Help Request for our Webshop

Sean Moss-Pultz sean at openmoko.com
Sun Sep 23 18:47:10 CEST 2007


On 9/23/07 Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller wrote:

[snip]

> >
> > And your requirements may really be complex enough that the 
> pre-built OSS stack isn't viable.  In that case, I would take a 
> closer look at the requirements and see if you can drop any for 
> release 1.
> >
> > Build when all else fails (unless it is your core competency, like 
> say.... a linux phone distribution :P )
> >
> 
> I 100% agree on that...
> 
> The "standard" Open Source Web Shop is OSCommerce 
> (http://www.oscommerce.com/).

No offense at all to those guys, but this didn't meet our needs. We've 
already spend over two months trying to rework that and figured that 
writing something from scratch would be easier in the long run.

We really have an _extremely_ complex global logistics model that needs 
to be implemented.

FIC has distribution hubs all around the world. They just do business to 
business transactions now. So we need to develop something that can ship 
direct to our customers (and retailers and even factories) from those hubs.

> The only requirements it does not solve are
> * it is witten in PHP
> * it has its own database model
> 
> Let me add another (stupid) question:
> 
>     Why do you need your own web shop with CC processing?  Do you 
> want to keep the "ship worldwide from California model"?

Hehe...that was just to get us through phase 1. It was never a long term 
plan ;-)

> I got the impression that the community would prefer to have more 
> local resellers. So you would be able to completely outsource the 
> issue of certified and secure CC payment processing if your business 
> relation is with resellers only (and not with end-users). Most 
> Taiwanese companies require to have T/T or L/C and deliver FOB. 

Oh man, if only it were that easy. The system that we want to build will 
also support resellers. But this is (yet) another logistics problem. 
Whether we're shipping direct to end users or retailers there must be a 
system that automates this process.

Seriously, we've done our homework here. Writing something tailored to 
our needs is best.

-Sean




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