scriptlance.com

buckled

Hi Folks,

Has anybody ever used scriplance before?

If you have, how would you rate them?

Cheers in advance

Eoin

I've used it a couple of times. My advice would be to:

1) Spend a lot of time looking at the portfolios and feedback of the people you're short-listing

2) Make sure your requirements do not leave any room for doubt. You have to absolutely nail them down and make sure there's no ambiguity whatsoever. I can't emphasise enough how important this is.

Do you have a techie background?

buckled

Thanks for the advice Eoin.

I don't have a techie background, but I hoping that wouldn't be a problem if I could provide a detailed requirement spec.

nellyshark

What are you looking to do?

I have to agree with Eoin, your spec has to be 100% nailed on and you will have to spend an age sifting through potential candidates, shortlisting will be important

buckled

I don't want to give away too much, so sorry if I’m a bit vague.
Below are some of the functions required:
· Display products for sale
· Have the ability search or filter by category
· Have the ability to view historical sales
· Display real time results
· Timer/counter
· Have the ability share features with social networking sites.
· It would probably need some sort of database
· Send automatic emails
· Shopping cart
· Payment options
· Certain aspects need to configurable for an administrator.
· Has to be user friendly.

I know my lack of Knowledge is an issue, but I’m have a tight budget.
What other options would you suggest?

Cheers again for the replys.

Eoin

Just to state the obvious - that's incredibly vague.

If cost is an issue, then I would read up on something like Zen Cart - presuming that the eCommerce aspect is the key piece of functionality. That will provide a good few of those requirements out of the box. Then there might be mods that can be installed, or you can get someone to write a customisation for you.

· Display real time results
Of what, and to whom?

· Timer/counter
Hit counter? Google analytics is good.

· Have the ability share features with social networking sites.
What features?

Send automatic emails
About what? newsletters, order fulfilment?

Certain aspects need to configurable for an administrator.
What aspects?

nellyshark

You say you're on a tight budget? What is the budget.

Them specs are very vague. You would need to improve them 1000% before posting on any outsourcing site.

For example what do you mean Timer/counter: as in analytics's?

What is it that you will be selling?

buckled

As I don't have a techie background, i don't know how big a job the shopping cart is. But if it can be integrated, I'm sure it can save time and money.

I left them a vague on purpose, as i didn't want post exact details of my business on the net as i don't have any IP that I can protect. I sure you can understand this.

As for my budget, less the 2K

I am currently in the middle of writing a requirements specification and the moment. But to have that finished I need draw the way I envisage the website looking and working. I’m still a few day away from having this done.
I know the spec needs to be detailed, that’s why I have categorised the requirements spec into the following sections.
1. Brief description of the Website
2. Reference Websites
3. High level requirements
4. Admin access and configuration
5. Membership
6. Security
7. Payment
8. Email
9. Data collection
10. Client Access
11. Integration
12. Basic Information

Eoin

I think under 2K is quite ambitious. It sounds like a pretty large project.

With the details you've provided, it sounds like a customised eCommerce site might do the trick as that will provide a few of your requirements out of the box - but I think it will depend on what the focus of the site is.

I forgot to mention about scriptlance - do bear in mind that there will most likely be a language barrier as well, as the odds are that the more affordable quotes will be from the likes of Indian developers and while their English is generally understandable, some details can be lost in translation.

nellyshark

How much under 2k are you talking about? I'd be of the opinion that you would struggle based on those requirements above for anything under 2k as it does sound like a pretty big project.

Is it a physical product that you will be selling? Have you included shipping calculations etc in your requirements?

I know that you are being intentionally vague but you would need to give some more info to be properly advised

buckled

I know 2K is ambitious, that’s why I’m looking at the likes of scriptlance.

I think the main point to come out this, is to make sure I have my requirements spec completely nailed down.

The language barrier may be something that I will have to overcome, but I will have to make sure I pay full attention to the detail.

nellyshark

Have you had a good look at some of the eCommerce packages already available? Most packagea would have some of the features required out of the box and you then would be able to hire a developer to customise it

buckled

2K is the max.

Yes, i will be be actually selling a physical product and there would need to be an option to either pick up or ship.

buckled

Thanks for the help lads,

I suppose I should contact a developer here and try get a price.

Eoin

buckled wrote: »

Yes, i will be be actually selling a physical product and there would need to be an option to either pick up or ship.

That isn't a problem with most eCommerce packages. There's a number of shipping modules that can be easily installed that will present the appropriate options to a customer during the checkout process. Same goes for payment modules.

nellyshark

Im just wondering that functionality do you require that isnt in an off the shelf package?

Im not meaning to be a party pooper but I know of developers (they mainly deal with Magento) who charge over 2k for customising Magento not to mention it being a new build

Webmonkey

Yeah I'd be wary of someone who charge under 2K for something like that. You may not get the quality you want and end up wasting your money. Be careful with who you choose as we all know there are cowboys out there.

Placebo

did a similar project for 2k,
adding products etc via cms, pretty similar.
Its all dynamic, for 2k and i have to say i wont be doing it again.

Firstly it was two of us and there was alot of work involved,
and there have been infinite number of changes as no project brief can accomodate such a large scale project, only when the client test he realises its not what he needed and it needs to be tweaked etc

i would stay clear of out sourcing for such a big project

Webmonkey

Placebo wrote: »

did a similar project for 2k,
adding products etc via cms, pretty similar.
Its all dynamic, for 2k and i have to say i wont be doing it again.

Firstly it was two of us and there was alot of work involved,
and there have been infinite number of changes as no project brief can accomodate such a large scale project, only when the client test he realises its not what he needed and it needs to be tweaked etc

i would stay clear of out sourcing for such a big project

To true. I think out sourcing is good for fast little micro things to be done. Components or something. But an entire project like this is a bit ambitious. You probably still don't know what you want yet and the outsources won't have time for changing requirements. You need someone that you can sit down and half talk to face to face and that speaks the same language as you.

buckled

Maybe 2K was ambitious, but as I’m not a techie you'll have to excuse my ignorance.

Ok, I think I need to revise my budget.

You are correct when you say I don't really know what I want, but I do plan on having this fully nailed down before I approach anybody.

nellyshark

I suppose my question to you is: does it have to be a custom build? What are the features that require it to be a custom build? For such a limited budget you will have to give some serious considerations to customising an existing platform.

Does you budget also include the additional expenses e.g. hosting (shared or dedicated), security certs, maintenance of the platform, etc etc

Eoin

I had assumed we were talking about customising an open source or very cheap package - and even then 2K would be a low budget.

Trojan

eoin wrote: »

I had assumed we were talking about customising an open source or very cheap package - and even then 2K would be a low budget.

Agreed, however it is probably do-able on a 2k budget if (s)he gets the right supplier.

Where it can get expensive is the *second and third* 2k outlays that you have to make when the first cheap guys mess it up, should you pick the wrong folks for the job - i.e. the lowest bidder.

Eoin

It's doable alright, but I think it would be hard to project manage if you're not a techie.

buckled

If I could double my budget. What options do i have?

Eoin

Without giving too much away, is your site primarily an eCommerce site with some add-on functionality?

buckled

I say about 70% of it will be an eCommerce site.

Eoin

Well, it's really hard to tell without knowing more about the spec and the extra functionality you need, but if you could get your budget to 3K plus I think you would be looking OK.