Please help...

[MrMiyagi]

I am new to e-commerce. I have tons of questions, but I guess my first is...what is the difference between a shopping cart? merchant account? and the actual website?

Can you get all 3 from one host? I am confused...

For example I looked at this site http://www.networksolutions.com/e-co...comparison.jsp and does it have everything I need to start? the pro package?

Thanks

[aukdesign]

Hi MrMiyagi,

A shopping cart is for presenting the items/choices a visitor wants to purchase, this includes product number (SKU or ID), price, additional attribrutes (i.e. size, color, qty, etc.)

Merchant Account: is typically your business bank account. This is for transactions between the customers bank (i.e. credit card) and your bank.

There's also a third piece to the transaction process, it's called a "payment gateway". This sits between a customers bank and your bank to manage the money transaction. There's a number of payment gateways available; PayPal, Authorize.net, Cybersource, etc.

Your e-commerce website "glues" all of this together... product selection, order, payment, delivery, etc.

I hope this helps.

[MrMiyagi]

Thanks for breaking it down for me.

What does all 3 normally cost? Also does the site I mentioned in my original post include all 3 for 100 dollars a month?

[aukdesign]

Hi MrMiyagi,

The forum frowns upon posting prices, even if it's stated in a general fashion. Please feel free to contact me directly, I will be more than happy to discuss the components involved with e-commerce and to discuss the information posted above.

jkelly (at) aukdesign.com

[marc77]

If you are willing to spend some time, managing the shopping cart by yourself, a software license is available free of charge for open source products (no support, except mailing lists or discussion boards) or anything around $100 USD for a commercial product (with support).

Check out http://cgi.resourceindex.com or http://www.hotscripts.com (I have also developed a shopping cart, see my signature).

It all depends upon your requirements - if you sell customizable products with lots of options, you have other demands than someone selling newspaper subscriptions or collectibles.

A webhost capable to host CGI scripts may start from $10 USD per month, but you should take care to get personal phone or e-mail support (most discount hosters cannot afford this and offer only self-service).

Regarding a merchant gateway... well, it depends upon the country you live in and the needs you have. Perhaps some other users here may provide some recommendations, alternatively look around in the forum for matching threads.

The alternative is to get a ready-to-use online shop. For example, http://www.king-cart.com is a service I can personally recommend (we work together with some for some years marketing our affiliate management software). Their website isn't an eye-catcher, but they have a friendly service and are reliable. Of course, there are other shopping cart providers available as well.