Have a sticker site, but don't sell yet... how should I get started?

[stickersmc]

Bare with me on my request... I'm new to this! :)

I own a small window tint and sticker business, and I have a site... but I don't sell anything on there yet. It's pretty much just informational.

www.wickedstickers.com

I'm no site builder by any means, so the whole "ecommerce" thing to me is WAY overwhelming. I tried to use the one they have from GoDaddy (Quick Shopping Cart), which is who my host is, but it was way too confusing to me and ugly as can be. It seemed like you were stuck using their layout and you pretty much just type in your business name at the top. I've also tried osCommerce, but it takes me half an hour to input 1 sticker because you have to assign so many attributes to each sticker.

Is there a program out there that would be easy for MY kind of business? ALMOST every sticker can be 4", 5", 6", 7", etc. etc. up to several feet. and almost all of them have the same color choices. I have it limited to like 20 or so, but in osCommerce, you have to physically put in EVERY single size and EVERY single color for each one. The problem with that is... I have TENS of THOUSANDS of different stickers I can put on there.

I'm already set up with an online merchant account, I already have a host, I just need to figure out how to sell now... without devoting the next 20 years of evenings inputing the same attributes to each item.

Any ideas? "I figured this was as good a place to start asking questions as any!"

Thanks for your time and consideration!

[roban]

The site looks very good and you should be proud to have gotten this far with it.

Without changing to a shopping cart software like OScommerce, Cube Cart or CS-Cart perhaps the best thing to do would be to investigate either Pay Pal buttons or Google Checkout. You can add them to your existing site without too much hassle.

[stickersmc]

I do mess with PayPal for people who just email me and request something... and a couple of items with buttons as well, but the experience I've had with the buttons seems kind of limiting. If I have a sticker shape of a bicycle for example; that person can order it 6" in pink, 12" in yellow, 18" in white, so on and so forth. Wouldn't I have to create a million different buttons for that 1 bicycle sticker since there's so many size and color variations?

I haven't tried the Google thing yet, is that along the same lines?

[usasportstrain]

You could also use a normal payment gateway for your site, probably the one that you use for your store (POS). For instance, Authorize.net will allow you to use them for a gateway within the store and on your site. This would probably give you the best rate, since Paypal takes a big percent of a cut off the sale.

I'd also recommend doing your research on the best ecommerce solution; look at the forums, ask people, decide how much effort you want to commit. The site and your storefront look great, although some of the images aren't loading for me.

[stickersmc]

Yes, since there's litterally thousands of items to put on there with so many variations of each, I'm wanting the most "moron friendly" solution! :D

Thanks for the kind words on the way the site looks so far. It's been a work in progress for many years (I won't say how many because I'll just make myself look lazy and clueless) :o However, those pictures won't load for anyone. They're linked to magazine websites so they automatically turn over when they republish, but they seem to all be getting rid of those, so I have to put something else over on that side.

Thanks for all the input though... I need as much as I can get. I want to start making some money!!! :D

[pete_notubes]

I used the mod Attributes Copier for oscommerce and that makes it vary simple. One it lets you copy the attributes from one product to another or duplicate the product and attributes. It also adds a spot to control the attributes from the product info page.

http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,772