“A free, open source shopping cart may sound really attractive
in these economic times, but how free is free? It’s not a trick
question. If you add in the cost of the technical degree required
by some free, open source carts, or technical support to get others
to work, as well as the value of your own labor and the supporting
services needed, your free shopping cart may not really be free at
all. Here we will examine the range of full costs of operating an
Open Source, online store such as osCommerce, Zen Cart, CRE Loaded,
or osC-MAX.“If you already have a technical education and own the software
programs to run it, meaning that you will be your own technical
support guru, then you may be able to run a free online store for
close to free, by hosting it yourself, customizing it and doing
your own graphics, and so forth…”