(OT?) ecommerce using MS SQL or Access Q's

[weekend camper]

Long story short, I have a client who wants a retail site (they also want a wholesale site) for selling product.  They currently have a way outdated accounting system that uses Access and said user is "comfortable" with Access.  I would love to switch them over to a MY SQL solution, but that would require ... change.   



Anyways, I starting to dig and was wondering:


1 - if there were any recommendations for MS SQL shopping carts  ... I know Zen and OS from the php side of things.  Purchasing wouldn't be a problem, as long as its less than low 4 digits. 
@edit:  currently very impressed with product cart.

2 - if it was "easy" to run two sites (wholesale and retail ... ) off one database?  Everything I've read  about the MY SQL side of things makes me wonder if that is possible, certainly with a minimal budget.

3 - you don't touch MS SQL servers do you Jason?  Do you know someone who does?  Douglas maybe (I think thats his name from SMF)?

[Jason]

1 - if there were any recommendations for MS SQL shopping carts  ... I know Zen and OS from the php side of things.  Purchasing wouldn't be a problem, as long as its less than low 4 digits. 
@edit:  currently very impressed with product cart.

Do you mean mySQL or do you in fact mean MS (Microsoft) SQL?  The latter won't work on our setups but is certainly an option out there.

osC (and Zen) are certainly two options on the mySQL side but there's probably hundreds of others.  If they aren't opposed to a commercial option, there are lots of options in the pricerange you're suggesting.  A paid solution with good support has the potential to save you lots of time too. 

2 - if it was "easy" to run two sites (wholesale and retail ... ) off one database?  Everything I've read  about the MY SQL side of things makes me wonder if that is possible, certainly with a minimal budget.

I think this depends on the script you're running.  You can certainly run multiple scripts off of a single database using different table prefixes.  Personally I think it's much easier to keep them isolated (and potentially safer too).

3 - you don't touch MS SQL servers do you Jason?  Do you know someone who does?  Douglas maybe (I think thats his name from SMF)?

I don't know of anyone personally who focuses on Windows hosting though I could probably name a few that you could research.  I can't vouch for them as I haven't had a need for Windows hosting, but I could pm you the name of some hosts who I've seen active on other forums I visit. 

I'm not sure about Douglas -- truthfully I haven't spoken with him in quite a long time.  He certainly might or you can ask Christian with Montecarlohosting.net.  I think Christian's servers are all unix-based like mine so that may rule him out too. 

[weekend camper]

Thanks Jason.


Yes, I meant Microsoft SQL ... for ease of Acess integration mostly.   



Product Cart seems to be the best choice for the client so far.

[DVR]

can you provide some more information for ProductCart?

hows your experience so far?

what costs were there and are there currently?

what is your setup?

thanks