eCommerce website help please

Iffy'swifey

I am looking into setting up an online shope selling reusable cloth nappies and other baby products such as organic toiletries etc.

The site will need to display my products well and also update the stock levels after each purchase. It will need a shopping faciltiy with checkout that accepts special discount codes that I will offer my customers and update when needed. I was wondering if just paypal plus offline payments will do for now, or will I need to accept cards? If so, will I need a business bank account? Can I get away with just my personal one?

Also, I already have a free phpBB forum elsewhere, can I link up to that from my online shop or will I need to have a whole new one built?

As my site will be selling stuff that is good for the environment and many local councils are trying get parents to use reusable nappies via cashback etc, will I be able to get a start up grant from anywhere?

Lastly, I want to design my own logo and have it on stationary, will that come with the web design package or will I have to do it myself?

Thank you!

jelly123_2

You dont need a business account, you can use online payment processors such as Paypal and nochex they allow users to pay with debit cards or credit cards.

However i would advice having a seperate account for business, things get messy when you mix work and personal income.

there are many ways to go ahead with designing the ecommerce site, depends on your budget and what you really want.

there are various free carts and others which you have to pay for, you can also have a custom ecommerce design which is expensive.

I would advice you to read about all these services and choose the one which best suits you.

oscommerce - free
cubecart - partially free
xencart- free

there are many others which you can find online

startup grant maybe from local council or princes trust depending on your age.

If you need more help let me know

Iffy'swifey

Thanks for that, I'll look into it.

Do you know if it's possible to "transfer" my current phpbb forum to my new e commerce site when built? Or can I link to it some other way/build another one?

And what about the logo design? Is that likely to be included? Can I print it onto stationary at home?

Can someone recommend a good and trustworthy designer who will do an excellent job and maximise the google side of it etc?

seanparkin

Hiya, I'm getting the impression that you don't have any experience in graphics design/web design. This is a pretty big thing to be taking on without prior experience!

The government used to give web design companies grants for designing websites for businesses who aren't online (or startups etc). Not sure if they still do this, but try searching out one of these web design outfits.

Kilty_2

seanparkin wrote:

The government used to give web design companies grants for designing websites for businesses who aren't online (or startups etc). Not sure if they still do this, but try searching out one of these web design outfits.

If anyone can provide me with further information on this type of grant for web design companies, please let me know.

Iffy'swifey

seanparkin wrote:

Hiya, I'm getting the impression that you don't have any experience in graphics design/web design. This is a pretty big thing to be taking on without prior experience!

The government used to give web design companies grants for designing websites for businesses who aren't online (or startups etc). Not sure if they still do this, but try searching out one of these web design outfits.

Correct! I have a good eye for detail, and can picture what I want in my head...but have no idea how to put it to paper or or PC!

jelly123_2

Its sometimes best to let someone else do things you think you can do yourself. Either you endup with an end product which is not upto the standards or you waste time.

Costs matter so outsourcing can help aswel, designing and printing in othercountries is a lot cheaper.

you can link the phpbb forum to ecommerce somehow, you would have to ask a web designer.

jelly123_2

i have got a list of ecommerce utilities and payment processors, i will make a new thread might be able to help anyone who needs it.

Iffy'swifey

Excellent, thanks

observer_2

The solution is a decent local web design company. Price should be 2-3k for the site with the functionality you require. Free solutions will 'do the job' but really if you wish to do even a moderate amount of trade the initial investment is going to be as above.

Iffy'swifey

2-3K??? That's A LOT more than I can afford right now, and a lot more than I've seen quoted.