guys that its one of the best! The support also is 10+, i really recomend it.
Thanks to the administrators.
Thanks to the administrators.
The features i tried failed miserably. You can list a few product for sale but forget about customizing with add fields. Does not work. The thing is full of bugs and hard to use. The custom fields do not work, i tried on a fresh installation. Same with the download a file as a product. You have no choice about taxes you have to work with the script. Not user friendly.
Owner's reply
Custom fields and the entire CCK functionality has been working for years now flawlessly and we dont have a single forum support requests on anything like that.
So although there might have been some issues you have run into i am not quite sure what you would have of problems with custom fields - it just works and its soo easy to do.
I went to redshop for the features, which are impressive. Ended up paying for the subscription.. I wish I never had!
IF YOU NEED SUPPORT FORGET IT! their slow response has cost me one client and about to cost me another!
IF YOU NEED SUPPORT FORGET IT! their slow response has cost me one client and about to cost me another!
Owner's reply
I have no records of any support emails from you.
We have 3 full time employees whos only job it is to answer forum threads and we have even more on the email support for subscribers.
I highly doubt you will find anyone who spend more ressources on support than we do.
I used to use virtuemart as my preferred e-commerce component for Joomla until I found it completely inflexible for what I needed for my site. Support was always hard to come by and slow development of the core.
I was about to go and use Magento but found redshop for Joomla. After downloading the free version I was quickly impressed with the level of flexibility it provides especially with custom views and styling the site. It is really simple. If you know basic HTML then you can design a really professional looking shopping cart with really no effort.
Once I had tested the basics I paid for the professional support, which gives you access to loads of modules and plugins to make the site even better.
Redshop is not without its faults or limitations but the support by the developers is second to none and for 249Euro a real bargin. Without it I would have been stuck or struck with heavy 3rd party support bills. So dont screw your face up at the price it is a snip and well worth it.
The forum is very active and if you have bugs or problems with your site then the developers will fix the issues most of the time within 24 hours. My only criticism is that they could explain what they have done / changed or what caused issues so things don't get overwritten but other than that they are a real gem.
Development is really quite continuous with an active feature request tracker and with releases of redshop coming out every couple of months or so.
I could go on and on about redshop but I will leave you with this. I will be a redshop user for many years if it continues this way. Thanks to Marcus and Vandana for all your help!
I was about to go and use Magento but found redshop for Joomla. After downloading the free version I was quickly impressed with the level of flexibility it provides especially with custom views and styling the site. It is really simple. If you know basic HTML then you can design a really professional looking shopping cart with really no effort.
Once I had tested the basics I paid for the professional support, which gives you access to loads of modules and plugins to make the site even better.
Redshop is not without its faults or limitations but the support by the developers is second to none and for 249Euro a real bargin. Without it I would have been stuck or struck with heavy 3rd party support bills. So dont screw your face up at the price it is a snip and well worth it.
The forum is very active and if you have bugs or problems with your site then the developers will fix the issues most of the time within 24 hours. My only criticism is that they could explain what they have done / changed or what caused issues so things don't get overwritten but other than that they are a real gem.
Development is really quite continuous with an active feature request tracker and with releases of redshop coming out every couple of months or so.
I could go on and on about redshop but I will leave you with this. I will be a redshop user for many years if it continues this way. Thanks to Marcus and Vandana for all your help!
I find that the service at RedShop is wonderful, helping this extreme newbie to not only fix the problems with my new website, but to explain a bit so that I can help myself to fix things. They are fast and accurate and helpful. I was having bugs in my new shopping cart. If only life was always so easy.
I have used redshop for 3+ months now and this is by far the most featured cart on the joomla platform today (and i've tested ALL of them). It does a lot of things to accommodate a lot of different workflows and payment processors. Because of all these features, it can be a little daunting to get a handle on it but it quickly becomes easier once you are familiar with the concepts.
Features are one thing but what is most critical for a shopping cart is the support. After all, if you are using a shopping cart, it's to make money on your site and if your cart is not working, you get no money. It's an extremely simple and critical equation!
I have been more than impressed with the redshop support. Their forums are very active and Marcus, Vandana and the rest of the team are VERY present and answer most threads very quickly. Now, yes, some threads sometimes get missed but if you look at the actual volume of support threads, then you understand why. Rest assured that if you have a major problem, the support truly kicks in and actually logs into your site and makes fixes/configuration changes on the spot! I know of very few extension developers that will actually do this. Once, the owner of the company even spent 2 hours with me on Skype and created a test account on their ISP to troubleshoot a very strange server issue I was having (all that at 10PM his time and from his home!!!).
I was using "the other" cart for more than a year before and I just could not handle it anymore. Pretty much no support, many bugs left unfixed, non-existant development rate, etc... and the customization & maintainance was just hell.
Is redshop the perfect shopping cart? No - but it's the best one available for Joomla today and is actively being developed and again, most importantly, well supported (even free version gets the same forum supports)
On a side note: if you think that 249 Euros a year is too expensive for a shopping cart then you are obviously not running a real business. If you are running a real business then think of the 249E as buying support, development and the peace of mind of knowing that if you had a problem, it would get fixed fast. Community support is a wonderful thing for many components in Joomla but a shopping cart is a critical component. You want an actual company to stand by it and help it's users. Redcomponent does.
(and I've not even gotten into the super easy templating, email configuration, and many many other features!)
@olivierk
Features are one thing but what is most critical for a shopping cart is the support. After all, if you are using a shopping cart, it's to make money on your site and if your cart is not working, you get no money. It's an extremely simple and critical equation!
I have been more than impressed with the redshop support. Their forums are very active and Marcus, Vandana and the rest of the team are VERY present and answer most threads very quickly. Now, yes, some threads sometimes get missed but if you look at the actual volume of support threads, then you understand why. Rest assured that if you have a major problem, the support truly kicks in and actually logs into your site and makes fixes/configuration changes on the spot! I know of very few extension developers that will actually do this. Once, the owner of the company even spent 2 hours with me on Skype and created a test account on their ISP to troubleshoot a very strange server issue I was having (all that at 10PM his time and from his home!!!).
I was using "the other" cart for more than a year before and I just could not handle it anymore. Pretty much no support, many bugs left unfixed, non-existant development rate, etc... and the customization & maintainance was just hell.
Is redshop the perfect shopping cart? No - but it's the best one available for Joomla today and is actively being developed and again, most importantly, well supported (even free version gets the same forum supports)
On a side note: if you think that 249 Euros a year is too expensive for a shopping cart then you are obviously not running a real business. If you are running a real business then think of the 249E as buying support, development and the peace of mind of knowing that if you had a problem, it would get fixed fast. Community support is a wonderful thing for many components in Joomla but a shopping cart is a critical component. You want an actual company to stand by it and help it's users. Redcomponent does.
(and I've not even gotten into the super easy templating, email configuration, and many many other features!)
@olivierk
We purchased this extension and found it lacking in features and experienced several bugs. The support was very lacking so we went a different route and found there a several other carts out there that are more robust and without the problems. We also had a billing problem and received no response from support on our issue...
Owner's reply
We have a team of full time supporters managing our support forum and in most cases a support thread will be answered within 24 hours.
That doesnt happen alot of places if you compare to other extension services out there.
I have bought 3 month subscription to this product.
Very small amount of languages.
First of all - there is no Russian language. If I try to install it I got the error that there is no ini file for Russian. Other extension don't try to copy files if they don't have they. So- this product is still in beta stage.
Second - very high requirements for hosting.
php_value max_execution_time 200 is too big!
Many errors while installation. On my local computer zend server was exhausted his memory (4Gb!).
Very unstable extension! It is not for practical use.
Very small amount of languages.
First of all - there is no Russian language. If I try to install it I got the error that there is no ini file for Russian. Other extension don't try to copy files if they don't have they. So- this product is still in beta stage.
Second - very high requirements for hosting.
php_value max_execution_time 200 is too big!
Many errors while installation. On my local computer zend server was exhausted his memory (4Gb!).
Very unstable extension! It is not for practical use.
Owner's reply
redSHOP has normal moderne hosting requiements.
We own www.redhost.dk and www.iredhost.com and both places you can install redSHOP with a 30 second time out and 30 second execution time and 48 mb memory allowed (you can also use more if you like).
We host 1000's of Joomla websites and specialize in Joomla hosting.
So NO redSHOP does not require alot in hosting - but it sounds like your homebrewed system surely isnt running on par with what you could expect.
Fair enough if your host is from the middle ages or your running it at home but dont come in here and do a 1 star review of redSHOP it self on a completely groundless basis.
As per languages it is all handled today through Open Translators and Transifix and we have Russian translators on the team too - Our translation manager Ole can be reached on ole@redcomponent.com if you have more questions on that subject.
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