How do i set up an ecommerce site to sell my goods?!

mrsbez_2

Hi,

i really want to raise some extra cash and would like to set up a internet based company from home.

I have knowledge of the industry and have contact with suppliers so all i need to sort out is the more technical side of how i set up a website.

How do i go about setting up an ecommerce site - what companies are the best?? I am on a budget as this will be a small concern to start with, so what can you suggest??

Are there any problems i should be aware of?

thanks in advance
mrs bez

BrickingIt

http://order.1and1.co.uk/xml/order/Home;jsessionid=4D744F296302DA355AA79C482549D4A4.TC30a?__reuse=1199804227580

Try the above

Click on eShops on left or the 'trolley' banner.

Have a look (there are tutorials). Try to understand the basics etc.

richie_greenuk

Firstly you will need an online shop either off the shelf or a custom developed solution. This must be a professional and easy to manage solution.

You must also decide upon a catchy name and purchase the best domain name to promote your venture. Hosting of the website also needs to be considered, with prices ranging from £5 per month up to annual costs of £200. Essentially you will only require a budget package to begin with.

Let me know if you have any questions as we would be more than happy to help.

mrsbez_2

Thanks, I have been looking at some 'off the shelf' shops which seem very reasonable. I have seen this one
http://www.uk2.net/e-commerce/

which doesn't seem too bad and it says that the package comes with web hosting included.
Also the one as 'bricking it' suggested above is very reasonable aswell.

Do you have any comments on these two??

yes i would love to have a professional custom developed site, but funds are limited at present!! maybe in the future

El_Pirate

You could try oscommerce. It's open source.

richie_greenuk

The problem with off the shelf is the inflexibility - they are an ideal budget solution but are not the perfect solution.

Open source software is fantastic, and is something we use, however, the services of a developer would be required to implement this to its full potential.

carolbe

I get my host with these guys http://www.yetihost.com/shared_hosting.cfm and I can recommend them. They also have a bunch of open source applications which can be installed with a click of a button - various shopping cart / e-commerce applications are included along with forums, guestbooks, wordpress etc.

Their cheapest package is £34.50 a year.

I'm a web developer by trade so I'd be happy to offer any 'friendly advice' you might need on getting set up!

mrsbez_2

Thanks carolbe, just had a look and it looks really baffling!!

I need something that is really easy and user friendly. Would this be very easy to set up and what would i need to get started??

What's the difference with having open source??

carolbe

HI MrsBez!

Open Source basically means that someone has created some software which is available freely and can be modified to suit your own needs.

To a developer, that means that the "hard bit" (so to speak!) has been done, but they can customise it as required.

To a non-technical user, it means that you have feature-packed software provided to you at no cost!

If you take osCommerce as an example, it's a great open source e-commerce application. The basic install is really easy (with Yetihost - the company I host with - it's LITERALLY a case of clicking a button!) but the main drawback is that you'll have the "generic" look and feel that it's supplied with. This is an osCommerce example site - http://demo.oscommerce.com/ - it shows how the basic install looks. There's an administration suite that comes with it (not currently available in the demo) that allows you to make basic tweaks to the look and feel (like adding your logo) and you can also make some other changes without much technical know-how.

BUT, to give it a really customised look, you really would need the help of a developer. To give you another example, here is another site built with osCommerce - http://shops.oscommerce.com/directory/goto,25465 - this one has had its look and feel tweaked a LOT!

I hope that makes sense! It's a lot to take in, I know, when it's not your field!

As far as what you'd need to get started goes, I guess you'd need your basic business stuff (logo, payment processing such as Google Checkout etc.), a chosen domain name and some time to get yourself familiar with whichever setup you choose. I do think that some "playing about" time with software such as osCommerce will soon get you feeling confident.

Do you have any web-building experience at all? Have you access to software such as Dreamweaver?

I'd be happy to set up a "dummy" installation of osCommerce for you, if you'd like have a play around with it and see what you think? If you're interested, just drop me a PM and we'll get it sorted!

carolbe

I realised this sounds like I'm touting for business!! I'm NOT - I don't take on web clients now that I'm a SAHM - it's just what I did when I was employed. Just offering friendly UNPAID advice to a fellow startup!

inmypocketnottheirs

Have a look at https://www.wholesalebabywear.com. Ignore the products. Categories can be created, products added and removed all by the user. It has a shopping trolley and links to paypal. It may not be the best and flashiest site around, but it is cheap!

This was created for less than £100 and is hosted for £6 per month by https://www.nobledesign.co.uk.

HTH