help needed for setting shop online

[skenjebira]

I was thinking to start a shop online to sell clothes, something small.
I have no studies in web design, I thought the process of setting up a store would be easy. Now after reading some, it seems to get more and more complicated.
I first saw the offers from yahoo! for the e-commerce. Anyone can tell me if using their site-builder I can get a site out and running in my situation? I mean alone?
Thank you

[Corey Bryant]

Chances are - yes. Will you be happy with it though? Keep in mind, they are going to charge you .5%-1.5% on top of what the merchant account provider will charge you to use their gateway.

One question I always ask - can you match or beat the prices that other Yahoo stores are charging and still make a good living? If so, then consider it. If not, you can always find people who will do web sites / development at lower costs to help you out.

[skenjebira]

Thank you for your reply; I did not respond sooner because I was traveling.
So you think I might succeed, but maybe yahoo! does not have the best offer. Could you suggest me some other provider?
I would be very grateful.

[Corey Bryant]

Yahoo can offer everything - merchant account thru Chase/Paymentech, hosting, domain registration, electronic payment gateway, shopping cart, etc.

It depends on what you want, etc. And how much you are willing to spend each month. With Yahoo you are going to pay a lot more monthly for their services than some other places.

[skenjebira]

I read this forum must be free of pubs, is that why you avoid giving adds? Would it be possible to tell them to me in pv somehow?
I am now browsing for some sites about which I read on the e-commerce guide, but they are quite many, and frankly I don`t have the knowledge to trully differentiate among offers.
I was also reading some posts from this forum the other day, in which you were evaluating a site made by somebody, and you were pointing to mistakes that were made, things a neophyte would never think of.
So I also wonder which site could give me the opportunity to build a site that looks as close to a professional one as possible.
Thank you for your quick reply.

[thirdhyphen]

I read this forum must be free of pubs, is that why you avoid giving adds? Would it be possible to tell them to me in pv somehow?
I am now browsing for some sites about which I read on the e-commerce guide, but they are quite many, and frankly I don`t have the knowledge to trully differentiate among offers.
I was also reading some posts from this forum the other day, in which you were evaluating a site made by somebody, and you were pointing to mistakes that were made, things a neophyte would never think of.
So I also wonder which site could give me the opportunity to build a site that looks as close to a professional one as possible.
Thank you for your quick reply.

A couple of things I like to remind first timers just now getting into ecommerce apps. Most people are not web designers, so they will have to #1) live with default site layouts or templates or #2) pay a designer. Depending on your needs and wants, either is very feasible. Most carts are not to difficult to learn how to add products and change prices, you may have to learn how to do some photo manipulation if you are creating your own items and taking your own pictures. If you have a designer, they will charge you for all of this work. but you should have some autonomy in tweaking your site and making small corrections.

Now, there are 2 routes to go once you have decided on doing it yourself or designer...buy a shopping cart or use a service. Yahoo is a service and can be expensive, but has a ton of upside help. Buying a shopping cart can be beneficial in control, but entails more work and more upfront costs. Also, even if you pay for the cart sofware, someone will have to host it anyway, so you will have recurring fees no matter what.

Its all about $$. If you have a couple of thousand dollars for start up money, then higher a designer to set up the site, but allow you some control over products. Otherwise, get a service, use a template and learn to set it up yourself. The more you do, the more you will understand and the more empowered you will be.

[JPnyc]

Excellent 1st post. Welcome to the forums ! ;)

[skenjebira]

Thank you for your replies.
I will probably settle for a service, though i will still take some time to compare offers before that.
I am also thinking to try learn some about html coding and these kind of things that I avoid naming because I`m afraid i will use them in a wrong way (this is to say how much of an expert I am:)).
Again, if anyone thinks of something better than yahoo! please feel free to let me know about it.
Thank you

[CaptainMarvel]

sken . . .

Although I have a bit of (hobbiest) web design under my belt, you and I are pretty much in the same boat insofar as trying to decide on the plethora of eCart and Merchant Solution packages out there. It's like trying to decide on nutritional supplmements - each company touting thet they are the best for this reason or another. The research I have been doing, although fun, has been giving me headaches with all of the overload (in a good way, of course).

Nevertheless, I feel your pain. One of my main concerns is design control, the other being features via the hosting I will be getting with an eCart hosting package (i.e. must have PHP, MySQL capabilities).

The current "front-runners" in my research are MIVA, MonsterCommerce and one I just only recently discovered - Modular Merchant.

As a suggestion for learning some basics (and beyond) for web design, I would suggest checking out some of the titles on Lynda.com. (No, I do not work for them, but I have seen their training videos and they have helped greatly). I also use, in my opinion, perhaps the best WYSIWYG web design tool available today - Dreamweaver. I would strongly suggest downloading the demo and checking Dreamweaver out as well.


This is a great thread for us beginners - and I hope more chime in with their comments, insight and advice.


:D

[skenjebira]

Dear CaptainMarvel, or should I say O, Captain, My Captain?:)
Thank you for your message. I was just doing some more research on the topic, and felt as I gathered a little more information and a even more question marks.
What about yahoo!? I know, I sound like a scratched old vinyl; the fact is first time I thought about setting up a shop online I saw their offer, and sounded quite professional. Now I can t but compare everything else to that. I am also not too good in comparing things since I know so little about what I should be doing.
Monstercommerce site was charging 100 dollars per month for their service also, some people were talking about much less.
I will now look at MIVA and Modular commerce, because I did not before, so thank you for the tips.
I am also a bit in a haze when it comes to many things, like paypal...or even, could i use my current account, where i receive my salary for this shop, like for transferring money from paypal to it? And the how does one transfer those money anyway? (in the happy case where I would do some sales)
Also, do you HAVE to charge people for the shipping before the shipping, can t they just pay for that to the company providing the service (ups, dhl...) when getting their parcel?
See, I am really a newbie.
Help?
:P

[CaptainMarvel]

To be honest, it was being referred to Yahoo Stores that got me started in the whole eCommerce development thing. In fact, I even went so far as to purchase a third-party training course (http://www.yahoo-store-builder.com/News/bfallon51604.htm) that centered on developing a Yahoo Store.

I am not taking anything away from Yahoo Store . . . I have read plenty a success story of those who both started and continue with Yahoo for their eCommerce stores. The one thing that rubs me the wrong way with Yahoo Stores is that they charge a per transaction percentage fee (i.e. they cut into your profits). This is ON TOP OF the per transaction charges you will have to pay in relation to your merchant account.

Again, Yahoo Stores was my FIRST exposure to the realm of developing my own eCommerce store(s). I have since done a lot of research and compiled a lot of information - which has led me to realize that Yahoo isn't necessarily the "best" solution for me and what I want. Again, though, do not let me discourage you from starting with Yahoo . . . they are a very strong company with staying power and market recognition strength. That is definitely a PLUS in their favor.


As for your other questions, I'm not the best person to be answering. In fact, I am looking forward to seeing if anyone else responds to those issues.

[skenjebira]

Thank you for replying so fast CaptainMarvel:)
I was just reading about MIVA; Looks very professional, and they have some things like unlimited number of pages or volume of data transactionned which others don t have, though someone pointed out on some other thread that a small shop would not use more than 150-200 Mb.
I have seen that the fees set by yahoo! are quite high, that s why I am still looking.
Now here I have a dumb question for you.
Zen cart offerts a 'shopping cart'...what is this shopping cart anyway? From what I understood, the shopping cart it s the shop itself, since you add products to it, isn t it? Then what you have to do is to host it somewhere.
Sorry if this is such a basic question.

[CaptainMarvel]

In my research into MIVA, thus far, you will note that it seems pretty expensive to purchase the software/license
($995 for MIVA 5).

However, if you dig deep into MIVA's partners - specifically the Web Host partners, there are several there with fairly reasonable packages where MIVA 5 is INCLUDED. This is very promising to me - and I'm continuing my research into the different hosting companies as to the best offer/features.

Also, I have been receiving some great responses in another thread of mine --> http://forums.smallbusinesscomputing.com/showthread.php?t=2060


Hope the information and resources I have given you have been helping thus far.
After all, us newbies need to stick together . . . and together we will learn a whole lot. :D

[skenjebira]

Thank you again CaptainMarvel:)
If I would to let myself go with a clumsy word games I would say you are marvelous.
Now what was that thread you were referring to?
I will try to find it anyway.
I know that a site that shows a confident and professional face will attract more buyers and thus increase the profits, so in the end investing in it more turns out to be the way to get more, but almost a thousand dollars it s far more than I had in mind to start with.
I am still interested to see what you find further on, so please let me know about your discoveries:)
Thank you again

[CaptainMarvel]

No need to keep thanking me . . . I'm no eCommerce expert . . . . yet. ;)


As I mentioned previously though .... instead of spending $1000 or more for a professional designer, you should check out Macromedia Dreamweaver --> http://www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver/

Then, check out the Lynda.com training modules/videos for Dreamweaver 8 (basics, beyond basics, dynamic development), HTML, XHTML, PHP, etc. They helpped me so much in learning the software and getting started right away. (Again, I have no affiliation whatsoever with any resource I provide).

Drop me a PM (private message) here if you want some additional insight as to my experience in learning web design from the ground up - as I do not want to get myself or anyone else in trouble for posting too many outside resources. ;)

I have also a couple additional resources for some very helpful things I can provide you to help you along the way.



BTW, my name is TOM.

[skenjebira]

Ok, I will look at the dreamweaver, though I was never skilled in crafts:P
And thank you, still:)

[CaptainMarvel]

Hey There . . . . any updates on your progress ??? :)

[JPnyc]

Dreamweaver is QUITE expensive. There are some others out there that cost less and actually do a better job. A quick google search might give some ideas

[CaptainMarvel]

Dreamweaver is QUITE expensive. There are some others out there that cost less and actually do a better job. A quick google search might give some ideas

If you have/know a student (with a valid ID), you can get Dreamweaver (full version) VERY inexpensively via www.journeyed.com (http://www.journeyed.com) or www.creationengine.com (http://www.creationengine.com)

:D

[skenjebira]

I hope I will not sound too shallow but these days I was unable to work towards my goal, other than reading the new threads here online.
My sister and her husband were visiting me, and I had some long-taugh days at work.
Thank you for the ideas JPnyc and CaptainMarvel, i will look into those closely now.

[hconnor]

I'm no maven on shopping carts, but I'd give OsCommerce a look. far as i know its free, and has broad functionality.

in terms of website design, it really depends on your long term goals and your personality. for example, as a student, i was able to get dreamweaver for a good price with fireworks. they have a hefty learning curve but the output is nothing short of amazing and they're the best iif your are the ocd personality type. on the other hand, there are tons of prefab websites available for purchase; i've seen nice ones for 30-100 dollars. if you're the type that can be satisfied with something quick and dirty, skip dreamweaver and go for a template site.

i can't tell you what to do, but it also depends on how fast you want your business up and running. one option is to start it up on yahoo, where they're a one stop shop and have everything tightly integrated. as you get more comfortable with the operation, re-evaluate your situation.

hope that helps.