First time Woocommerce user, long time WP-Ecommerce user. I recently built a store using WordPress to sell some t-shirts online as a work project via my employer which had basic variations, bulk pricing and you pay via Paypal – sounds simple enough right?
I wanted to see what all of the fuss was about Woocommerce, this was a HUGE mistake. Seriously, if you are considering Woocommerce by all means reconsider unless you have deep pockets. In comparison to WP-Ecommerce (whom I have no affiliation with) Woocommerce feels like a cash grab more than it does an e-commerce solution for WordPress.
Sure, the plugin works well and looks nicely but simple extremely basic functionality that comes as standard in WP-Ecommerce is non-existent by default in Woocommerce. In-fact a lot of the functionality offered for free in WP-Ecommerce and other free plugins like Dukapress isn’t free in Woocommerce.
Case in point, “the ability to export orders” – exporting your orders seems like a highly likely thing someone running an online store for basically anything needs, correct? WP-Ecommerce supports exporting your orders no questions or credit card numbers asked, Woocommerce requires a plugin they have for sale on their site for $35 to export your orders to a .csv file vs a freely downloadable plugin for WP-Ecommerce for free.
Another piece of crucial functionality, “Wholesale pricing” there is a free plugin for that but for the hefty price of $75 in comparison to a plugin that lets you have different tiers of payment discounts depending on how many of one or more items you purchase.
Another piece of functionality many will find themselves wanting, “Paypal Express Payments” by default WP-Ecommerce supports Paypal Express, for the same functionality in Woocommerce it’s $50.
I understand developers have to make a living, but how can a limited free shop plugin with almost only paid plugins truly be an actual choice for a company or developer? Considering the competition in the space you would think Woocommerce would be a little more competitive back.
I won’t ever be using Woocommerce again. What a joke.
I read your above complains about woocommerce.
I’m also aware many are victims of their paid plugins.
So, Did you found some wayout to get Export Orders for free in Woocommerce ?
I know there might be something to do this in some another ecommerce plugin,but is it possible to do this for woocommerce for free.
Thanks for your Help Buddy !:)
Hey demlaip,
I did find a way to export orders without buying plugins, I wrote a small script that exported the data. I should have it lying about if you would like a copy of it.
It would be really helpful, if you please share your script.
Thanks alot !
I just installed woocommerce as I started to build a site for a new client and wanted to mess around and see if it was an ok fit. I just wanted to create a showroom site with no shopping cart but bulk table pricing. Woocommerce wants to charge $100 for essentially the only one change I need to upgrade the site. Yeah looking into wp-ecommerce now to see if its any better. Love the site you have a new subscriber. All the best!!
Dwayne and demlaip: If either of you would share that script with me, I would greatly appreciate it! I just need to export all order data to CSV… Nothing fancy required.
Thanks in advance!
would love to know that script too! 🙂
Cheers!
I would love to know that export script too!! Can’t believe a company would be so ridiculous.. exporting orders should be included.
Hi there,
I am really looking forward to try your script. Can you please share it with me.
Cheers
Hi Dwayne and Demlaip,
Is there a way to get this script as well?
Thanks! Cheers,
Clement
Sorry guys. I will have to track it down! I said I would share it ages ago but got really busy and then forgot. If not. I’ll just write a new script and share it for free. Still cannot believe you have to pay for this basic functionality.
Hi Dwayne and Demlaip,
First time checking out the site, but will be keeping an eye on it;)
Like the others here, I also fell into the trap of setting up my shop with woocommerce (which is actually very decent in itself), not knowing that basic features like csv export would cost me…it´s a bit like giving away a free ferrari, but then charging 100.000 for the steering wheel…(probably will buy the plugin in time, merely to support the developers, but I need to make money to have money…)
I would really love the script aswell!
I have used WP eCommerce (or GetShopped, or whatever else it wants to call itself) extensively in the past, and I have recently used WooCommerce on a handful of recent projects too. I’ve also built eCommerce sites completely independent of WordPress on platforms like Lemonstand, Magento & Actinic.
The first thing to note is that all of the non-Wordpress platforms are paid; ranging anywhere from $600 to $16,000 (for Magento Enterprise). WooCommerce is free. Admittedly, so is WP eCommerce, but the other key thing is that WooCommerce is developed by developers who also work and contribute to the WordPress core. They respond ridiculously quickly to bug reports, and in fact I’ve had a suggestion of mine taken and implemented in an update the following day. My experience with WP eCommerce has been… less productive. In my experience, it is an ageing behemoth of cobbled together legacy support for something that should have been rewritten from the ground up years ago. And make no mistake, there’s plenty of premium plugins for WP eCommerce too.
That’s not to say that I haven’t had issues with WooCommerce not doing everything out of the box; it doesn’t. But here’s the thing: IT’S FREE. When WooCommerce doesn’t do exactly what I want, I write an extension plugin for it. For a recent site I needed custom taxonomies, PDF documentation files associated with each product, and for the ‘Manage Stock’ option to always be available by default. So I wrote a plugin for it. Am I getting paid for my time to write these plugins? You bet your ass I am. Because it’s WORK.
If WooCommerce, as a free product you obtained for free, doesn’t do what you want out of the box, then code something that will. If you don’t have the skills to code something like that, then be prepared to pay for it. WooCommerce doesn’t owe you anything for free.
Hello Guys,
Whoever needs to export order details from WooCommerce, I have released my plugin for the same.
It’s free !
Give it a shot and don’t forget to rate it. 🙂
https://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce-simply-order-export/
Hope this will be helpful.
Magento community edition is free and works fine for high traffic sites with technologies like varnish and mod_pagespeed, so please don’t tell users that wp-ecommerce and woocommerce are the only free games in town. Please. Woocommerce is a mess, the code is shit. Magento charges for it’s extensions (sometimes), but you’re paying anyway, why not use a framework that is built better?