ebusiness website

ugg

Hi all

I'm setting up an online shop and would appreciate advice about shopping carts, OS vs bespoke platforms, backend/database maintenance, recommended web design companies, setup and ongoing costs etc.
Thanks

Atlas_IRL

Are you selling uggs?

ugg

Nope,
Can see why you might have thought that though!:D

Dabko

Suppose it all depends on what you intend on selling, who your market is and what you expect to get from the store. Budget is also a good starting point. You must also ask how much you have for marketing the site. You could build the worlds most amazing site, but if no-one finds it, its a pointless exercise.

For instance, i had a lady into me looking for an ecommerce site that was for selling hand made jewellery to a small group of customers in Ireland and the US, with a view to expanding her range from 20 to 80 pieces in the next year.
She had a quote with her from another web design company, with a price tag of almost 13k. Now, in all fairness, this quote did include a massive amount of features, bells and whistles, so i could understand the price. She on the other hand was planning on not doing the store at all because of the price.

This lady was a one man operation that barely knew how to turn on a computer, let alone use a website this large. Spending 13k from her point of view would be a waste of money, (kind of like britney spears buying a ferrari).
What we essentailly offered her was a smaller, scaled down version of the original store quote she received, basically tailoring the product to suit her needs, capability and budget. As she grows her business and becomes more familiar with selling online, her store can grow too.

Sorry for the story - point being every customer/store are different. All depending on what you require can you make decisions on features such as carts, features and cost associated.

Mike...

ugg wrote: »

Hi all

I'm setting up an online shop and would appreciate advice about shopping carts, OS vs bespoke platforms, backend/database maintenance, recommended web design companies, setup and ongoing costs etc.
Thanks

What type of shop?
I recently set up my own ebay type sales listings site, built and designed myself, saved a few thousand from some quotes I got. PM me and I will give you some sites that may be of interest to you if your a bit tech savvy.
If not shop local, big grand design companies seem to charge serious amounts for anything...

Shop around and get to know the business and the designers...

Pixelcraft

Dabko wrote: »

Spending 13k from her point of view would be a waste of money, (kind of like britney spears buying a ferrari).
What we essentailly offered her was a smaller, scaled down version of the original store quote she received, basically tailoring the product to suit her needs, capability and budget.

This is why it's vital to ask and know the budget before proposal, otherwise you're shooting in the dark.

ugg

Cost is a big factor as I'm only starting out - I certainly couldn't stretch to 13k!
Has anyone used open source software like Magento, OScommerce or any other free(ish) platforms for their online shops?
Free is all well and good... but if it doesn't work

Dabko

ugg wrote: »

Has anyone used open source software like Magento, OScommerce or any other free(ish) platforms for their online shops?
Free is all well and good... but if it doesn't work

Open source cms such as joomla for instance is, as you say, free. However, when it comes to free, you really do get what you pay for.

We have built numerous sites using joomla based cms with virtuemart integration and its great. However, once you start customising and adding different features and modules, you start getting bogged down with getting things to work smoothly and correctly. As open source is there for anyone to use and abuse, you can not be 100% reliant on security and the likes. This is where the costs mount up when using open source.

But dont be put off by this as you can still get a fully functioning online store with multiple payment processing options, data bases, back-end features and so on for a fraction of the cost of a store built from the ground up using expensive commercially licenced software. And it will look very good.

If you want something to work, and work properly, you will have to pay for it. But not 13k (save that for your marketing campaign)!

tombull82

the site in my sig is an oscommerce site with a free template added an i just changed a few bits to suit the shop name etc. Only cost involved was hosting and url. I know it could do with a bit more customizing but it suits fine.

liverpo

Dabko fair play to you, I have a vision, when my website develops a bit more and we start up our online store, expect a pm from myself, I like what your saying.

Dabko

liverpo wrote: »

Dabko fair play to you, I have a vision, when my website develops a bit more and we start up our online store, expect a pm from myself, I like what your saying.

Liverpo
No bother, drop pm anytime, would be happy to chat.

R3al

If you are setting up an online shop you might also want to consider your payment options, if you have no online selling history you might find it more difficult to get an Internet Merchant Account from one of the high street banks which is required for credit/debit card payment processing together with a payment exchange such as realex or elavon (who provide the payment service). Alternatives to a full IMA are third party processsors who act as the IMA and the payment service these include paypal and worldpay and are generally easier to enroll into.

It is generally preferable to offer your customers multiple payment options such as paypal as well as credit/debit cards

ugg

Dabko wrote: »

As open source is there for anyone to use and abuse, you can not be 100% reliant on security and the likes.

Hi Dabko
Would using Realex for payment purposes ensure that an OS site is 100% secure - especially as no customer details would be stored on my computer?
Also, how likely is it, in your experience, that somebody spending loads on a bespoke platform ends up having to spend loads more on support? I've heard that customised software doesn't necessarily work any better than OS - a worrying thought!
Thanks for all the advice

W!zard

ugg wrote: »

Hi Dabko
Would using Realex for payment purposes ensure that an OS site is 100% secure - especially as no customer details would be stored on my computer?
Also, how likely is it, in your experience, that somebody spending loads on a bespoke platform ends up having to spend loads more on support? I've heard that customised software doesn't necessarily work any better than OS - a worrying thought!
Thanks for all the advice

Thought I would drop a line into here.
Realex & other payment gateways work the same as they are 100% secure. Customer details would not be stored on your computer.
There are better options than Realex when starting up, as you can save more in the short term and switch later when you have a decent volume of sales.

Dabko

Ugg

Just as wizard says, realex is a payment gateway which are generally very secure to use. Yes, this does mean you have no access to credit card details and important information like that. However, don't let your sites security lapse just because you aren't storing credit card details. You will be storing data bases of customer information with plenty of personal account information, which can be hacked and used for Nigerian bank managers! Keep this safe as you could get sued for not protecting someones information!

For payment gateways, I generally use paypoint (formerly sec pay), mainly because its what we are very familiar with. With this you will need a merchant account in Ireland. Using gateways like this is the most cost effective for % of sales. But i would also recommend integrating paypal too, however, they take a high % commission of the overall transaction.

When it comes to using customised software for shopping carts and checkouts, our experience was that it was actually more cost effective for us to take an open source program and re-develop certain aspects of it for usability and security. This cost quite a bit, but it was still cheaper than licensing main stream commercial software.

podgeen

W!zard wrote: »

Thought I would drop a line into here.
Realex & other payment gateways work the same as they are 100% secure. Customer details would not be stored on your computer.
There are better options than Realex when starting up, as you can save more in the short term and switch later when you have a decent volume of sales.

I run webpayments.ie which is an Irish site that providers independent advice and information relating to online payments in Ireland.

As suggested above there are lots of options for accepting online payments but the first thing you need to figure out is if you can get an Internet Merchant Account. If you can get one then you will have more options. Here is a list of Payment Bureaus and Payment Service Providers who operate in the Irish Market.

There is a guide to setting up online payments also which explains the different between a payments bureau and an internet merchant account, discusses the various payment options, shopping cart integration and security issues.

There has been various posts here over the past few months relating to online payments so if you do a search you will find useful information in them also.

Thanks,
Dave

Dabko

podgeen wrote: »

I run webpayments.ie which is an Irish site that providers independent advice and information relating to online payments in Ireland.

Dave

Very good site for information, nice one. I may use this as a reference for my customers. I get a lot who have no notion of what online sales and payment processing entails. This would be a great place to send them.

Best of luck with it.

podgeen

Hi dabko,

Thank you for the positive feedback. Feel free to use the site as a reference for your customers. You may find the How do Online Payments work? animation useful as it gives a nice visual explanation of the steps involved in an online credit card authorisation.

Thanks,

Dave