I figured out a hack/mod to "products.tpl" that seems to work fine if anyone is having a simliar problem. This mod will display products in rows instead of columns if you are having the same problem I was -cheers
Code:
{* $Id: products.tpl,v 1.5 2004/07/13 13:35:43 svowl Exp $ *}
{section name=product loop=$products}
<table border="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td width="90" align="center" valign="top"><a href="product.php?productid={$products[product].productid}">
{include file="product_thumbnail.tpl" productid=$products[product].productid image_x=$config.Appearance.thumbnail_width product=$products[product].product tmbn_url=$products[product].tmbn_url}
{$lng.lbl_see_details}
</a> </td>
<td valign="top"><a href="product.php?productid={$products[product].productid}"><font class="ProductTitle">
{$products[product].product}
</font></a> <font size="1">
{$products[product].descr|truncate:300:"...":true}
</font>
<hr size="1" noshade="noshade" width="230" align="left" />
{if $products[product].product_type eq "C"}
{include file="buttons/details.tpl" href="product.php?productid=`$products[product].productid`&cat=`$cat`&page=`$navigation_page`"}
{else}
{if $active_modules.Subscriptions ne "" and $products[product].catalogprice}
{include file="modules/Subscriptions/subscription_info_inlist.tpl"}
{else}
{if $products[product].taxed_price ne 0}
{if $products[product].list_price gt 0 and $products[product].taxed_price lt $products[product].list_price}
{math equation="100-(price/lprice)*100" price=$products[product].taxed_price lprice=$products[product].list_price format="%d" assign=discount}
{if $discount gt 0}
<font class="MarketPrice">
{$lng.lbl_market_price}
: <S>
{include file="currency.tpl" value=$products[product].list_price}
</S></font>
{/if}
{/if}
<font class="ProductPrice">
{$lng.lbl_our_price}
:
{include file="currency.tpl" value=$products[product].taxed_price}
</font><font class="MarketPrice">
{include file="customer/main/alter_currency_value.tpl" alter_currency_value=$products[product].taxed_price}
</font>
{if $discount gt 0}
,
{$lng.lbl_save_price}
{$discount}
%
{/if}
{if $products[product].taxes}
{include file="customer/main/taxed_price.tpl" taxes=$products[product].taxes}
{/if}
{else}
<font class="ProductPrice">
{$lng.lbl_enter_your_price}
</font>
{/if}
{/if}
{if $usertype eq "C" and $config.Appearance.buynow_button_enabled eq "Y"}
{include file="customer/main/buy_now.tpl" product=$products[product]}
{/if}
{/if}
</td>
</tr>
</table>{/section}