[Rant] The OC Marketplace is Full of Garbage

I've been working on a custom OC 3.0 project for a few months. During this time I feel I've learned the innerworkings of OC fairly well as part of my task was building a fairly complex custom module. I've also purchased numerous extensions in order to add functionality and save time. All told, I'd say about 50% of the time the extensions don't work and of those, most are unsalvageble or downright useless. Others have big security holes or are constantly phoning home or both. And it's not like I'm indiscriminate. I make sure to buy only those that are recently updated and have some positive comments. But still - mostly garbage. I just finished fixing a non-functioning $20 mod that was riddled with typos. How does this junk make it to the market?

I will say I've had great experience with the mods from Jonathan at OpenCartX. But the opencart.com marketplace is a minefield of crap.

End rant. Thanks for listening.

This topic has now been moved to the OpenCart 3.0 Support > Feedback section of the forum.

Fkdhwb wrote: ↑

Thu May 21, 2020 6:21 am

I will say I've had great experience with the mods from Jonathan at OpenCartX.

Thanks

What about explicitly naming those 'garbage' products?
Without, this is just one more post to confuse potential new users.

Talking about my own experience:
I came across Opencart about a week ago, almost ready to download 3.0.3.3 from the official page.
But for some reason I had the idea to take a walk through this forum first, and in fact got irritated whether 3.x would be the right choice by numerous comments.
This way puzzled, I asked for help in viewtopic.php?f=37&t=213692
got confirmed that indeed 3.x is no good, but 2.3.0.2 is the right choice.
Okay, so I tried to install 2.3.0.2 from the link OSWorX told me, but failed because my PHP 7.3 doesn't support mcrypt
Next, I was told to use some sort of 'special edition' from https://osworx.net/OpenCart-2-3-0-2-Installer
And right that's where I stopped believing in 'help' like that.
Because - same as with your post - there was no reasonable explanation WHY 3.x isn't recommended.

derzet wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 09, 2020 8:27 pm

This way puzzled, I asked for help in viewtopic.php?f=37&t=213692
got confirmed that indeed 3.x is no good, but 2.3.0.2 is the right choice.
Okay, so I tried to install 2.3.0.2 from the link OSWorX told me, but failed because my PHP 7.3 doesn't support mcrypt
Next, I was told to use some sort of 'special edition' from https://osworx.net/OpenCart-2-3-0-2-Installer
And right that's where I stopped believing in 'help' like that.
Because - same as with your post - there was no reasonable explanation WHY 3.x isn't recommended.

What I did for you, was simply publishing very quickly the package we are using since months - and have also written that this is no "special" package, simply the original with the replacement for OpenSSL.

No matter what you believe or not, it's simply a joke how your are acting now here!
Offered you my help very quickly, explained in short why the 3.x versions are useless, and now you are posting here as "7 year old child".
You want to open a Webshop in Germany with OC 3.x - wish you good luck.

If you want to know more, ask somewhere somehow - but not me again.

For the others: fact is, that in the Marketplace is a lot of "Garbage".
But you can always contact the OpenCart Marketplace Support https://www.opencart.com/index.php?rout ... rt/support
and tell them the "troubles" all of you have and had.
You can there also make a request for a cashback.

And if an Extension is "calling" home, sending data somewhere, does not work, etc. tell that also the support.
They will delete the Extensions and the Developer very quickly.

But what's completely useless, "ranting" here and doing nothing else.

OSWorX wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 09, 2020 9:52 pm

For the others: fact is, that in the Marketplace is a lot of "Garbage".
But you can always contact the OpenCart Marketplace Support https://www.opencart.com/index.php?rout ... rt/support
and tell them the "troubles" all of you have and had.
You can there also make a request for a cashback.

And if an Extension is "calling" home, sending data somewhere, does not work, etc. tell that also the support.
They will delete the Extensions and the Developer very quickly.

But what's completely useless, "ranting" here and doing nothing else.

What else can someone do besides rant?
I have contacted support. I have been refunded for a non-working extension. It's a many day process after what was suppose to be a purchase for an easily installed feature. So the experience goes from "this would be great on my store" to quickly "this is a horrible experience and I was ripped off!" And a couple weeks later you get your $20 back. It's hard to go back and try another extension after the experience.
I have continued to purchase extensions from the marketplace here because I do want to support the core code. I thought that all the code in the marketplace was reviewed after it was allowed into the marketplace, but maybe I was misinformed?

What else can someone do besides rant?
I have contacted support. I have been refunded for a non-working extension. It's a many day process after what was suppose to be a purchase for an easily installed feature

In all fairness, have you actually read the forums before purchasing extensions? In particular, you are using Journal3 (one of the worst themes) which isn't even available from the OpenCart marketplace, and it will clash with a lot of other 3rd party extensions. Keep in mind that extension developers usually test their software for standard OpenCart only, and many extensions will work if they stick to OpenCart standards. Try to stay clear of extension which make use of OCmod/VQmod for modifying core files.

Yeah, the one extension I was refunded for I was the first person to purchase according to the marketplace so there was no feedback on it. And I'm fully aware of what Journal is and does. Let me know of another similar solution, and I'll gladly consider it.

Do you run an active store selling products? Have you browsed and purchased extensions from the marketplace? It's really not an enjoyable experience. To start the thumbnails are so small they're useless. Categories are so broad they are useless. I get that the format may have worked many years ago, but it's in need of an update.

I still use it and have purchased a few things there. I just wish it was given more attention since it's my understanding that's what supports the core code. I believe if it was easier to use, there'd be more funds for the core developers.

head_dunce wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 28, 2020 12:53 am

I still use it and have purchased a few things there.

That is where feedback is needed. Granted some of the bad comments also might have been removed by the extension owner but in the forum is a good place to point out issues. To name specific extensions is a good place.
Also asking in the forum for what you would need is helpful to the rest of us too.

Mike

There is a rating / feedback thing in the marketplace, but it's cumbersome. Oddly it seems the marketplace isn't actually an opencart store itself?