I do know that setting up an e-commerce site doesn't automatically generate revenue nowadays, but I'd like to know what's the most economical way to set up an e-commerce site. There are a couple of reasons why I'm looking into this, and one of reasons is that I might need to set up a few e-commerce sites for my clients / customers. By the way, when I say 'set up', I'm talking about setting up everything from ... E-commerce software ... Hosting ... Payment gateway ... etc. etc. etc. The whole package. What's the most economical way to set up the whole e-commerce package?
You still need to set up an e-commerce site, get a hosting account for it and get a few other things, right ...???
what you do (welf suggestion) 1 domian (choose right domain) 2 website hosting( choose large one) 3 design website(basic e-sale) 4 enlarge your buyer(include ebay for small order. B2B website) 5 enstrong your website( insert some tool, like msn.chat online tool) 6 enlarge your products information
Well, it all depends on what you mean. Okay, let's assume that you have taken care of the product and advertising part of the equation. You will need the following :- 1) Domain Name : The prices varies from about $5 to $15 a year for a .com domain name depending on which registrar you go to. 2) Web Hosting : The prices varies from about $5 a month to $20 a month. Look at http://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=4 . You should find nice offers there. 3) When you get a web hosting package, it would probably be nice to get one with Cpanel and comes with Fantastico so you can make use of the varies shopping cart scripts online like the free OSCommerce . http://www.oscommerce.com/ This has nice plug ins and works with 3rd party payment processors like paypal.com or 2checkout.com . Paypal Premier or Business account does not have sign up fees and a short percentage in terms of fees would be deducted for each sales you get. 2checkout offers a more solid payment framework but is slightly more expensive in terms of fees and has a set up fees of $49. However, all does not have monthly fees and you only pay for their services when you have sales so that makes it a very fair deal. So say, at the higher end, you will need to provision about $300 a year to pay for the above fees. But realistically, somewhere in the region of $100 should get you set up nicely. It would help if you have some web design skills so you can customized the design of your websites to cater to your needs.
Your real problem is going to be advertising. Like eddy said you can be looking at setting up your site for about 50 - 200$ / year but be ready to spend thousands in advertising if you want to get your name out
If I use PayPal, customers can only make payments using PayPal, no? Also is there a very cheap / free payment gateway that enables customers to use credit cards?
Well, Paypal allows their customers or anyone from one of the 190+ supported paypal countries to pay directly to you via Credit Card using their platform. Not everyone can sell through Paypal and thus would not have balances in it so they allow you to attach a credit card to your account and make purchases. At least that is what I do. You could use 2Checkout.com which primarily is a credit card payment processor and it also supports Paypal payment. I have to admit that although they are a little more expensive then Paypal, they have better fraud detection then Paypal directly. It also allows you to support the remaining close to 20 countries which Paypal does not support.
When you have all that done you have to build a list. Mine is pretty small but I'm working on expanding it. Any ideas folks on that one?
If you go for a packaged solution like Yahoo! Store and RealStores.com, how much do you need to set up your own store? Also what are short term limitations? What are long term limitations?
For Yahoo Store, check out http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/ecommerce/plans.php . Basically the cheapest plan goes for $39.95 a month with a $50 sign up fees. You pay even if you do not have any sales. The transaction fees are 1.5%.
2 easy steps to set up a store online cheap: 1. Sign up for hosting at 1and1, they have good deals and free domain name with hosting. (Just get a cheap hosting package until your site takes off, then upgrade to dedicated server.) 2. Install free shopping cart system like zencart or oscart otherwise find a free template online and add Paypal buttons or Google checkout system. 3. Focus on content as well as onsite and off-site search engine optimization.
Let's say that I want ... PHP MySQL 4.x or 5.x How much do I need a month to get this web hosting account? Ok, so ... three e-commerce software applications are mentioned so far. zencart, oscart and os-Commerce. Which is the best free e-commerce software application?
As far as the cost of the hosting, it all depends on the Disk Space and Bandwidth you require. Check out the link I've provided earlier http://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=4 , it should give you an indication of what you need. Typically you should not be spending more than $15 a month for your site but possibility a budget of $6.95 to $9.95 per month would be good enough.
The most economical way to setup an e-commerce website is rupizmedia.com , you will be able to select the best package among the wide ranges of website designing and development. FOr an e-commerce website you should go for CRM (Customer relationship management) & ERM web applications, it will provide you more interactivity and attraction to your site. So contact the company to get your plan of action.
first before you do anything find suppliers, then make sure that they drop ship. you can't sell anything if you don't have products!