before i buy it is mr site really that easy to set up

richie_greenuk

How much are you looking to spend?

bohobecky_2

How much am I looking to spend? ermmm. little as possible.

I have some html knowledge and some nice friends who for babysitting duties are helping me out.

I bought the domain name for about £3 from 1and1.com, am using some domain space/hostin I already have with a different website (which won't need renewing until sept this year and then only costs £28 for 2 years - hosts 3 websites and counting ).

Only looked at Mr Site for the add ons (shop facilities etc, statistics) discovered I can get all these and more for free on the web.

Borrowed some books from the library, using frontpage and a trial version of coffeecup html software and am not doing to badly.

I just get caught up in the little detail so am being strict with myself. Spent 3 days coding contact form, still wont send properly - realised I don't 'need' the form just want one. So page will go up without it for now - until I figure out how to get it working!!

Whinge over!

Very excited about it all though

Company wont be up and running really for a bit longer but am in no rush.

Good luck to all

Rebecca

<< yet to make a spangly signature...>>

richie_greenuk

What about downloading free open source ecommerce software?

bohobecky_2

Ok have finished looking through the glossary in 'severe Dummies guide to attempting to build a website'....

What about downloading free open source ecommerce software?

I understood the bit about free... and software, ecommerce (shop stuff?), open source...ermm does that mean code someone else has written that you more or less copy and paste into your site for free?

Would you care to point me in any directions that you know off?

Off to feed the infection - aged 8.

Cheers
Rebecca

toasterman

As an alternative to a trial version of html software, you could always try something like nvu. I've very recently started using it, and it seems good so far.
http://nvudev.com/index.php
Totally free, by the way!


On the subject of your shop - do you have a company set up to take the credit card details people will put into it?
I find a few places online (Tesco Downloads, CD-Wow, as two examples) use Worldpay (it's run by the Royal Bank of Scotland) for their payments.. rather than taking the details themselves, securely.
Just means after you choose what you'd like to buy, you get redirected to Worldpay's site to put your credit card details in. Its Worldpay that shows up on your credit card statement.

There are other companies that offer this similar service, and it saves you having to worry about security on your own website. That said, I think they take an annual fee and percentage-of-cost-of-every-purchase, to do this, so you'd have to look at all the cost options.

A friend of mine had some web space with a so-say "free" ssl security facilities, to run an online shop..etc. While it did work, it would also come up with a security warning about the fact that his company name was "abc inc", and the shared ssl setup was in the name of "xyz hosting services". It worked, but it looked a bit dodgy...and you know how worried everyone is about fraud.

bohobecky_2

I know what you mean about people being wary with so many online scams around nowadays.

I offer lifestyle management and other outsourced work (Secretarial services, event management etc) so don't really need a big ecommerce set up - we are looking at using paypal in a customers area - we offer some nice incentives for those customers that pay up early.

We are leaning towards paypal as it's easy to integrate into the site with the code etc they provide - customers dont have to sign up for an account - it's well known and people on the whole trust it. I use it quite a bit when selling on ebay and haven't had any problems with it in the past 6 years.

Am loath to sign up to one of the merchant things our banks etc offer - as at the moment we dont know how many customers would actually use the facility. My friend used Nat Wests, Yorkshire Banks and RBS merchant services over the last 8 years.. she has had so many problems!! I haven't much patience with poor customer service so will stick with what I trust till business builds up

But FSB apparently has some good relationships with merchant card thingy providers - thinking of joining them in 6 months time when we have funds to spare. Joined Chamber of Commerce once and it was a complete waste of money. Gone off topic again - will behave now.

Mr Site is apparently good for beginners and those wanting a simple online presence, offers some nice extras (even though you can get them elsewhere online for free) and help is available from the Mr Site support team and the Fansite I mentioned in previous posting.

Becky

toasterman

Interesting to know bohobecky.
I was looking at starting a company selling services that would be different rates depending on how long they took, how difficult they were..etc... and so a flat rate shop design wouldn't have helped.
Interesting to hear how someone else is doing the same thing.

I looked at Worldpay, etc, but as I was starting small and not sure how much work I was going to get (if any) for a long while at the start..didn't want to splash out on merchant accounts with monthly/annual fees and stuff.

I agree that while Paypal's fees may not be the cheapest, they are very easy, and I've not had any problems with them in the last 3-4 years of using them for ebay and a few other bits and bobs.
I've contacted them once when I was having difficulty registering a new credit card with them, and found the staff on the phone friendly and helpful. That's worth a lot in my opinion.