Web designers

gercha

I would like to know how much it should cost for someone to design a web site for a small on-line shop I plan to set up. I have had a couple of quotes from companies but they seem to to be extotionate (like between £1500-£5000 This would put me out of business before I start).
Someone said that maybe students could do it to use as part of their course.
Any suggestions would be most welcome.

studentphil

Maybe you could built it yourself, just an idea.

[Deleted User]

A 'made to measure' solution would cost easily 2K.. you'd be better finding some bloke who'll implement a pre-built system.

gercha

I like the idea of building it myself, unfortunately I struggle to change the channel on the TV.

The_JinJ

Need to know the spec you have before you can value it - is it a basic shop or fancy features needed etc

lotto-dreamer

Some options for an e-commerce style site-

Build a fully database driven one from scratch. Expensive to set up (£3000), but would provide the most flexibility (as with setting up a bespoke CMS)

Use an "off-the-shelf" shopping cart package, eg. https://www.actinic.co.uk - cheaper than the above (under £1000) but there are limitations

Use Adobe Contribute (£120) in conjunction with a Paypal "Shopping Cart" (not sure of price). Contribute has PayPal funtionality built in, so client can insert "add to basket" buttons in Contribute, and Paypal takes care of the payment etc. (lots of limitations with this, like lack of search feature, but it would probably be the most cost effective solution if you only have a few dozen items to sell)

Hope this helps!

The_JinJ

There are free shop setups - 2 major ones are

http://www.zencart.com/
http://www.oscommerce.com/

All tend to look 'samey' though and can be linked in with Paypal etc

needaspirin

This is a web-designing company http://www.blueprinted.co.uk/
They should give you a quote based on size of job

The_JinJ

Also try https://www.splash21.com for a quote - they offer customiseable ecommerce solutions (amongst other things)

gercha

Many thanks for all the useful suggestions. I have heard about oscomerce, and I can buy an off the shelf basic (generic) shop with almost all the products already installed. All I would need to do is customise the site and jazz it up a bit. Unfortunately that is like asking a monkey to design a nuclear bomb. But thanks again for all your help and I will follow it up.:T

mbamick

I went through the same process that you are now, when I was looking to set up a website for my OH's hockey club. It's worth bearing in mind that the web designer can get you up and running, but you'll still need to think about what you need on each page, and provide him / her with the company & product details.

That said, I got the Hockey website designed, maintained and hosted for 2 years for less than £300. You can check out the size [number of pages] and quality of the site at http://www.elhc.org.uk/ - we are particularly happy with the unique design.

I dealt on a one-to-one basis with the web designer throughout. He was excellent - and very patient when answering my numpty questions, and amending the site as I changed my mind about what was needed.

You can contact him via the website at http://www.ldistudios.com/, or if you pm me I'll be happy to pass on his email address to you.
Mick