Why Virtuemart over others?

[visualeight]

Hello,
I hope I'm posting in the correct location, I searched for other threads about my question but didn't find any that were time relevant.

To date I've only used Redshop, I was hoping to hear from some people here that have used Redshop yet have come back to using Virtuemart.  My single biggest complaint from Redshop was the lack of documentation which made figuring out how to do something new or use a new component of the cart difficult.  Aside from that, I had trouble with the many different forms of zip codes worldwide that if entered in a format different from the set parameters then it only charged the lowest shipping rate assigned.

In a nutshell, I'd love to hear from people who love Virtuemart and why.  I'm considering using it next time for a shopping cart, I'm hoping to learn some stuff here.

Thanks in advance.

[jenkinhill]

I have no idea how many VM users have previously used Redshop. People do tend to stick with the cart software they know. I have used Magento for one of my big client sites, and now that VM2 is getting more mature and more powerful would be unlikely to use it again (at the time VirtueMart was at 1.1 level and lacking in the power facilities the client required).

You just have to try it and see how you get on, but be aware that it does require at least some knowledge of XHTML, PHP & CSS to be able to get the best out of it. We are lucky to have an expanding number of third party developers supporting the project by adding additional functions to the system, publishing both here - http://forum.virtuemart.net/index.php?board=135.0 , http://extensions.virtuemart.net and on the JED.

For beginners there is an ebook manual available, linked from the wiki at http://dev.virtuemart.net/projects/virtuemart/wiki

I suggest you look at some VM user sites (remember these are live, not demos....)

http://www.sundayschool.com/
http://forever.co.ma/
http://www.ainsberry.com/
http://www.fountainmusiccompany.com/
http://www.slevapneu.cz/
http://www.allspeedengineering.com/