Category Archives: X-Cart

Which Shopping Cart is Right for You?

Picking the correct shopping cart for your business can be a daunting task! Especially with the number of eCommerce shopping carts available on the market today! We have customers ask us many times what shopping cart is best, especially given we have been working with and customizing shopping carts since 2002.

Just like there is no correct answer to the perfect car for everyone, there is no perfect shopping cart. It really depends on the features you want, how easy it is to maintain, how reliable it is, and how much you are able to pay.

We will be discussing the 2 shopping carts we work with most, X-cart and Magento.

Start by listing in order what is most important in an eCommerce shopping cart to you

Built-in Features
Shopping Cart Cost
Maintenance costs
Hosting Costs
Developers available
Flexibility

Magento eCommerce Attributes

Magento for example, is a very flexible shopping cart with a large set of built in features. You can even get a free version of this shopping cart. There are a very large number of developers available to help you with MagentoCommerce, including us.

However, Magento requires a much more robust server to run on than most shopping carts. Our eCommerce Hosting for Magento requires a lot larger server base. You would need at least the Medium level of hosting to properly run Magento, but more likely need the Large hosting server or above depending on how much traffic you expect to your shopping cart.

Magento can also be extremely expensive for most businesses if you wish to run the paid version of it and is much more difficult to maintain by the average store owner. You’re very likely to need a Magento Developer to help you out.

X-cart eCommerce Attributes

X-cart has been around since 2001 and has become quite the feature-rich shopping cart. Especially the long running X-cart 4 version and X-cart 5 is working on catching up. X-cart can run on a much smaller server than Magento. Our eCommerce Hosting packages for X-cart can utilize our Small Server base for many businesses and can easily expand into the larger servers as needed.

X-cart 4 and 5 are much easier for the average business owner to maintain for most day-to-day tasks and has several options for X-cart Developers including us. Some business owners we’ve seen be able to pick up some small and medium customizations as well!

For more complicated customizations, you will need an X-cart Developer to help you out.

Picking the Right eCommerce Package

Still not sure which one would work best for you? Start by listing out what features you need, and Contact us! We will be happy to help you walk through critical thinking to help you pick the product that’s best for you!

This entry was posted in Ecommerce, Magento, X-Cart on January 10, 2020 by Carrie Saunders.

X-cart 4.7.10 Released

X-cart 4.7.10, the latest update to the “Classic” branch, just announced . This version brings several improvements for site speed and reliability, as well as enhancements for SEO, GDPR, and third-party integrations.

Major Changes

Improvements for Site Speed and Optimization (native CSS and JS minification, widget improvements).
Security Improvements (including changes to cookies to ensure PCI compliance).
X-cart now supports Guest Checkout for the Paypal Module.
X-cart 4.7.10 now fully supports PHP 7.

Ready to Update?

How to go about updating your store to X-cart 4.7.10 highly depends upon your current environment. If you are using a version prior to 4.7.0, you will need to consider reaching out to a professional for help with your upgrade.

If your store is currently running one of the previous 4.7.x releases, upgrading should go relatively smoothly, however we still recommend that you take some precautions:

Never upgrade a live store. You should maintain a development environment for your store, so that you can try out upgrades in a test mode, and ensure that nothing breaks.
Always have a backup. Both your site’s file and database should be copied before you apply the patch.

You can obtain the upgrade packs from your customer area. Make sure you following the instructions for applying the file and database patches precisely. More information on upgrading is available on the Wiki.

We strongly encourage you to seek assistance from an experienced X-cart developer when upgrading. This is especially true if your store is currently running version 4.7.0 or earlier.

Need Help?

Our team has been developing custom modules, hosting and maintaining X-cart sites, and helping stores grow since 2002! We’re ready to help you upgrade today. Contact us now to discuss how we can bring your store up to the latest X-cart 4.7.10.

This entry was posted in Blog, X-Cart and tagged upgrades on October 24, 2018 by BCS Engineering.

GDPR Support for X-cart

GDPR X-Cart Support

BCS Engineering is fully capable of helping you with your X-Cart GDPR Compliance. We can implement and analyze your X-Cart applications to help you achieve compliance & assist you with any other issues that you might have regarding GDPR. We are offering a 4 Hour X-Cart Support Consultation which includes a phone discussion to understand your business processes. We will then use that information to look into your site and propose changes that we recognize & provide a time estimate to achieve those changes. If there is time remaining in the 4 hour consult after completing the above tasks, we will use that remaining time to start implementing the changes that we identify for your X-Cart site.

We will base our work off of current best practices regarding GDPR & do our best at that point in time to help you achieve compliance. However, we do want our clients to understand that these regulations are a moving target & constantly changing. We encourage you to review all services and contracts connected to third-party companies with your legal counsel, in order to confirm GDPR compliance.

GDPR changes go into effect on 5/25/2018. Contact us for a quote to help you with your specific needs!

This entry was posted in X-Cart on April 25, 2018 by Carrie Saunders.

Authorize.net Eliminates $49 Setup Fee!

Say Goodbye to the $49 Setup Fee

Effective April 19, 2018 Authorize.net will be removing the $49 fee for all newly created Authorize.net Payment Gateway Accounts! If you’re thinking of switching or need a payment processor, Authorize.net just made their deal a whole lot sweeter. You can obtain this special pricing by using this link

We can help you with your set up or answer any questions that you might have. Contact us today for any assistance that you might need!

We also offer modules to assist you in implementing this payment processor for your shopping cart:

Magento Authorize.net CIM Module

X-Cart Authorize.net DPM Module

We cannot stress the importance of PCI Compliance & your shopping cart enough and this is a wonderful opportunity for you to take the steps to make sure your site is as secure as possible. We’ve been helping clients secure their sites and maintain PCI compliance since 2002 and can make this transition smooth for you. Contact us today!

This entry was posted in Blog, Ecommerce, Magento, X-Cart on April 17, 2018 by Carrie Saunders.

BCS Engineering Tips for Success in 2016

BCSE_globe 300x300

BCSE’s own Carrie Saunders has been featured in a blog for X-Cart offering her Tips for Success in 2016! It’s great read with some really valuable suggestions. Follow the links below to check it out:

Is Your Checkout Harming Your Business Worse Than Poor SEO??

Mobility & Responsiveness Fallout

Read the entire blog here and feel free to Contact Us with any questions that you may have!

This entry was posted in Ecommerce, X-Cart on March 22, 2016 by Carrie Saunders.

X-cart Responsive Template – Mobility!

X-cart Responsive Template – Mobility

Fully Responsive Template, Foundation based, SEO Skin!

Clean, Fast, with modern features!

X-cart Responsive Template - Mobility

X-cart Responsive Template, Mobility, is available for 4.6.x AND 4.7.x. Contact us if you’d like us to create it for your version of X-cart!

Tired of the boring old built in templates? Want something modern, fresh and easy to customize? Then the Mobility X-cart Responsive template is for you!

Main Features

Easy Installation
Fully Responsive
Drag and Drop Store Logo, Invoice Logo and Email Logo
Optimized One Page Checkout for conversions
Configurable layouts in the admin
- Options for the home page
- Options for the product pages
- Options for the category pages
- Options for the static pages
Search Engine Optimized HTML
Seamless wordpress integration
Vacation/Announcement Message option that appears on every page
SEO rich snippets
Sticky Header option
Easy to modify themes! – Pick your colors in the admin!
Low cost for an easy customized skin!
Unlimited Colors and customizations!

Layout Options

Individually Select Layout options for Home Page, Product Page, Category page and Static pages
- 1 Column
- 2 Column – Sidebar Right
- 2 Column – Sidebar Left
- 3 Column
Upto 4 footer column options, including options for:
- Twitter Feed
- Pinterest Feed
- Instagram Feed
- Facebook Feed
- Static Pages Menu
- Newsletter
- Speed Bar
- Hard Coded links
Browsing Transition Options Include
- Fade
- Slide Right
- Slide Left
- None
- Transition Speed
Page Width Options
- Wide
- Narrow
- Full
Center Content Style Options
- Contained (Shows center content in a framed area)
- Open (Shows center content unframed)
Category Location choice of Top Bar or Side Bar
Manufacturers Location choice of Top Bar or Side Bar
Home page Content -Choose from default home page of banner and featured products or Static page of your choice!
404 Page Content – Choose from default home page of banner and featured products or Static page of your choice!

Theme Options

Unlimited Color options!
Pick a Reference Color and 8 more theme colors will be automatically generated!
Optionally adjust each of the 8 theme colors to your liking!
Background color options of Solid or Repeating Pattern
Unlimited Repeating pattern options!
Fully Customize Button Colors!
- Main Buttons
- Success Buttons
- Secondary Buttons
- Alert Buttons
- Info Buttons
- Disabled Buttons

Social Options

Facebook URL
Twitter URL
Twitter Username (for feeds)
Google Plus URL
YouTube URL
Pinterest URL
Tumbler URL
Instagram Name

Home Page Options

Banner Position Options
- Within Page Content
- Full Page Width
- None (no banner)
4 Banners with links to help promote products or sales!
Drag and Drop images to update banners!

Checkout Options

Cart on Left with Checkout process on right
Cart on Right with Checkout Process on left
Cart Narrower than checkout process
Cart wider than checkout process
Cart same size as Checkout Process
Special optional checkout message to customers

Search Options

Enable/Disable Auto-completion for products in the search header
Minimum number of characters before auto-completion suggests
Maximum number of suggestions to display

WordPress Options

Enable WordPress Integration
Directory for wordpress
WordPress Layout options
- 1 Column
- 2 Column – Sidebar Right
- 2 Column – Sidebar Left
- 3 Column
WordPress Link Title

Page Speed Options

Enable/Disable Lazy Load Images
Minify CSS
Minify Javascript
Minify HTML

Purchase Mobility Template for your site today!

This entry was posted in X-Cart on December 23, 2015 by Carrie Saunders.

Future of X-Cart 4

We have some exciting news to pass on to customers using X-Cart 4 (a.k.a. X-Cart Classic) as their platform of choice. While Carrie was in attendance at the X-Cart Meetup in Orlando last week, the X-Cart team provided updates regarding the future status of X-Cart 4. It is our understanding that X-Cart will be continuing to support the X-Cart 4 branch for at least another 5 years.

Part of the reasoning for this appears to be that most of the current users of X-Cart are using the X-Cart 4 branch as opposed to X-Cart 5 – to the tune of approximately 75%. As such, customer demand seems to be the propelling factor behind the continued support. However, X-Cart 5 leads the way among users new to the X-Cart family.

BCS Engineering will continue to support the X-Cart 4 branch as long as we have customers requesting support. We are also in the process of ramping up our involvement with X-Cart 5 by porting some of our more heavily-requested mods to this branch. At the same time, we are increasing the number of X-Cart 5 related customer projects we are fielding. As always, if you are looking for support on an upcoming X-Cart project, feel free to contact us for a free quote!

This entry was posted in Blog, Ecommerce, Events, X-Cart on September 21, 2015 by Carrie Saunders.

Authorize.Net Waived Set-up Fee Promotion

Looking to sign-up with a payment processor? Authorize.Net is currently offering a free sign-up fee through September 30th. If you are interested in signing up, please visit this page. For more information on the payment processing services offered by Authorize.Net, please visit their site at www.authorize.net. (This link will not generate the waived set-up fee promotion, but will provide you will more information.)

This entry was posted in Blog, Ecommerce, X-Cart on August 4, 2015 by Carrie Saunders.

Payflow Integration Change Notification

We have had some customers contact us regarding the email notifications they have received from PayPal. These notifications discuss the deprecation of certain Payflow URLs. As this pertains to our X-Cart customers, if you have a store utilizing X-Cart version 4.3.x or older AND use Payflow Pro as a payment processor, you will need to have a patch performed to continue processing payments with your current set-up.

If you have specific questions related to this change, PayPal suggests to contact your Technical Account Manager or Partner Technical Support for assistance at www.paypal.com/mts. Of course, if you are looking for assistance in having this patch performed before the August 3rd deadline, please reach out to us at www.bcsengineering.com/contact_us/.

This entry was posted in Blog, X-Cart on July 28, 2015 by Carrie Saunders.

Security Patches for X-Cart versions 4.0.x-4.7.x

In case you missed the official X-Cart blog post, there have been a series of security patches released for X-Cart versions 4.0.x-4.7.1. If you have an active support subscription with Qualiteam, you can contact them to apply the patches. If you do not have an active support subscription, the patches can be obtained via the File Area of the X-Cart HelpDesk accounts.

As always, if you need any assistance in applying these patches, please contact us.

This entry was posted in Blog, Ecommerce, X-Cart on April 28, 2015 by Carrie Saunders.