Posted: 3/18/2011 2:18:17 PM EDT
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I am thinking of starting a website for retail sales of hunting and fishing accessories. I was wondering if any one has used any of the ecommerce providers (yahoo,godaddy, etc..) I am looking for some tips on this kind of service. I am pretty inexperienced with this kind of stuff. I would start out pretty small scale and grow in size as needed. I would need one that helps with the credit card service also. Any help is greatly appreciated. |
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The following steps should help you get started: 1. Acquire domain name and setup inexpensive "shared" hosting account that supports SSL connections and a shopping cart software installation. The hosting should run you $10-$20 a month for a decent service, the SSL certificate around $150, and the shopping cart should be low-cost or free. I use OScommerce. 2. Get a merchant account for accepting credit cards. Check first with the bank you have a business account with. Make sure your merchant account will interface with your shopping cart software. 3. ???? 4.Profit! I've worked on a few hundred ecommerce sites in the past; if I can help, let me know. |
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Quoted: Do you use OScommerce for all of those services? Godaddy is offering hosting for 14.99 a month and it inludes a free SSL certificate. Something does not seam right about that price to me, what do you thing?The following steps should help you get started: 1. Acquire domain name and setup inexpensive "shared" hosting account that supports SSL connections and a shopping cart software installation. The hosting should run you $10-$20 a month for a decent service, the SSL certificate around $150, and the shopping cart should be low-cost or free. I use OScommerce. 2. Get a merchant account for accepting credit cards. Check first with the bank you have a business account with. Make sure your merchant account will interface with your shopping cart software. 3. ???? 4.Profit! I've worked on a few hundred ecommerce sites in the past; if I can help, let me know. http://www.godaddy.com/hosting/web-hosting.aspx?isc=MAR2011b&ci=8971 |
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OScommerce is simply the shopping cart software...it's installed on the server your site is hosted on and provides some of the basic ecommerce site functionality, like catalog management and a checkout process. I'm not a fan of GoDaddy, or any of the other mainstream providers. I've found they put sites on overloaded and slow servers much of the time. There are several pieces of the puzzle that, in my opinion, should be addressed separately and then integrated into a developed solution. GoDaddy and Yahoo may give you an all-in-one package, however, it will be less customizable than taking a route similar to what I mentioned and if you outgrow it, you may have to redevelop everything from scratch. Of course, if you're growing and the site is doing well, this might not be such a big deal. You may want to check out WebHostingTalk.com; you will find a lot of good advice there on hosting providers and can then get some price quotes. |