As website developer you are often compelled to keep the secrets to your success a secret. But given the vast landscape of open source extension market we have the need to ensure that the developers of the extensions we use get the support they need. We also need to help ensure that Virtuemart shop developers can get up and running with a professional result, and that is no easy task. So without further ado here are some of the VirtueMart extensions that we use to create e-commerce success:
OnePage Checkout By PV: https://joomla.bypv.org/en/one-page-checkout-for-virtuemart-detail
Every VirtueMart developer has heard of Rupostel's OnePage Checkout, and I see that it has lots of plugins. But honestly you shouldn't need to piggyback plugins on an extension. I prefer OnePage Checkout By PV with it's clean coding and good user checkout experience. Don't forget to use e-mail as login. The practice of adding a Username, Full Name, Password, First Name and Last Name is a user deterrent.
Stripe Checkout: https://www.virtueplanet.com/extensions/stripe-checkout
For now we are working with VirtuePlanet's extension. I had to mod this plugin to work with OnePage by PV so if you're looking to avoid that then you may want to try out VirtuePlanet's OnePage checkout https://www.virtueplanet.com/extensions/vp-one-page-checkout
One of the benefits of Stripe is that they seem to have all the 3d Secure technology that one could want built-in, and they also offer chargeback & fraud protection. Authorize.net (owned by Visa) meanwhile seems to want you to contract out with Cardinal Commerce (also owned by Visa). Then you'll need to build in functionality to the Authnet plugin just to get that 3d Secure processing to happen. I'd rather have it built-in.
We'll be reaching out to VirtuePlanet in hopes of potential improvement to this plugin.
In general I'm satisfied with Authorize.net, but for large transactions merchant banks seem to have more of a tendency to decline even a legtimate purchase..
Google Structured Data: https://www.tassos.gr/joomla-extensions/google-structured-data-markup
We're using the Google structured data plugin from Tassos Marinos.
For some tips and tricks on your VirtueMart setup visit the knowledge base at our hosting site:
https://codedonors.com/hosting/knowledgebase/18/VirtueMart-3
Stay tuned for more recommended extensions...