e-commerce newbie

Hi all,
I was asked to make an e-commerce site but unfortunately i have no idea ! So let me ask to things :
a. to have the site accept credit cards (visa,electron,diners etc) or other payment methods (paypal) i suppose i have to use some already written code (dll or webservice or something relevant). How can i find it? are there any organizations that provide them? What are most commonly used?0
b. Do i host the site (ok, we suppose i've already created it !!!) at a regular web server or are there specialized hosting providers that are e-commerce compliant ?

thx for your time
theodore

First off, these are really basic questions. You might consider subcontracting to someone with some experience for this project. You could work along with them and learn as you go. (Hands on experience is the best way to learn things, but you don't want to learn at the expense of a client's success.)

Secondly, you can host an e-commerce site at most hosts, but one that has current e-commerce clients will be able to support you more effectively. For payment processing, there are a lot of options depending on the budget. Paypal is very easy and cheap to set up so it is good for first time online merchants.

There is a lot of great information online in general and in e-commerce-guide.com in particular. You should start by doing as much research as you can, especially if you aren't going to hire someone to help you.

For hosting I always recommend godaddy.com. I find their prices to be the cheapest and they support most technologies. I host my personal page there and got my domain through them as well. JG's advice concerning paypal is sound. It's a good way to get your feet wet with minimal cost/risk.

JG, you're located in my neighborhood. Howdy neighbor.

Neighbor! Hi there! <wavey>