Thanks Cracka,
I havent chose any yet, I'm still looking and comparing.
It would seem that on the face of it, I like the look and features of clickcartpro, however cube cart, lynxinternet, and actinic seem worth some further reading.

I havent had the time yet to compare or read all of their features, so I have probably narrowed it down so far and will look more in depth at those.

What makes it slightly more perplexing (at least on speed reading) is that some look like they are the software you are buying, and thats all you need, but others are single licenses etc, and I need to ensure that what I buy is a one off that I can use, modify etc etc as and when I like in perpetuity and not be tied to any of them (okay, even though I mentioned actinic).

what i now need to figure out is whether someting separate is needed for the client to download details from the database and to update it.

Thanks for all your input so far guys. useful.
cheers