FAQs

Frequently asked questions are provided in this section to answer your queries/doubts about the X-Cart software. We have tried our best to answer all FAQs, but even if after referring this section your doubts are not cleared, please feel free to contact us.

Answers

1. What is X-Cart ?

X-Cart is a PHP4 / PHP5 + MySQL-based secure shopping cart software with support for Smarty Templates technology.

2. Does X-Cart support PayPal ?

Yes, X-Cart does support PayPal.

3. What is the difference between the GOLD and the PRO packages ?

X-CART GOLD package is designed for small and medium internet stores. It allows you to run store with unlimited number of categories and products. In GOLD all administrators have the same access level to data and configuration settings of the e-store. The PRO package has all of the advantages of the GOLD package, but it is designed for medium or large internet stores and online malls with joint catalog. The PRO package is created to allow several different sellers sharing a web store to sell products. Also, PRO allows having separate accounts for store's personnel with restricted access to administration section. GOLD does not allow that.

4. What is the difference between X-Cart and LiteCommerce (www.litecommerce.com) ? Which one is better ?

The primary difference between them is that LiteCommerce (unlike X-Cart) is object-oriented and module based. There are a lot of other differences between them. In fact, LiteCommerce and X-Cart are based on 100% different shopping cart engines (though both carts are developed by the same company). Both products are optimized for needs of ecommerce customers, but they target slightly different audience. By now, X-Cart has much more features than LiteCommerce and costs more. However, LiteCommerce is expandable using modules and is much easier to use than X-Cart. LiteCommerce also uses more user-friendly template system, which allows LiteCommerce users to modify look & feel of the cart by using WYSIWYG HTML editors.

5. Can I purchase installation and/or customization services AFTER ordering X-Cart ?

If you have purchased X-Cart without ordering additional services, you can always purchase the services later.

6. Which payment gateways does X-Cart support ? And which do you recommend ?

X-Cart is integrated with more than 100 payment gateways. For the full list please see Payment gateways supported by X-Cart page. The recommended companies you can find on the Payment gateways page.

7. I already have a merchant account. Is it possible to use it with X-Cart ?

Yes, it is possible. Please contact us for more details.

8. Can I incorporate this software into my existing website ?

Yes you can. X-Cart can be easily integrated with any look and layout. Contact us if you need more details.

9. I want to keep the same 'look' through the whole website. Is it possible to integrate X-Cart with my look and feel ?

X-Cart is based on PHP Smarty templates that can be edited to alter X-Cart's look in any way. X-Cart has a built-in templates editor which allows you to easily edit the templates.

10. If I purchase one X-Cart package, can I set it up at more than one website ?

No, this is not possible. You will need to purchase a license for each site you build with X-Cart. You'll get a significant discount on all X-Cart licenses purchased after the first one.

11. What service package would I need from Authorize.NET to use their credit card processing services in X-Cart ?

X-Cart is integrated with Authorize.net by means of AIM (Advanced Integration Method) and SIM (Simple Integration Method). SIM is supported by X-Cart 3.5.0 or higher version.

12. After issuing payment, how soon do I get X-Cart ?

If you order the Gold + Installation service or the Pro + Installation service and your server is PHP/MySQL-capable, you get X-Cart installed in 24h after ordering X-Cart and sending us server information. If you order the Customized package, the exact delivery deadline depends on the amount of requested custom changes.

13. If I purchase the GOLD package, is it possible to upgrade to the PRO package later ?

Yes, this is possible. The price of your original package will be subtracted from the price of the Pro package.

14. Will X-Cart run well on web server with PHP5 ?

Yes, absolutely.

15. Is it possible to run X-Cart with "safe_mode" PHP configuration variable turned on?

The "safe_mode" disables several important PHP commands, including input/output functions and file upload support. This makes it virtually impossible to run a complex ecommerce software like X-Cart. Our shopping cart software needs input/output functions in order to read the template files, needs file upload functions in order to handle product image uploads. By default, "safe_mode" is turned off on all PHP installations. X-Cart is compatible with all default PHP configurations and most of non-default PHP configurations.

16. Do I need to be an experienced developer in order to install X-Cart myself ? Do I need HTML knowledge ? Do I need PHP knowledge ?

X-Cart is very easy to install, all you need is to unpack the distribution, then open install.php with your web-browser. Our install.php wizard will do the installation for you. You don't have to know HTML and PHP. PHP knowledge is only required if you want to modify the source code of the cart. HTML knowledge is only required if you want to modify the look of the cart.

17. Do I need to have administrator (root) access rights to server in order to install X-Cart ?

Administrator rights are not required.

18. Is it possible to remove X-Cart logo from my shopping cart pages ?

Yes, feel free to do this. X-Cart's built in template editor allows you to alter the look of the shopping cart in any way you want.

19. What is the difference between provider and admin interfaces ?

There are three different interfaces: the first is the customer interface (the shop), the second is the provider interface and the third is the admin interface. Admin interface is created for shop owners. The admin interface can be used to configure and control the store. Unlike the admin interface, provider interface can be accessed by several _different_ product providers. Each of them can add/modify/delete their own products and keep track of their own orders. For example, you can have one provider who sells TVs and another one who sells DVD Players - in that case each of them will be able to control their products and orders, but all of the products will appear in the same shop. The multi-provider concept is only available in Mall ("Pro") edition. Gold edition has only one provider account, and one provider controls all products in the store. For your convenience, admin and provider interfaces are joined in the Gold edition (because usually store owner and product provider are the same persons in non-mall mode).

20. I see that the demo site uses a list of U.S states. We are located outside the U.S., how easy is it to change the list of states to match our provinces/regions ?

You can easily change the list of states/provinces by using the X-Cart Admin Interface.

21. There are so many hosting services over the Internet so I find it difficult to choose which one to use. Can you recommend some hosting services that are fully compatible with X-Cart?

We can offer you our own X-Cart hosting solution. Also, please, have a look at the list of Recommended Webhosting Companies.

22. I have several different domain names pointing to the same site. Do I need to purchase several licenses ?

If you have several different domain names pointing to the same site with the same content, 1 license will be enough.

23. What is PHP ? What is PHP 4 ?

PHP (http://www.php.net) is a popular server-side scripting language distributed for free. PHP is de-facto standard for modern web hostings. Most of web hostings support PHP. PHP4 stands for "PHP version 4". Most of web hostings support PHP version 4. You can contact your ISP in order to make sure they support PHP4. X-Cart is written in PHP4 server-side scripting language. This makes X-Cart highly portable and customizable.

24. What is MySQL ?

MySQL (http://www.mysql.com/) is an open-source robust SQL database engine. X-Cart uses it to store product information. Most of web hostings support MySQL. You can contact your ISP / web hosting in order to make sure that they have support for MySQL databases.

25. What is Smarty ?

Smarty is a free open-source template engine written in PHP. In fact, Smarty is one of the best template engines available. X-Cart uses it to provide X-Cart Store Owners with access to unlimited customization of look and layout. You can get more information on Smarty at the following URL: http://smarty.php.net/faq.php

26. My credit card processing gateway is not present in the list of supported gateways. What can I do to make X-Cart support my CC processing gateway ?

27. Is it possible to make X-Cart forward users to secure (HTTPS/SSL) URL when they come to the checkout page ?

Yes, this can be easily done with X-Cart.

28. Is it possible to change the currency/weight symbol ?

Yes, you can define currency/weight symbols in the administration section under "General settings" menu.

29. Once I decide to purchase X-Cart, how do I get it ?

You will receive access to our Helpdesk. There is a "Files" section which holds the latest releases of X-Cart, this will allow you to have direct access to all future releases of X-Cart.

30. What are the system requirements for X-Cart ?

X-Cart is tested on FreeBSD, Linux, Win2000/NT and MacOS X servers running Apache and IIS web servers. X-Cart requires PHP and MySQL installed. To get more details please see System requirements page.

31. Is it possible to add options to my products (ie. sizes ,colors, etc. other) ?

Yes, you can add unlimited number of product options to any of your products. Supported product option types are drop-down options and text area options. Drop-down options can be assigned a price modifier (flat-fee or percent of original product cost). Text area options can be used to allow your customers to add text information with their order. For example, they can add a text they want to be engraved on their gift.

32. Does X-Cart allow sale of e-goods? In other words is software sold for download only (no shipping) ?

Yes, this feature is supported by X-Cart. After the payment is processed the system generates a download URL and mails it to the customer. The URL is unique for each order and it is valid for a limited time.

33. Does X-Cart support sub-categories ?

Yes, it does support unlimited levels of sub-categories.

34. Can I use Microsoft FrontPage / Macromedia Dreamweaver to edit my X-Cart pages ?

No it's impossible. You will need HTML knowledge to edit X-Cart templates. The templates can be edited using the built-in template editor. However, you can create your design in any editor, then integrate the resulting HTML code with X-Cart or just ask us to perform the design integration. However if FrontPage/Dreamweaver support is a vital requirement, then you should have a look at LiteCommerce (another product offered by our company), which is optimized for WYSIWYG editors.

35. How many stores can I build? What does X-Cart license grants?

X-Cart Gold/Pro license grants using one copy of X-Cart Gold/Pro for one store.

One store is a store having the same look'n'feel and using the same database of products/customers/whatever. It means you can have several URLs referring to the same store, but you can't run more than one store having one license. If you need to run several stores you have to purchase appropriate number of licenses. We offer discounted prices for additional licenses you purchase.

The above means:
If you are a web developer or a reseller and want to deploy X-Cart stores for your clients you need to obtain a license for each store of your clients. You will have unlimited access to all new releases of X-Cart (Gold or Pro according to license you have). You can install a copy of X-Cart in local environment that does not have a permanent connection to Internet for development and testing purposes. We do understand that you need to do a lot of other work before going live. That's why we allow such unlicensed installations. Otherwise, X-Cart installation must be licensed.

For more information please refer to license agreement.

36. I will be developing my site at one URL then moving it to another when we go live. Can I assume that we will be able to change the URL under the same license?

Yes, this is possible. You will need to mail us your new URL and remove the software from your old URL.

37. Can I integrate my existing database with X-Cart ?

You can modify the source code of X-Cart to integrate it with any database. However, X-Cart is a very complex software which consists of more than 200 PHP files. We recommend you converting your current database to X-Cart format. This can be done by using the import feature of X-Cart. We can also create a custom conversion tool for your database. This kind of service costs from $50. You can contact us for more details.

38. What are the "Installation Services" for X-Cart ?

Read more about installation service.

39. I like your demo. Is this how the cart looks before any customization ?

After you install X-Cart on your server, the cart will look exactly as the demo.

40. Which platform do you recommend for installing X-Cart (UNIX/Linux/Windows) ?

We recommend you choosing a UNIX/Linux server.

41. My products need to have a larger picture in addition to the thumbnail. Does X-Cart support both thumbnails and larger pictures ?

With X-Cart, every product can have one thumbnail and unlimited number of additional product images.

42. Do you have any examples of websites that use your product?

Sure. Please check the list of featured clients.

43. I want to process orders off-line. Is it possible to have the cart email order information to me ?

Yes, the cart can send order information by e-mail. It is also possible to configure the cart to make it PGP-encrypt the e-mails. You can also just log in to the admin area using secure HTTPS/SSL connection and access the order information using your web browser.

44. Does X-Cart support different pricing levels for different user groups ?

Yes, the shopping cart software does support different pricing levels for different user groups. You can have unlimited number of customer groups. You can assign a group to a customer, then define custom pricing for each customer group.

45. Is it allowed to setup and test the software on my local computer before uploading to server?

Actually X-Cart license forbids running X-Cart on unregistered URL, but anyway we allow to setup the software on your local computer if the software is not used for commercial purposes and your local website is not available for public visitors.

46. What is the "admin safe mode" in X-Cart online demo on your website? Why can't I use some functions in X-Cart online demo?

Since the administrator back-end of X-Cart online demo is publicly available for demonstration purposes, we limited some X-Cart administrator functions using the so-called "safe mode". This mode makes a number of sections and functions of the administrator back-end available only for viewing and does not allow any changes to be submitted.

The following sections are available for viewing only:

News Management
Static pages
General settings
Payment methods
Images location
Modules
DB Backup/Restore
Summary
HTML-catalog
Languages
Users
Patch/Upgrade

The following operations are not allowed:

Removal of categories and products
Usage of html tags in product and category descriptions
Editing of the Speed Bar
File operations (Files, Edit templates)
Data import

We recommend that you use X-Cart 30-day trial demo if you wish to test-drive the above sections and functions.

47. Is X-Cart PCI/CISP certified?

The short answer is no. But the thing is that it's not supposed to be a PCI/CISP certified product itself since X-Cart is neither a payment gateway, nor a financial organization charging credit cards, nor is it a hosted e-commerce solution.

X-Cart is a standalone e-commerce application which can be integrated with any of supported payment gateways and used on any compatible hosting server. Online merchants who use this shopping cart are supposed to get PCI/CISP compliant status themselves if they use both PCI/CISP compliant payment gateway and hosting service.

Testimonials

After deep researching, we believe X-Cart is extremely robust especially for the price; also, customer and technical support has been very, very good.

Pamela S. Postel
President
www.bijouxpets.com
January 14, 2008

More testimonials

X-Cart hosting: Ecommerce Enterprise plan

Add-on modules