osCommerce has been around since March 2000. At present there are over 10,000 live, registered osCommerce sites, and about 100,000 registered community members. Apart from providing ready-made solutions to problems, as well as a huge repository of information, the osCommerce community is a living entity with which we can all interact. With the rising success and popularity of this remarkable piece of software, things can only get better.

How to get a osCommerce web shop?

Oscommerce is open source and is available for free download here.

How to get support for your osCommerce web shop?

The osCommerce software is supported by a large community and you can get help and community support at the osCommerce support forum.

How can i extend the features and functionality of oscommerce?

In the osCommerce contribution section you will also find a waste selection of mods and contributions available for download which you can use to enhance your oscommerce web shop.

There is also usfull info avalable in the osCommerce knowledgebase aswell as the tips and tricks you can find on our web pages.

How to install a osCommerce web shop?

1. Download the latest version of osCommerce 2.2 to your local computer.

2.  Unzip the content from the download and read the instructions contained inside.

3. Upload the content from the /catalog/ folder in the downlad to your web server/hosting using a ftp program.

You can choose to upload the whole folder called /catalog/ to the root of your web server/hosting and this will give you a shop with this web address www.YOUR_WEB_SITE_URL.com/catalog/  or you can just upload the content inside the /catalog/ folder directly into the root of your web server/hosting which will give you this web address  www.YOUR_WEB_SITE_URL.com/

4. You will also need to go into your control panel or the ftp program to set some files and folder permissions.

includes/configure.php set to CMOD 777

admin/includes/configure.php set to CMOD 777

/images/ set to CMOD 777

5. Open your web browser and go to your web site , depending on the upload procedure go to your main address or /catalog/ , you will now see the default online installer.

6. Follow the instructions in the installer , you will need to have info such as mysql db address, mysql db name and mysql db user name ready at hand to complete the instalation.

During the instalation you will have some optional choices, for those you should choose the following:

6.1. Import Catalog Database: 

Recommended setting for first time users , yes/checked

6.2. Automatic Configuration:

Recommended setting for first time users , yes/checked

6.3. Store Sessions in:

Recommended setting for first time users ,  Mysql/DB

6.4. Use Persistant Connection

Recommended setting for first time users , no/not-checked

7. When you have completed the online installer you should do the following.

7.1 Delete the /install/ folder.

7.2 CMOD these two files to 644 , or alternatively for some server setups 444, 600 or 400.

includes/configure.php

admin/includes/configure.php

After having completed these steps your shop should now be ready for you to start working on, you might also want to read our osCommerce design tutorial which showes you how to make the shop have your own design look and feel.

 We wish you the best of luck with your osCommerce powered web shop!