Should I stay with RC, or use another cart?

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   Hi All,

I am in a bit of a quandary. I really like RC as a cart and company, however I want to implement Linnworks to keep the stock control for me across 3 website , ebay and Amazon. 

Unfortunately RC does not support Linnworks, but many other similar carts do. My subscription is due for renewal soon and I am stuck as to what to do for the best, especially with Christmas coming soon.

Any ideas would be great ....

Martin

www.uwoodtoys.co.uk

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UWOODTOYS Members Profile Find Members Posts Regular Joined: 05 September 2008 Status: Offline Points: 69	Post Options Post Reply Quote UWOODTOYS Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Should I stay with RC, or use another cart? Posted: 25 August 2010 at 11:37am
	Hi All, I am in a bit of a quandary. I really like RC as a cart and company, however I want to implement Linnworks to keep the stock control for me across 3 website , ebay and Amazon. Unfortunately RC does not support Linnworks, but many other similar carts do. My subscription is due for renewal soon and I am stuck as to what to do for the best, especially with Christmas coming soon. Any ideas would be great .... Martin www.uwoodtoys.co.uk

genealogy_guy Members Profile Find Members Posts Senior Member Joined: 11 July 2009 Location: UKish Status: Offline Points: 171	Post Options Post Reply Quote genealogy_guy Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 25 August 2010 at 7:26pm
	Can you let us know which ones you are comparing against?
	Regards Genealogy Guy ## My storeid is 45617 ##

UWOODTOYS Members Profile Find Members Posts Regular Joined: 05 September 2008 Status: Offline Points: 69	Post Options Post Reply Quote UWOODTOYS Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 28 August 2010 at 9:48am
	Oscommerce, Zencart, X-cart, Cubecart and more are all supported by Linnworks. I really need to get this sorted before the Christmas rush, and I dont want to sign for a further 12 months if RC is no longer what I need. Having contacted RC support they have said there is no plans to support Linnworks in the future ..... hmmm what to do?

raineshoe Members Profile Find Members Posts Senior Member Joined: 03 October 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1502	Post Options Post Reply Quote raineshoe Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 28 August 2010 at 10:22pm
	I suppose it depends whether the other carts do what Romancart does now. If not you have to decide whether the cart function is more important or the Linnworks function. Suggest you make a list of pros/cons for Linnworks and same for Romancart side of things and see what comes out tops. Alternatively, I now use Quickbooks product manager with my accounts package to track my product control and use that as the master copy. I adjust the Romancart accordingly as necessary. I also sell on E-bay and Amazon. Or if you order say 20 of an item in put 10 for sale through Romancart, 5 for sale through Amazon and 5 for sale through E-bay and you don't have to change your product manager settings. Edited by raineshoe - 28 August 2010 at 10:24pm

UWOODTOYS Members Profile Find Members Posts Regular Joined: 05 September 2008 Status: Offline Points: 69	Post Options Post Reply Quote UWOODTOYS Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 August 2010 at 7:34pm
	Hi Rainy, The problem we have is we get 100+ orders daily as standard across all our selling platforms. From the beginning of November for 7 weeks that will be 500 orders a day looking at yearly growth over the past 4 years. There is no way on gods green planet that I will have time to update stock levels manually across all my selling platforms. These other carts support linnworks, which allows you to have a single stock sheet to adjust stock levels, then imports this information into your website, eBay, eBid, Amazon .... whatever is supported. The problem is RC does not support Linnworks, and I can see overselling being a huge issue. .

raineshoe Members Profile Find Members Posts Senior Member Joined: 03 October 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1502	Post Options Post Reply Quote raineshoe Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 August 2010 at 7:49pm
	Ah see what you mean. My sales are not as huge but then only been running for two/three years so still building and its a more specialised market. I still think the only way to resolve it is like I said above is make a list of pros cons of each of the carts etc and see what is most important to you from that. Then run with what ticks the most boxes. May not be quite as clear cut as that, but it might help. Good luck with whatever you decide.

raineshoe Members Profile Find Members Posts Senior Member Joined: 03 October 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1502	Post Options Post Reply Quote raineshoe Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 August 2010 at 7:49pm
	PS - do the other carts allow you to run with your own designed site or do you have to use a template? That might be an issue too as if you have a lot of stock you would need to re-enter it all. I don't think there will ever be a perfect solution. There is also the old adage of "better the devil you know". But then its not my shop and its not my stock so you can only do what you feel is right for your business at the end of the day. I'll just continue yapping about it Edited by raineshoe - 30 August 2010 at 7:51pm

UWOODTOYS Members Profile Find Members Posts Regular Joined: 05 September 2008 Status: Offline Points: 69	Post Options Post Reply Quote UWOODTOYS Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 31 August 2010 at 3:26pm
	Hmm, 2 days to renew with 2 months free OR to cut away and take on another cart. Stock control is sooo time consuming, and to upgrade to the level that I can use RC's own stock control solely for the website will be a further £195 a year. Linnworks could do our website, and Amazon, eBay and other sites for £28pm so I dont want to be paying twice .... but I like RC!

raineshoe Members Profile Find Members Posts Senior Member Joined: 03 October 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1502	Post Options Post Reply Quote raineshoe Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 31 August 2010 at 9:33pm
	Problems, problems..... I live RC and would find it hard to move specially with the features available on the top cart function which I now have moved on to. Never thought I'd get there as just upgraded as I've needed to but its happened quicker than I thought. The one thing I find is customers do seem to like the cart end too so that's something else to consider what it looks like to the customer.

raineshoe Members Profile Find Members Posts Senior Member Joined: 03 October 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1502	Post Options Post Reply Quote raineshoe Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 31 August 2010 at 9:39pm
	Just one other thing - I don't think anyone cart will do everything we all want unfortunately. I think its a case of settling with what you can live with best. I must admit I have 800+ products now and I'd hate to have to re-enter them all again.