I'm new want to start out.

[r1chardpease]

I'm new and im wanting to start a online store i currently have items I can sell, and i would like to sell other items also... i almost have no idea where to start and would like someone to help me get started i would apperciate any help at all.


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[roban]

1. Get a domain. www.whatever.com. Do some research on the domain name because it's probably the most important decision you'll make at this point.
2. Get a shopping cart. There are plenty of free ones out there. OsCommerce, Zen, Cube Cart for example.
3. Get a hosting company. Don't go for 'cheap' on this one. Make sure they have a history and good record for shopping carts. Not everyone has.

Most carts have an administrative or 'back end'. The customer area is the 'front end'. In the back end you add products, pricing and various payment and shipping options so you'll need a way for your customers to pay you. Pal Pal is free so you might want to start there. If you want to accept credit cards a gateway like Authorize.Net is a good choice.

Are you going to stock items yourself or deal with a drop shipper? If you stock an inventory you have to set up shipping and shipping prices.

[chiara]

You can also start by selling your items at ebay, you can create an online storefront there without a big initial investment.

If you see your items sell good - then you can proceed with investing in a website, shopping cart, etc. PayPal have a very easy to integrate shopping carts, they also accept CC payments. Another way to accept CC payments easily is 2checkout

Then you have to find a way to ship the items you'll sell, and send tracking info to customers..One interesting way to send tracking info is (I recently read that on some forum) to make a few photos of the pack before you ship it, together with its tracking number, and send the pics to the customer.

You should find some way to keep track of your shipments, billing, etc. Initially an Excel file should be sufficient I suppose, and as your turnover grows you might check for some ready solution..

That's it in a few words..hope it helped!

Rgds

Chi

[Maverickc]

Ebay is a good place to start as well...if you're upto the challenge, oscommerce www.oscommerce.com (free) is good too you need to get "involved" technically speaking. Shopfactory www.shopfactory.com is a paid software option for start-up/newcomers.

You can do a search for "online shopping carts" or "ecommerce software" and literally find hundreds. ;o)

I also recommend as you develop your plans you plan to continually promote your site online on directories, etc. Getting traffic is a long process and does take time and commitment.

And, I can honestly say...you do have a big learning curve - hate to be the devil's advocate, but I came from the same place you're in and while it's worth the venture...it's a loooong road! Good Luck