SimpleCaddy 
Version
2.0.4 (last update on Mar 25, 2013)
Rating
Compatibility
Reviews
108
License
GPLv2 or later
Non-Commercial
Type
Date Added
16 February 2008
All is (joomla) plugin driven, so completely SEF friendly. For developers: SimpleCaddy plugins are easy to create and integrate so you can have the paymenty gateway or shipping solution you dreamed of.
New: Downloadable content support: define your product as downloadable and SimpleCaddy makes sure the product has been paid for before anyone can download it.
Paypal returns still mark your orders as "Paid".
Paypal is delivered as a standard plugin so that other payment methods can be presented on the same page.
Taxes can now be defined per destination and are inmplemented as a joomla plugin, all configurable from inside SimpleCaddy. You can set taxes for specific destinations to be different from others.
Shipping uses a simple points system.
The Joomla standard Extra Fields are used a Custom Fields in SimpleCaddy. So you can use Joomla to gather your necessary info about your clients.
Carts can be shown anywhere in your site, with individual css if you like.
To overcome the difficulties of multiple configurations and options in your plugin calls, an editor-extension button is also included in the package.
1) The quantities won't update - people can order 10 million of something no matter how many you really have.
2) The shopping cart module will not show the shipping costs added on.
3) The css for the front end is totally disconnected so you can't control how it looks to the customer (I even deleted the css directory from /components/com_caddy and it didn't affect it).
I like the fact that it uses a snippet of code injected into an article for the product description; this way I don't have to use a single store front page with clickable categories, and I can control how the images are displayed. I also like the fact that it can be used for smaller stores; but alas, there are just too many bugs and non-functioning aspects of the cart to be worth using right now.
[EDIT] someone beat me to the quantities not updating complaint but I think it's worth mentioning twice.
2) The shopping cart module will not show the shipping costs added on.
3) The css for the front end is totally disconnected so you can't control how it looks to the customer (I even deleted the css directory from /components/com_caddy and it didn't affect it).
I like the fact that it uses a snippet of code injected into an article for the product description; this way I don't have to use a single store front page with clickable categories, and I can control how the images are displayed. I also like the fact that it can be used for smaller stores; but alas, there are just too many bugs and non-functioning aspects of the cart to be worth using right now.
[EDIT] someone beat me to the quantities not updating complaint but I think it's worth mentioning twice.
Owner's reply
I will repeat my previous answer to the previous comment. You too are very welcome to submit your questions and get answers from the very active forum.
As for the css, the demo site describes in detail all the possibilities of the css. If your installation does not load that css, there is a problem on your server, not with the simplecaddy program.
Welcome to the forum!
The cart works -- almost.
My major beef with this cart is you cannot control the quantity of items you either have, or can sell.
If I have, say, 5 office chairs I am selling, the Qty field the buyer uses can be filled with any amount they want, and the system will allow it. Related to this is the system will not update the quantities sold after a sale. So if I have 5 office chairs and someone tries to purchase 500, it will let them. This could be very bad for the store image and the sellers credibility because I am going to have to issue an apology and a refund. Also, if I using Paypal (which I am) then I get charged 3% of that sale but cannot recoup it from a refund.
If this major bug gets fixed I would be willing to pay 20 or 30 USD for this cart, but as it is now it is unusable unless you have a ton of every item and the time to manually update the qty available in your text.
My major beef with this cart is you cannot control the quantity of items you either have, or can sell.
If I have, say, 5 office chairs I am selling, the Qty field the buyer uses can be filled with any amount they want, and the system will allow it. Related to this is the system will not update the quantities sold after a sale. So if I have 5 office chairs and someone tries to purchase 500, it will let them. This could be very bad for the store image and the sellers credibility because I am going to have to issue an apology and a refund. Also, if I using Paypal (which I am) then I get charged 3% of that sale but cannot recoup it from a refund.
If this major bug gets fixed I would be willing to pay 20 or 30 USD for this cart, but as it is now it is unusable unless you have a ton of every item and the time to manually update the qty available in your text.
Owner's reply
Since there are solutions for this "problem" why didn't I see you in the (very active) forum to ask a question?
Submitting a review of this kind lacks of interest in the product, as well as in the effort that went into it to create it.
Documentation is provided (also a very actively visited site) where all your problems and their solutions are described in detail.
not much more to say: EXCELLENT. Well, maybe one more word: EASY. I used it for my friends artist website selling some og his paintings online using it with the Phoca Image Gallery and it works great all together. And if we could get the promised credit card payment gateway (in addition to the current PayPal payment option) you would have earned 10 stars out of 5... ;). Thanks A LOT !!!
wonderful component! still testing it out but works like a charm. any issues i've had, have all been answered in the support forum (very active and developer is very helpful).
need to do some more testing, but at this stage this looks like it will do all my ecommerce needs without the hassle of a big shopping cart program.
very happy with simplecaddy, and i encourage you to give it a try!
need to do some more testing, but at this stage this looks like it will do all my ecommerce needs without the hassle of a big shopping cart program.
very happy with simplecaddy, and i encourage you to give it a try!
This is a great extension, worked straight out of the box. Had a few css issues I had to solve presumably because of the template I use.
A further thing I still need to get my mind over is how to integrate up selling and cross selling techniques with it, as it doesn't allow for add on sales in a conversion friendly manner, but all and all, great job!
A further thing I still need to get my mind over is how to integrate up selling and cross selling techniques with it, as it doesn't allow for add on sales in a conversion friendly manner, but all and all, great job!
Owner's reply
Step into the forum and we might find a way for you to do some upselling :-)
The support on this was topnotch. Their crew really stays on top of getting back to people. I am not a pro by any means at php, and I found most of the answers to my questions on their forum. The only ones that I didn't find an answer to on there, they responded to my emails very quickly. Donate some money to them, they're doing an awesome job!
Want to sell a few products on your site but don't want all the complexity of a major shopping component?
SimpleCaddy is the solution.
Extremely easy to install and configure. Just input your product details in the backend and insert a short code in your article text where you want your 'add to cart'. It's also very easy to style to any template you are using.
Support is excellent!
I simply can't recommend this extension high enough! 10/10
SimpleCaddy is the solution.
Extremely easy to install and configure. Just input your product details in the backend and insert a short code in your article text where you want your 'add to cart'. It's also very easy to style to any template you are using.
Support is excellent!
I simply can't recommend this extension high enough! 10/10
SimpleCaddy is an excellent extension:
- easy to install
- easy to configure: e-mail communications, front-end display options, order management, product categories and PayPal settings are made in minutes!
- widely customizable: shipping, vouchers, customized fields and more...
- multi-languages support
but above all...
- really powerful: as a companion of a CCK component, for example, it allows you to set up a complete and beautiful shop without the need of ...setting up a complete shop! You just have to add the product code inside the contents you already have and your e-commerce is fully working!!!
And the support is amazing: if you need something, just ask in SC forum and the solution is right away!
Definitely one of the best experiences among joomla extensions.
- easy to install
- easy to configure: e-mail communications, front-end display options, order management, product categories and PayPal settings are made in minutes!
- widely customizable: shipping, vouchers, customized fields and more...
- multi-languages support
but above all...
- really powerful: as a companion of a CCK component, for example, it allows you to set up a complete and beautiful shop without the need of ...setting up a complete shop! You just have to add the product code inside the contents you already have and your e-commerce is fully working!!!
And the support is amazing: if you need something, just ask in SC forum and the solution is right away!
Definitely one of the best experiences among joomla extensions.
This is a really good extension. I love it! Especially because it is so customizable and easy to configure.
But one is forced to go through the codes. It's like that with most extensions, but this is simple built up. Hence the name SimpleCaddy (a quick guess) :)
And if you are looking for help, ask in the SimpleCaddy forum, very quick responses. Thumbs up!
I'm giving it 4 stars, but I could have given 5, and I really wanted to do that. But if I gave it 5 stars, it would have some integration with QuickPay like VM, and it don't.
Alltogether, a really nice extension.
But one is forced to go through the codes. It's like that with most extensions, but this is simple built up. Hence the name SimpleCaddy (a quick guess) :)
And if you are looking for help, ask in the SimpleCaddy forum, very quick responses. Thumbs up!
I'm giving it 4 stars, but I could have given 5, and I really wanted to do that. But if I gave it 5 stars, it would have some integration with QuickPay like VM, and it don't.
Alltogether, a really nice extension.
I think it is more useful becouse it's simple. Not many fields to fill. very fast to install and very useful since you can put it in you articles.
But what i realy need is a plugin for phoca gallery.
I'm hoping and waiting for that.
But what i realy need is a plugin for phoca gallery.
I'm hoping and waiting for that.
Owner's reply
On the demo site (http://demo15.atlanticintelligence.net there is a demostration of integration of SimpleCaddy with PhocaGallery. All people interested can contact me for this (free-GNU/GPL) it involves a few mods in the SC files *and* in the PhocaGallery files...
Just wanted to say thanks for a great little piece of software.
Still got some layout issues with a few pages but other thasn that, up and working in an afternoon with 20+ products.
Keep up the good work.
Still got some layout issues with a few pages but other thasn that, up and working in an afternoon with 20+ products.
Keep up the good work.
I tested osCommerce, VirtueMart and some other shops and ... finally found my solution.
The principle of simply put a button in a content page is really ingenious. You want a special page for a special product which looks different from the others? No problem. You need two products on one page? Easy! You don't want "No image available" for some products? Get this in minutes.
You're completely free in design and functionality!
A big point: You can create as many user data fields as you want - so it is easy to create different invoice and delivery address and other special things. So I have a field "customer id" and when you don't want prepayment, it is checked by SC internally. Every field has an additional check function which is called during checkout to check for valid parameters. These functions are very easy to add.
Onother big point: it's easy to create your own shop e-mail by simply put special words together with the text in a content page. So you're completely free here, too.
Of course there are some missing parts: Pure-text e-mails, some destroy my template by clear:both and so.
My wish would be a "universal shipping function" which is called during checkout like this:
function UnivShip ($cartarticlearray, $userdata)
In this function one can look at all the cart articles and distill the shipping destination (for example) and calculate the shipping costs.
Such a function would give the maintainer the freedom of creating every special shipping costs he wants.
SC is so few code (I think, it's 1/10 of VirtueMart) - I only took half a day to know where to change what I need.
Really a great job, Henk! :-)
The principle of simply put a button in a content page is really ingenious. You want a special page for a special product which looks different from the others? No problem. You need two products on one page? Easy! You don't want "No image available" for some products? Get this in minutes.
You're completely free in design and functionality!
A big point: You can create as many user data fields as you want - so it is easy to create different invoice and delivery address and other special things. So I have a field "customer id" and when you don't want prepayment, it is checked by SC internally. Every field has an additional check function which is called during checkout to check for valid parameters. These functions are very easy to add.
Onother big point: it's easy to create your own shop e-mail by simply put special words together with the text in a content page. So you're completely free here, too.
Of course there are some missing parts: Pure-text e-mails, some destroy my template by clear:both and so.
My wish would be a "universal shipping function" which is called during checkout like this:
function UnivShip ($cartarticlearray, $userdata)
In this function one can look at all the cart articles and distill the shipping destination (for example) and calculate the shipping costs.
Such a function would give the maintainer the freedom of creating every special shipping costs he wants.
SC is so few code (I think, it's 1/10 of VirtueMart) - I only took half a day to know where to change what I need.
Really a great job, Henk! :-)
I used this for several months and it served my needs perfectly. It is the best offering I could find to offer a simple shopping cart for a limited number of products, and the installation and use were straightforward.
The only issue I had was that it breaks W3C validation. The code produced by the module/plugins is not valid - my homepage was valid until the Shopping Cart was shown, then it failed by 16 errors (mainly due to unclosed tags and none-escaped ampersands). Not a huge issue, but one that was enough for me to look at and implement an alternative solution.
The only issue I had was that it breaks W3C validation. The code produced by the module/plugins is not valid - my homepage was valid until the Shopping Cart was shown, then it failed by 16 errors (mainly due to unclosed tags and none-escaped ampersands). Not a huge issue, but one that was enough for me to look at and implement an alternative solution.
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