Can Shopping cart/Merchant Accounts Be Integrated for "Normal" Hosting ??

[CaptainMarvel]

I'm not sure if I'm phrasing this question correctly . . . but what I am hoping to learn is whether Shopping Cart/Merchant Account applications can be integrated into an existing website - say via Dreamweaver - and then hosted via a "regular" hosting plan.

Many of the Merchant Account companies I have been looking at (MonsterCommerce, YahooStores, Miva, etc.) seem to require you to host with them (or with one of their official affiliates) . . . with packages ranging from $9.99 to well over $100/month - most of which seem to offer no more than 2 GB of space (in general) and limitations of up to 10-15 GB transfer/month.

Why the limitations with bandwidth, space and such when dealing with eCommerce? "Normal" web hosting plans boast space of much more space, bandwidth and other features - for considerably less per month.


So, what I am wondering is if one can create an eCommerce store, integtrate shopping cart/merchant account functionality, and have it hosted as part of a "normal" hosting plan.


Hope I'm not being to far-out with my questions.


THANK YOU for any advise/insight you can provide.

[Corey Bryant]

You can have your own shopping cart hosted on your own website. As far as integrating it - it depends on how much knowledge you have on ASP / PHP, etc.

2GB if space is usually more than enough for an ecommerce website unless you have videoa or a lot of multi-media. The standard for most of our e-commerce websites is about 100-200M. It all depends on the size of your images as well - and usually the can be reduced, depending on your products.

With the merchant account issue - you actually will integrate an payment gateway (i.e. Verisign's Payflow, LinkPoint, Authorizenet.com) into your website. The payment gateway will then communicate with the transaction processor (First Data / Nova). The merchant account provider (MAP) will actually then get the money from the issuing bank and deposit it into your checking account

[cinnamon9691]

There are some one time fee type shopping carts that you can pay a small fee to set up on your own web server or you can do it yourself. Normally with this type of service you will pay for one year of upgrades (support may or may not be included depending on the solution). I've listed some carts that do this below.

JShop
Pinnacle Cart
Ecommmerce templates

Services like MonsterCommerce, YahooStores, Miva, and the one I work for often host their solution at a managed hosting facility with 24/7 support. This means that the client isn't dealing with server related issues, has his product and client databases backed up hourly, and technical problems are resolved by technicians who know the software and the hardware it's running on. This leaves the store owners more time to work on their store instead of dealing with software or hardware problems.

There are lots of different options out there and depending on your budget, comfort level, and time commitment; you should have a range of good solutions to choose from.

[CaptainMarvel]

There are some one time fee type shopping carts that you can pay a small fee to set up on your own web server or you can do it yourself. Normally with this type of service you will pay for one year of upgrades (support may or may not be included depending on the solution). I've listed some carts that do this below.

JShop
Pinnacle Cart
Ecommmerce templates

Services like MonsterCommerce, YahooStores, Miva, and the one I work for often host their solution at a managed hosting facility with 24/7 support. This means that the client isn't dealing with server related issues, has his product and client databases backed up hourly, and technical problems are resolved by technicians who know the software and the hardware it's running on. This leaves the store owners more time to work on their store instead of dealing with software or hardware problems.

There are lots of different options out there and depending on your budget, comfort level, and time commitment; you should have a range of good solutions to choose from.

Thanks cinamon . . . .

I must say that your company, Modular Merchants, looks like a very interesting prospect. I'm glad that you mentioned it so I could look into it (as I hadn't yet heard of it). What exactly is your role there - are you able to answer some questions about the services? (Should I ask here or send a PM)?

Thanks !!!

[Corey Bryant]

One thing to mention, E-commerce templates is prety good but they are not compatible with LinkPoint API. I have tried to work with them in helping them but unfortunately one partner wanted our help and the other partner did not want any help.

Always check with the cart to see what gateways they are compatible with

[CaptainMarvel]

One of the things that is most important to me is control over the layout/design of the site. I actually have several store ideas in development - some of which can utilize the "existing template" features of most eCarts just fine. However, at least one of the stores has a somewhat unique design to it - and I want to be able to make sure I can bring that design into whichever eCart solution I use.

PHP scripting language capability is also important.

[cinnamon9691]

I currently do technical support for the company. We have pretty good skinning capabilities for clients and some of our clients use several different skins for different stores. This gives them the ability to purchase one store (one administrative back end) that has the ability to look dramatically different for each of their stores. I've included some of our clients below so you can see what the skinning system is capable of.

http://www.ellusionist.com
http://www.bandmateloops.com
http://www.scrapgirls.com

Since our solution is written in PHP there shouldn't be an issue with PHP scripts. Mostly our skin system allows you to copy and paste code from and html editor into the skin system. If you are comfortable with html design, it's pretty easy.

If you have further questions, feel free to PM me.

[CaptainMarvel]

I currently do technical support for the company. We have pretty good skinning capabilities for clients and some of our clients use several different skins for different stores. This gives them the ability to purchase one store (one administrative back end) that has the ability to look dramatically different for each of their stores. I've included some of our clients below so you can see what the skinning system is capable of.

http://www.ellusionist.com
http://www.bandmateloops.com
http://www.scrapgirls.com

Since our solution is written in PHP there shouldn't be an issue with PHP scripts. Mostly our skin system allows you to copy and paste code from and html editor into the skin system. If you are comfortable with html design, it's pretty easy.

If you have further questions, feel free to PM me.

I'm actually very impressed by that middle website - bandmateloops.

I am going to do some heavy investigation/reading into Modular Merchant tonight. In the meantime, might I ask what components make up a site like bandmateloops (i.e. basic + any additional modules?)

[cinnamon9691]

I'm actually very impressed by that middle website - bandmateloops.

Bandmateloops did all the design work themselves using the standard built in tools. Their designer is really good. I will admit there was a learning curve in using the tools but any customer is encouraged to call, start a support ticket, or post to our forums if they have a question.

In the meantime, might I ask what components make up a site like bandmateloops (i.e. basic + any additional modules?)

They added a few of the standard modules to the basic store package. There was some custom work we did for them with extra dynamic databases that were 'custom tailored' to their products and store.

[CaptainMarvel]

Thanks cinnamon !!

Fortunately, I am learning a bit about dynamic development in Dreamweaver - so hopefully that will help me in developing a truly exciting site.