As I wrote yesterday, I’m searching for a shopping cart that I like. This is not easy, because I loathe shopping online, and I’m not all that fond of selling online either. I’d much rather sell to you in person. See what you pick up, touch, smell. Watch you experience and make your choices. Ask you what you’d like to see next time you come in. In short, I want to sell to YOU, not some faceless browser in Never Never Land. It’s very hard to do that on the internet.
But if I’m going to do the thing properly, I’d like to self-host it, rather than pay for a subscription store.
There are some reasons why I don’t want to go with a subscription shop.
- One, I just don’t want to pay for a subscription store. Maybe that would be a great idea if I had a super-fast selling product or a massive shop, with a bunch of employees to populate it, but at my level, DIY is better for my budget.
- Two, I’m at the mercy of the host, so whenever they update something, if I don’t like it or it breaks, then I’m stuck with it and can’t easily move to another location. Wow, Etsy all over again.
- Three, I am probably a lot more paranoid about my security than they are. I can almost guarantee it.
- Four, I already pay for an excellent subscription store. I love the ArtFire staff.
- And five, I’m just that sort of geek. I just like to mess with this type of thing.
So, see, I’ve thought about it. Which is why I was so shocked to have had the following interchange with someone improbably named “Buddy Jedd” from 3DCart.
Me:
Is there a way to purchase a license to self-host a 3Dcart store?
I think I really like the program, but I’d rather do all the backups and maintenance myself.
I would want to use ProPay, Google, and Amazon payment gateways, if that helps any.
Please advise. Thanks!
Ande Spenser
MMFIC
oh — I heard about you through ProPay, although I had to google for your website. ProPay’s didn’t have a link to your site.
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Buddy’s Reply:
-original message-
From: “Buddy Jedd”
We are a hosted cart system. We, like everyone else in the industry, feel that hosting is the best method of allowing us to keep upgrading our system by adding features and improvements for the 12,000 stores we support.
Having a lot of one-off software installations is costly to manage and keep in lockstep with the frequent bug fixes and upgrades we come out with. Why don’t you give us a try and let me send you a login to our 15-day trial account? I think you’ll agree that letting us manage the hardware and server is a better approach. Should you need to integrate with internal systems, we have API documentation that will allow you to write to or download data from any table.
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Well, that sounds kinda like, “we think our users are too stupid to upgrade.” Now, I didn’t think my request was all that unreasonable. I’ve had stupid users myself — I deal with some of them on an almost daily basis, in fact. But I can put my Polite Hat on and be a big girl. Sometimes I do ask stupid questions from programmers and occasionally turn in a really dumb or incoherent bug report. But most of the time, I try to be unstupid.
I shared these emails with Jordan, who is Supreme Ruler of Dealing with Online Jerks. Jordan, who is not the most empathic person, also felt that Bubba’s reply did not connote healthy future dealings with the 3DCart Customer Relations Department.
I felt Bubba was in need of some Manners Training. Note — I was not wearing my Polite Hat.
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You might be unaware that your reply, especially the phrase “like everyone else in the industry”, comes across as very smarmy.
Of course everyone else in the industry of subscription shopping carts thinks their way is superior. I happen to disagree. I prefer to maintain my own files, databases, and backups, plus I can have the peace of mind knowing that my data is in a secure location and running on well-maintained hardware. I don’t know anything about your company and while I assume you take steps to protect your customers’ data, I happen to enjoy doing things on my own.
Thank you so much for assuming the user is incapable of doing their own maintenance. I have been quite able to install upgrades to all of my software for nearly two decades now. Gee, I’ve even handled going from Windows 3.1 to 7. Every time Joomla, phpBB, or WordPress has a new version, upgrading is extremely simple. So your assertion that it’s too difficult for people to keep up with the latest version is just pure bullshit.
I am very disappointed in your reply. A simple “no, we don’t offer that, sorry” would’ve sufficed. You’ve convinced me that I’d rather not deal with your corporate attitude. If I want smug replies, I’ll go hang out in the ZenCart forums.
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This is what dropped into my Inbox a while ago. Just to let me know that Bubba was not, after all, unaware of how he comes off. I can’t believe this guy is still employed. I hope they read his email.
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Once again the old ‘you can’t please all of the people…’ adage comes into play.
I thought I was dealing with a corporate IT professional who prefers using his own staff and equipment to manage hosting behind his own firewall for a variety of legitimate and practical reasons. Now I don’t know who I am dealing with at all. There is nothing smarmy about restating the obvious fact that the shopping cart world is predominantly hosted. I even went out of my way to offer sending you our API documentation, even assuming that you were literate enough to utilize them to build the interfaces your company might need for doing anything from sending data to your ERP system, or writing data from your WMS shipping files. The idea of maintenance being made simpler by consolidation on our managed servers is also obvious, and has nothing to do with desktop users being able to download and install upgrades, service packs, and patches, and evertying with us efficiently managing our software.
Go hang out in whatever forums you want, or even better, take some time off. You are obviously on edge or looking to create opportunities to kick somebody’s dog.
Buddy Edward Jedd
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Wow. Just… wow. Sounds like someone is out to get fired.
I’m not sure why he felt that I’m an IT professional, I didn’t represent myself that way at all. In fact, if he checked out my domain from my email, he’d see a pretty crap DIY website. I certainly hope there isn’t any IT pro running around out there with a website like mine. And as for hosting things behind firewalls — why should a user be a corporate IT professional to be interested in security? There is nothing illegitimate about wanting to do these things from one’s own home office.
As to going “out of [his] way to offer sending API documentation”… if “should you need to integrate with internal systems, we have API documentation that will allow you to write to or download data from any table” is his idea of going out of his way, I can’t imagine what he’d think of a customer who dared to ask for assistance. He’d probably think that was just way outta line and shut ’em down.
I have no clue what all those TLAs are. None at all. I just wanna get my products online without dealing with a bunch of yo-yos. As to kicking things… bend over, Buddy. My foot has an appointment with your ass for the “even assuming that you were literate enough” comment. Oh boy. I hope I never meet you in person.
My final reply, then.
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Yeah, definitely not gonna go with you guys.
Your superiority complex clearly does not extend to customer service. I’ll make sure to repost your letter on my blog and in my forum where my other users can make sure to stay away from you.
Since you’re so fond of adages, post this one over your monitor:
Please a customer and she’ll tell three or four people.
Displease her, and she’ll tell the world.
Please do not respond. I don’t have time for assholes.
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Again, folks, that’s 3DCart. One big downvote for them.
Buddy Edward Jedd‘s LinkedIn profile. Evidently, he’s unable to hold a job for very long. Dude… if you are unable to stay employed longer than a few months, maybe you shouldn’t show it off. Link OUT.
Gross crotch shot on his Facebook page. Ew.
Although… the owner of 3D Cart, Gonzalo Gil (Gil Gonzalo?) is kinda cute in that geeky way. And a lot younger than Crazy Boy Jedd. I didn’t know you could get a degree in eCommerce.
