Advice/Pointers

I am just now considering ecommerce and there are so many aspects to it, it is hard to know where to start. I do not even know what it is I want to sell, but I do have many talents and skills that I would like to put together and use them for good (my own good , not my bosses).

What I have going for me...
I have experience in HTML/CSS/PHP/MySQL and have held positions such as Purchasing Agent, Inside Sales and most recently in the Marketing Department of a large company. So in general I am a techi with a well rounded background that I'd like to put to use.

What I have against me...
Everything other than the above.

I am going to break this project into bite sized pieces. My first project is to get an idea of expected startup cost. Because I do not know what my widget is yet I will handle that later and try to estimate cost for the online store itself (and related cost). I plan on putting the site together myself which will help limit cost.

Below is what I am guessing my monthly cost to be and need corrections/additional feedback.
1.) Host with SSL and diedicated IP address - $50+/-
2.) Payment Gateway - ? (Pretty confusing when I looked at all the options Authorize.Net is what I was looking at)
3.) Merchant account - ? (I assume that is a must have)
My general guestimate for the store itself would be under $200/mnth?

I am looking at Zen Cart for the web site and have it installed on my personal host to learn/play with. I am most unsure of the best way to go from my website to payment gateway as I hear good and bad about paypal for just starting out which I would then assume i would not need a merchant account? One business I am considering is subscriptin based and so I would like the option of recurring billing. Also, can you connect your web site to a payment gateway to see how it works before committing?

I am sorry my post is so raw, but I need to start somewhere and I have read enough to confuse me to a point I don't know what to think.


Thank you :)

Regarding your monthly cost estimation:

1. $50 USD per month for hosting is realistic (I'm happy to read that you are not considering a discount hoster for $1 per month...).

When getting an own SSL certificate, you need an IP address in any case (it is just one SSL certificate per IP allowed). So this belongs together, but should be no problem.

2. Many people have made good experiences with authorize.net (except me for a client installation, unresponsive support), but also others will work. If possible, try to get a real merchant account. That saves you money on the long run (you may talk with your local bank about it).

3. See 2.

I think $200 USD per month is a fair estimation, even with some space for unexpected expenses.

Regarding shopping carts:

You also could consider a hosted solution like http://www.kingcart.com (or others). Such companies usually offer also a payment solution and anything configured ready to start. So it could save you much time.

However you are more flexible managing this by yourself (but it also will take more time and need some efforts to get familiar with).

It is hard to give an advise here, but I would start with a hosted solution the first time. If your business works as expected, compare what is cheaper (hosted vs. self-managed). Then you may decide again. Just ensure that the hosted solution allows to easily export product databases (in case you sell more than a dozen products, you may not want to manually create product records yourself later when switching).

Thank you for the advice, It will give me more to think about.
you made some great points, especially about considering a managed site (which goes against my techi side).

Thanks :)

At first your traffic demands will probably be fairly light, so why not consider a cheaper hosting package with a host that allows you to upgrade as your demands require it? Have you decided what type of database you intend to use?

I was looking at Zen Cart which uses MySQL (which seems to be standard).

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especially about considering a managed site (which goes against my techi side).

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I'm also more the person that wants to control everything myself and not rely upon others... however consider that the first time you may be busy with advertising, shipping, bookkeeping and other tasks before your business got some routine. If you feel you can manage both, the daily business and the technical side, no matter :-)

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why not consider a cheaper hosting package with a host that allows you to upgrade

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I don't think so. Especially when you must rely upon a working server, having a webhoster that provides quality support can be essential and life saving in case of problems. Maybe you should even decide for a webhoster where you have a contact person you know by name and can phone call in case of trouble... invaluable.

Recently I worked with a client that encountered trouble with their webhosting provider. It took days to get replies and then they told them to have a look at their online documentation and FAQs... it ended up that they are now looking for an other hoster, which costs precious time.

Well, it's okay to compare prices for webhosting services, but finally this position is one of the lowest on the cost-side of your calculation (especially considering its importance). You surely pay much more for accepting credit cards or shipping services.

i have to agree about the hosting, i have been using the same web host for years, and they are not the cheapest but i have never had a site down, and thier help is the best. (westhost.com) dont cheap it, you will regret it later.

I too had a client who was putting up a shop and thier host was horrible. took days to answer questions and he too switched.

if you can write the code for the store or at least modify an existing one yourself, that is where it would be better to save money.

i have a shop for a client and it dosnt cost even 50 a month for hosting. so dont worry there.

i use cs-cart for my shops, its a one time purchase price. its easily modifiable, especially since you know php.

im not into the hosting that includes the cart. myself, id rather buy a program and host it myself.

i use pay pal, but again, personal choice, they are cheper for small price and large volume accounts. you can do reocurring billing, there is no fee unless you need the virtual terminal,, then its 30 per month.

To me it cost what it cost and as long as I am aware and educated about what it is I am getting I am fine and to me I have no interest in down time as that is how you lose customers. Once I have an idea of what the cost are of all the variouse components of a business, then I can work on finding a product that can support those cost. That's the thought process anyway.

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It is hard to give an advise here, but I would start with a hosted solution the first time. If your business works as expected, compare what is cheaper (hosted vs. self-managed). Then you may decide again. Just ensure that the hosted solution allows to easily export product databases (in case you sell more than a dozen products, you may not want to manually create product records yourself later when switching).

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I am going to spend some time exploring self-managed vs hosting, my main concern there is flexability in both design and expansion or moving from one model to the other as you had mentioned above.

Again, thank you very much for all the input. It is invaluable in starting such a large endevor.

I would look at iHostStores e-Store...it is a managed store, full featured, easy to use and affordable with live support.