Running an eCommerce site or any site is not easy as it looks....

running an eCommerce site is no different from running a website, if you do not put any money into your website, then you may not go far,
and the same goes for eCommerce sites, anyone can setup a cart, import some products, unless you are a trade of all skills, coding, marketing, etc...
then your eCommerce business will require some serious money, ok you setup a cheezy cart, you imported your product data that 1000's of other
carts are using, so you are already running into duplicate content issues, then you send out a couple articles...did you think your cart would
take off from here? that is the general concept mistake, someone will setup a site, do some advertising, then think the cash will roll in....
first off, do not waste your time setting up some cheap cart, this is your business, so do it right the first time...get a real cart, get a quality
custom design for your cart, find a eCommerce consultant, then do some serious eCommerce marketing, then keep doing it, and it will be
very costly; You will get make any money on a shoestring $10/mo budget...ecommerce sites go up and down daily...like anyone, someone
gets the notion they want to get into this business without any real understanding what you may have to put into your business....
and this pretty much goes for any type of online business, and this is why people drop out all the time, they setup some site thinking
they are on their way to the penthouse, but after 1-3 months, then they realize they still have no traffic, and no money....
if you have no traffic, then you surely will not make any money....

setting up everything at min cost can be done, but you can setup the best cart, the best design, etc...
but if you are unable to get traffic to your site like most others that I see on DP, then you are just another dead site...
goto to marketing in DP, just look at all the titles that say something like "how do i get traffic" "how do i get my site off the ground", etc...

Its much easier to get traffic in your head, but practical is not easy at all....

and remember, no matter what you are selling, there are 1000's of other sites selling the
very extact thing, using the exact same images, and descriptions, unless you are your own manufacture
then you are able to sell your own products, but like 99% sites, they get their datafeed from drop shippers,
so right off the bat, you are putting up duplicate content that is already in 1000's of other stores...

If you are good at doing everything yourself, have great marketing skills, then you are in excellent shape...
but most people do not have these skills, most can not even setup a cart, much less do anything else, and
this is where you have to put some serious money into your eCommerce venture...

If you do not have a decent budget or the capital, then do not proceed, you will get as
far as getting stuff setup, then you will just end up going down in a few months, if not less....

Its not fiction, its reality....

 

I hope I am not hijacking this thread, but I need some help, I am planning to setup one of those Custom PC config sites like cyberpowerpc.com or ibuypower.com but the thing is that I am not that well in coding. I can setup joomla or pretty much ny normal script edit a bit of html and css but not hardcore coding.
I just wanted to know which script will be the best for sites like those ...

1)Joomla + VirtueMart
2)Prestashop
3)Magento
4)Any other please specify ....

Also professional developers if you can help me out please PM me. It aint gonna be soon but when i launch I will be having capital enuf for designing and marketing and stuff. Just need to do 90% of the setup myself.

I tried Joomla + Virtuemart and failed terribly couldn even get the products to be displayed on the homepage

Now trying prestashop.

 

I do not agree.

I launched many "cheap shops" as you call them just to know which ones are going to do good, and then I focused on the ones that attract visitors the most.

Whatever "specialists" will tell you this is bulls... and it's only after setting the shop and starting to sell that you will know if you have any chance to succeed, so better launch as many as possible and improve them later than just launch 1 that you will let die because of little return...

 

I partly agree with you and partly not . I agree with you that it is not that easy to get traffic to any site "I agree" but also this is not so difficult to get traffic for a site. If the person knows about the Internet Marketing, yes you have mentioned that everyone is not capable to do everything, its true. But somehow if you are so knowledgeable, still you can not do all the task alone. You must have to recruit different people to finish different task and you have to pay them. So, if you want to business then you have to Invest money. More you invest more you earn its simple. And there is no easy way to earn, if somebody promise something like that then there must be something illegitimate or illegal going on.

 

"More you invest, the more you earn"

That is sorta misleading, sure if you know what you are doing to make those investments, then sure...
but just because you invest does not ensure your success, but in order to even think about growing, then
you most likely will have to invest, and be more creative then the next guy...
.
Buy, so you wasted time and money by setting up cheap sites to see what works, an exp person
would have already knew which would work compared to "lets just see what happens" and somethings
are just plain common sense...it sounds like you were trying to sell rocks to Eskimos when you
should have been trying to sell rocks to the rock pit, i see people everyday ratting out what they
say works, and has been working for years, but your idea is to setup random sites to see what sticks...
sorry, I can not eval your sites to determine why some worked, and why some did not, alot of
factors could play a role in this, maybe your domain sucked, maybe your free design wasnt that good,
maybe you did not do enough eCommerce marketing, maybe you did not accept cc other then paypal....

Ok, let me say it this way, your chances of success are very slim but not impossible if you choose
to go the cheap/free route, this means you are doing everything yourself, including setting up
cheap design that 1000's of other sites have, along with using those same spamming methods
that every one else uses in order to try to get to the next level...competition sucks....

You do not have to make a lot of money for your cart to succeed, but getting to that point is everyones dreams, and nightmares....

PS. and some people are just completely dumbass lazy..."my site has been up for two years, and I am not making money"
he comes to dp crying that he is not getting traffic, or making money, then by the time you drag the info out of him, you realize, he shopped
around for a freebie template (which sucked from go), setup a site, and has not done any marketing since day one..."
I just never thought anyone was really that stupid, setup a site, and they thought the internet was going to make him
a success, and that he did not have to do a damn thing but wait to cash in from all the money he was making in his head.....

 

When I looked at Magento, my eyes popped out, did i see this wrong, or does magnedo cost $15,000? Thats exactly what my small car costs...

What do you think about these carts?

I was looking at x-cart, the mid price is about $400, looks very nice, not a lot of mods or avail templates (not good ones)

then I looked up Prestashop, cart itself is free, so that is very attractive, the downside is, they have a crap load of
addons, and those addons cost money, if you loaded your store down with useless addons, you could easily spend $1000'...
they also seem to have a nice selection of templates to choose from, much better then x-cart....

and do not fall into the addon trap...addons to not bust or make your site, you do!
I know this because when I see these silly seo addons come out, people simply go nuts
thinking they have the miracle thing for success...you are the the bottom 1 billion sites,
do you seriously think some seo addon is going to get you to number #1, and i bet google
would much rather then you use your real url, rather then a fake "SEO" url, which is mostly
there just to make your url more pretty, unless your cart is making cash, stay away from addons you dont need...
dont buy a pen, when a pencil can do you just fine for awhile....

 

Yes, everyone has their own opinion of what works, and what doesnt...
There is no way that I would just setup dozens of sites for trial and error...
trial and error has already been done for you, its called doing your homework,
and doing some research to see what everyone else is doing...and unless you
do your own product creation, then you will fall into that group that is doing
what everyone else is doing, but you need to do more to see what they are
making money at...pick creative domain, find a good reliable shopping cart, hook
yourself up with a reliable cc processor other then paypal (show that you are legit....)
get a custom nice looking template, find a expert in marketing, and get it done...
I know there are some that just do not have the money to go this route, and that is
fine, you just have to go the free route, and it will simply take you longer...

and another issue that I have with setting up multiple carts, you are also taking
away advertising, and you have enough to issues with just one cart, get your
first cart up and making money before you move onto your next, and by all means
give yourself time to move forward, its not going to happen over night, free or paid....

people are just in a fast paced world where they want the money now, and it just
does not always work out like that; I have seen people deck out their forums thinking
that would be the trick to traffic and money, and after 1-3 months of boredom, and no activity, they sell off...

 

I actually mean that. thanks for the correction

 

Agreed, Ecommerce is Serious business that requires serious effort ,money and time .

 

Magento does not cost $15,000. Magento has a community edition (free) and a Magento Enterprise edition ($14,420*) and Magento Enterprise Premium ($49,990**). You should do research before launching multiple ecommerce sites to find out which will be likely be successful. This is wasteful even though it's your money and time even if you're a technical developer. Most of successful technical developers today that have a successful ecommerce site solved a problem that didn't existed before (i.e. eBay or Etsy). So in essence find a solution in ecommerce that doesn't exist and put serious investment, time and marketing into your project and it will be successful.

 

You are giving me a lecture, seriously?
Did you see who started this thread?

and I do not think I implied that i was going to setup all estores at once....

I am glad you did not advise google on anything, if they had listened to you, then
they would not have bought out multiple companies, they would not be taking more risk for more gain/success....

The great thing about eCommerce, you can sell almost anything online, even if it is being sold in 10,000 other places
across the internet, and the only difference is, they may have traffic that I have not gotten yet, thats it, and its a
big fat numbers game; I agree, I do not expect to set this up, and think by next month I will be rolling in the mega bucks,
and i certainly do not need to be like ebay or amazon and earn $100m/year to be successful....

so keep lingering around and doing nothing, because if you are doing nothing, then you certainly will never make nothing.

have a nice day...
good luck.

but hey, lets just call it a hobby and see what becomes of it...

I sure am glad that I have no clue what I am doing, it makes it much easier not knowing anything, hoping and dreaming that I will fail at trying...

 

Well said ....