I’m in a bit of a pickle here. My client wants to sell online courses and digital products, but I can’t seem to find the right e-commerce platform. We’re using a LAMP stack, so PHP 5 and MySQL 5 are available.
Here’s what we absolutely need:
Bulk pricing: Like $99 per unit for 1-4 items, $89 for 5-9, and so on.
Digital product support: For selling screencasts, podcasts, and e-books.
Download protection: To prevent hot-linking and control access.
The dream scenario would be:
Selling access to individual screencasts or podcasts
Bundling multiple items into a ‘course’ with expiration dates
Easy enough for a tech-savvy person to manage
I’ve been searching for ages and I’m out of ideas. Is there an affordable solution (up to $400) that fits the bill? Or maybe something that’s easy to customize?
Any suggestions would be a lifesaver! Thanks in advance.
hey surfingwave, have you checked out opencart? its php-based and can handle digital products. you might need some extensions for the exact pricing setup, but its pretty customizable. plus, there’s a big community to help out if you get stuck. just make sure it fits your budget with any addons you need.
Wow, sounds like quite the challenge you’ve got there! Have you looked into PrestaShop? It’s a PHP-based e-commerce platform that might tick a lot of your boxes.
I’ve used it for a few projects, and it’s pretty flexible. The core is free, which is always nice, right? It handles digital products out of the box, and there are some cool modules for things like bulk pricing and download protection.
What really caught my eye in your post was the need for bundling items into courses with expiration dates. PrestaShop has some modules that let you create product packs, which could work for your courses. And with a bit of tweaking, you could probably set up those expiration dates too.
The admin panel is pretty user-friendly, so your tech-savvy client should be able to manage it without too much trouble. Plus, there’s a decent community around it if you need help.
Have you given it a look? If not, it might be worth checking out. And hey, if you do try it, let us know how it goes! I’m always curious to hear about different e-commerce setups.
What’s the most challenging part of this project for you so far? The bulk pricing? Or is it more about the course bundling?
Have you considered Magento? It’s a robust PHP-based e-commerce platform that could meet your requirements. While it might have a steeper learning curve, it offers extensive customization options and supports digital product sales out of the box.
For your bulk pricing needs, Magento’s tier pricing feature should work well. It also has built-in download protection and digital product support. You can easily set up access controls for your courses and manage expiration dates.
The Community Edition is free, which leaves room in your budget for extensions or custom development if needed. There’s also a large community of developers who can help if you run into issues.
Keep in mind that Magento can be resource-intensive, so make sure your hosting can handle it. If you’re tech-savvy, you should be able to manage it after the initial setup. It might be worth exploring to see if it fits your specific use case.
It handles digital products out of the box, and there are some cool modules for things like bulk pricing and download protection.