LukeG28, it really depends on the cart that u use. take a look at this site's review of various shopping carts. http://www.itwebexperts.com/oscommerce_zencart_xcart_comparison.php each has its advantages/disadvantages, but i ended up choosing oscommerce because it has many customization modules plus it is super fast. PM me if u decide to use Oscommerce. i have a copy of oscommerce that has over 20 of the most common modules already installed. i am going to sell the software and installation for $300. then u can just buy a template for $150.
You can try magento, joomla with virtuemart etc. http://www.magentocommerce.com/ http://virtuemart.net/ These are free open source programs you can try out.
My company gas a team of professionals specializing on Virtuemart and Magento eCommerce solutions. As I know the price for the listed services id something near $1500 including some warranties and support. I know that you can find a freelancer for twice less money but it's a risk...
If you have the money (and the site is just an extension of an existing profitable business) invest in a Magento Commerce installation (probably looking upwards of $3000). The cost is high, but the backend system is incredible - Magento commerce the free version is better by far than most commercial solutions. However if you are just building a shop with a budget go with Joomla with VirtueMart. You can get nice looking Joomla templates for $30 and sharp looking VirtueMart themes for under $15. The best part of this set up is that Joomla has a huge community of well built extensions and VirtueMart is a pretty mature ecommerce platform that allows for easy product management and payment processing.
Luke, prior to choosing a shopping cart you need to get all your requirements together and make a decision based on this list. How many products will you have? What payment and shipping methods do you plan to use? Do you need unique design? What about inventory tracking/coupons/offers/discounts,etc? Any special features that may be required for the site? First you need to answer all these questions yourself, and then start choosing the software. This is my advice for you.
check this out. http://www.prestashop.com/en/showcase_demo/ Prestashop is very easy to use. It is free. I am using it, and am very happy about it. You can check on their showcase page, it will give you an idea on how much you can do with the script.
VirtueMart is best platform when it comes to manage the look of your store from front end. There are many hacks available which makes VirtueMart Back-end stronger than ever. This is also very stable.
You can check out the MyOwnGoldenGoose.com site, it teaches how to set up Online Stores with Payment Pages
Skilled Graphics can help you out. Check us out at http://www.skilledgraphics.com . Our prices are very affordable.
Depends on who you get the quote from. I know a local company charged above $1000 for a simple ecommerce site...what a good money to make. I normally charged below $400 depends on how complicated the site is.
I can make it in ASP.NET + Custom Template (as u wish) + Hosting + Domain + Documentation for around 1000-1500$. PM if u are interested.
I want to use magento, but finding it hard to install the latest version of Magento 1.4.0.1 on Xampp link