Newbie Needs Help.

Hi. I am 22 yrs of age. I have been using ebay since i was in high school and i have been selling stuff online for quite a while. I even worked for an electronics company ( I listed items for them). They downsized their company and laid me off.

I know where they get their product etc. I recently applied for a stafford loan and im going to use that to start my business with the help of my mom.

I have already built my website, but i have no idea how to get the check out system or online payments.

I have 3 questions:


1) what's the best way to incorporate the check out system/payments? I know yahoo and amazon does but they charge a FEE per transaction and i think it's a rip off.

2) who has the most simple inventory program?

3) who do you guys recommend me to host my website with the ecommerce program?

when it comes to hosting, youll get hundreds of different answeres. i have been using westhost.com for ever and have tried others but always have gone back.

just do some reaserch.

i use cs-cart for my stores. i love it. its great right out of the box. easy to set up and the support is awsome! the inventory is great and it is very organized and easy to track. it has pay pal pro and many many other payment gateways, and it is very easy to set up.

my main advice is to spend money on a good cart, dont bee cheap with it. people may say free is just as good but i have had clients come to me for help and have spent more money having me solve problems or set it up then if they bought a cart and did it themselves.

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Originally Posted by wolfpack

1) what's the best way to incorporate the check out system/payments? I know yahoo and amazon does but they charge a FEE per transaction and i think it's a rip off.

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There are several ways you can choose to go. Many people can get more in depth than me here, I'll just give you a general overview. You can use PayPal buttons on your site. You just need a PayPal account to have access to the PayPal buttons. The PayPal buttons will take your users off your site to checkout using PayPal. Some merchants think this is simple and easy, others think it's unprofessional and don't want their clients moving off their site. PayPal will charge a per transaction fee.

Google has also introduced their own checkout that functions similarly to PayPal.

You can choose to use a payment gateway like Verisign, Authorize.net and Worldpay (there's lots more). With a payment gateway the provider will need to run a credit check and have you jump through some hoops to get an account set up. Once you have an account set up, you'll be able to accept payment by credit cards, and any deposits will be put directly into your bank account. A payment gateway doesn't come with a structured 'Checkout' system. The 'checkout' area will need to be provided by your shopping cart software. You will need to research if the cart of your choice is compatible with your payment gateway and how it interfaces with your payment gateway.

All payment gateways charge a per transaction fee along with some standard and non-standard banking fees. Shop around and do some research to find good rates. Most shopping cart software does not charge a per-transaction fee, but some, like Yahoo, do.

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Originally Posted by wolfpack

2) who has the most simple inventory program?

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This is pretty subjective. Most basic shopping carts will have a simple inventory feature. Features that you like and need will also depend on your business needs. I would recommend testing a few different types of shopping cart software to find one that fits your needs the best.

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Originally Posted by wolfpack

3) who do you guys recommend me to host my website with the ecommerce program?

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This will also depend on your shopping cart provider. Most hosted shopping carts, like Modular Merchant, require that they host your shopping cart on their servers. Other hosts might offer a few free shopping carts for you to try. Check around. Think about if the shopping cart will allow for expansion and mobility. I would recommend getting a shopping cart a bit better than you think you need to allow you to grow into it.

I hope this information helps.
-Sherri

Are you not going to sell on Ebay anymore?

Hi, Here's my 2 cents...

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1) what's the best way to incorporate the check out system/payments? I know yahoo and amazon does but they charge a FEE per transaction and i think it's a rip off.

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I think if you are still interested in selling on eBay, it's important to find a solution that keeps your data in one place. Check out the Auction Software Review page about these programs. Most of these (including Laris, the platform offered by the e-commerce experts at Sell Center) have payment gateways built in. The best part is that you only have 1 inventory system for multiple sales venues.

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2) who has the most simple inventory program?

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I agree that this is totally subjective. It's all about testing various programs, getting free trials and seeing what you like the best.

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3) who do you guys recommend me to host my website with the ecommerce program?

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If you're just starting out and have a lower budget, go with a shared hosting solution. I've tried a ton of them and the best shared host that I've found is BlueHost.com.

If you are ready to move up, get a dedicated server. From experience, Aplus.net is amazing. Their customer service reps are geniuses - the last time they called, they showed us how to do a bunch of Mod Rewrites... very cool.

I hope this helps!

I have like Google checkout software. Very easy to use.