Comments on: Review of CRE Loaded 6.3 Pro and B2B http://frumpyhausfrau.com/business/review-of-cre-loaded-63-pro-and-b2b/ Defining True Success in Business and Family Fri, 16 Jul 2010 13:13:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Laura http://frumpyhausfrau.com/business/review-of-cre-loaded-63-pro-and-b2b/comment-page-1/#comment-346 Laura Wed, 19 May 2010 14:17:20 +0000 http://frumpyhausfrau.com/?p=222#comment-346 We have found that Joomla with VirtueMart is ending up being more functional for our clients. Joomla is easier to template (lots of free templates available also), easier to manage (better separation of core code and content/design), and much more stable. VirtueMart has its issues, but they are easier to fix, and fewer of them. We've custom coded to overcome some of the limits, and offer two modules for it (for a small cost), to enhance the tax calculations, and to provide Authorize.net SIM payment processing. Long term, it has just been much simpler to use and maintain. We have found that Joomla with VirtueMart is ending up being more functional for our clients. Joomla is easier to template (lots of free templates available also), easier to manage (better separation of core code and content/design), and much more stable. VirtueMart has its issues, but they are easier to fix, and fewer of them. We’ve custom coded to overcome some of the limits, and offer two modules for it (for a small cost), to enhance the tax calculations, and to provide Authorize.net SIM payment processing. Long term, it has just been much simpler to use and maintain.

]]> By: L. Arnold http://frumpyhausfrau.com/business/review-of-cre-loaded-63-pro-and-b2b/comment-page-1/#comment-344 L. Arnold Wed, 19 May 2010 11:39:53 +0000 http://frumpyhausfrau.com/?p=222#comment-344 Having been much in pursuit of a full featured open-source package for this work the review set me back some. Gives some insight to the difficulty of making an effective package which is actually efficient and user friendly both. There just are not many alternatives out there, but given the popularity of platforms like WordPress it would seem an effective open source db/cart would have followers and supporters. Despite the criticism's I am quite impressed that Mr. Iozzia would comment directly. It seems the company does care. With some difficulty I got CE version installed last night. Now debating the B2B package. It is quite expensive given the lack of any sort of satisfaction guaruntee. If it was $100 it might be something different. Competing against some commercial offerings for the most part. The whole PCI thing reminds me of the Y2K scare which was the undoing of many a good company who went mining for dollars. Pretty unpleasant business models in much of the modern software world. I wish I could understand where Open Source ends and Commercial software begins. counting to three, Having been much in pursuit of a full featured open-source package for this work the review set me back some. Gives some insight to the difficulty of making an effective package which is actually efficient and user friendly both.

There just are not many alternatives out there, but given the popularity of platforms like WordPress it would seem an effective open source db/cart would have followers and supporters.

Despite the criticism’s I am quite impressed that Mr. Iozzia would comment directly. It seems the company does care.

With some difficulty I got CE version installed last night. Now debating the B2B package. It is quite expensive given the lack of any sort of satisfaction guaruntee. If it was $100 it might be something different.

Competing against some commercial offerings for the most part. The whole PCI thing reminds me of the Y2K scare which was the undoing of many a good company who went mining for dollars.

Pretty unpleasant business models in much of the modern software world. I wish I could understand where Open Source ends and Commercial software begins.

counting to three,

]]> By: Harry Mangalam http://frumpyhausfrau.com/business/review-of-cre-loaded-63-pro-and-b2b/comment-page-1/#comment-311 Harry Mangalam Mon, 12 Apr 2010 22:38:06 +0000 http://frumpyhausfrau.com/?p=222#comment-311 thanks very much for this useful and informational critique. Much better than 99% of the reviews on such products which are generally just slightly masticated re-releases of the product web promo. best wishes.! hjm thanks very much for this useful and informational critique. Much better than 99% of the reviews on such products which are generally just slightly masticated re-releases of the product web promo.

best wishes.!
hjm

]]> By: Michael E. http://frumpyhausfrau.com/business/review-of-cre-loaded-63-pro-and-b2b/comment-page-1/#comment-281 Michael E. Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:05:33 +0000 http://frumpyhausfrau.com/?p=222#comment-281 Thank you so much for your analysis. I've been using B2B 6.4.0.a now for a couple of months and I am just now starting to get a real feel for it. It is NOT in any way - user friendly. I found this post as I was in search of something - anything - any HELP what-so-ever - in getting the thing to run at a decent speed. My store is at best 'Average' in size with only 4000 products and there are times when the Categories page takes 3 min. to load. Frankly, the speed sucks...and no, it is not a result of my host provider, it IS the software. Sorry Sal, here it is almost a year after your comment (above) and you have NOT answered the issues with this software, nor have you provided ANY real help to users. If it were not for the help of other users, I could never fix any bugs. I do disagree with Laura on one point. I would NOT pay extra for support. When I buy a product, I expect it to work. I don't care if it costs $10 or $1000 - It better work as promised. I'm not going to pay you to fix something that should ALREADY work. Trust me, the minute I can afford to buy REAL merchant software, I will dump this garbage program. Until then, I will be forced to suffer through. Sincerely, Thank you so much for your analysis.

I’ve been using B2B 6.4.0.a now for a couple of months and I am just now starting to get a real feel for it. It is NOT in any way – user friendly.

I found this post as I was in search of something – anything – any HELP what-so-ever – in getting the thing to run at a decent speed. My store is at best ‘Average’ in size with only 4000 products and there are times when the Categories page takes 3 min. to load. Frankly, the speed sucks…and no, it is not a result of my host provider, it IS the software.

Sorry Sal, here it is almost a year after your comment (above) and you have NOT answered the issues with this software, nor have you provided ANY real help to users. If it were not for the help of other users, I could never fix any bugs.

I do disagree with Laura on one point. I would NOT pay extra for support. When I buy a product, I expect it to work. I don’t care if it costs $10 or $1000 – It better work as promised. I’m not going to pay you to fix something that should ALREADY work.

Trust me, the minute I can afford to buy REAL merchant software, I will dump this garbage program. Until then, I will be forced to suffer through.

Sincerely,

]]> By: Sal Iozzia http://frumpyhausfrau.com/business/review-of-cre-loaded-63-pro-and-b2b/comment-page-1/#comment-152 Sal Iozzia Sat, 06 Jun 2009 18:33:28 +0000 http://frumpyhausfrau.com/?p=222#comment-152 Laura, Thank you for your review. I understand it took a while to produce. In that time, we hunkered down and fixed alot a great deal of the bugs in 6.3. We also just released 6.4. Which is now Validated to the PCI PA-DSS standards. 6.4 is free to all customers who purchased 6.3 Pro and B2B, as it falls under the 12 months of fee updates with their Support Membership. We have also launched a new community site at www.creloaded.org and with the existing forums there. There is a new Community Extensions directory, which contains all the payment modules and language packages from 6.3 and earlier. I think you will find the treasure has been a bit refined since the fall. Also creloaded.com has is running on the new 6.4 platform, this is important because throughout 6.3 release we remained on 6.2 platform. This disconnect takes us further away from the realities of the application, as USING our own software to generate our own revenue, including the affiliates program, is the best way for us to be confronted with the short comings and set priorities on changes. For your merchants that take credit cards, you will find a a new solution for them achieving actual PCI compliance with 6.4 via a new service called CRE Secure. It will take some time to absorb the reason and the impact of the CRE Secure service. We designed it to solve the PCI problems small merchants are facing. It provides a FREE hosted payment page that works with most merchants services accounts in the US. And it 100% mimic your site template on the fly with a patent pending technology called HTML Clone. For those using other payment methods, all the payment modules are available for free download at our community extension directory. As for your recommendations above, I will bring them to our management and development team for review and consideration. We deeply appreciate your time and energy and honest opinions of CRE Loaded. I look forward to talking with you more about our current offerings. Sal Iozzia Founder and CVO CRE Commerce, Inc. Laura,

Thank you for your review. I understand it took a while to produce. In that time, we hunkered down and fixed alot a great deal of the bugs in 6.3.

We also just released 6.4. Which is now Validated to the PCI PA-DSS standards.

6.4 is free to all customers who purchased 6.3 Pro and B2B, as it falls under the 12 months of fee updates with their Support Membership.

We have also launched a new community site at http://www.creloaded.org and with the existing forums there. There is a new Community Extensions directory, which contains all the payment modules and language packages from 6.3 and earlier.

I think you will find the treasure has been a bit refined since the fall.

Also creloaded.com has is running on the new 6.4 platform, this is important because throughout 6.3 release we remained on 6.2 platform. This disconnect takes us further away from the realities of the application, as USING our own software to generate our own revenue, including the affiliates program, is the best way for us to be confronted with the short comings and set priorities on changes.

For your merchants that take credit cards, you will find a a new solution for them achieving actual PCI compliance with 6.4 via a new service called CRE Secure. It will take some time to absorb the reason and the impact of the CRE Secure service. We designed it to solve the PCI problems small merchants are facing.

It provides a FREE hosted payment page that works with most merchants services accounts in the US. And it 100% mimic your site template on the fly with a patent pending technology called HTML Clone.

For those using other payment methods, all the payment modules are available for free download at our community extension directory.

As for your recommendations above, I will bring them to our management and development team for review and consideration.

We deeply appreciate your time and energy and honest opinions of CRE Loaded. I look forward to talking with you more about our current offerings.

Sal Iozzia
Founder and CVO
CRE Commerce, Inc.

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