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making a web-site. help needed!!!

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wilkesneil | 22:28 Sat 19th Dec 2009 | Technology
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hi, can anyone give me info on what equipment and software i would need to set up a site very similar to ebay where people log in etc... I have laptops / computers / 48 port d-link server. what else would i need and how would you go about setting up your own website, and what security would also be needed.
Any info would be grateful. I aren't technophobic but this sort of set up would leave me in an alien world.
Please can anyone advise or help...
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Have you looked at office live - we have one with them and it works really well (takes some time to do it though!)
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no i have never heard of office live, i will need a fair size database. don't even know what software there is as i have had an idea and its in a field i have never tried anything in. I'm an engineer in steel trade so i need lots of advice and may need to pay for help if i go ahead
My husband set it up and he is not a computer nerd or anything so it can't be that hard - we take payments through paypal and now through our merchant server - what are you going to be selling? We sell expensive stuff so we don't do a big volume - might make a difference if you sell lower priced things and have a lot of traffic. (The site is free for 2 years and then really cheap after that.)
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to be fair i always sell on ebay but they keep changing the rules and when you have a question that needs to be thought about you never get a response. All there rules are changing and they just want to get money off you now for everything, i was gonna have a go at competing against these corporate bullies with an auction site that appealed better than ebay for sellers and trade sellers. I just want to make a site and see if i can attempt it really. Do you need permission off paypal to allow payment through paypal
Think paypal are just happy to take money off anyone they can - not sure if they are owned by e bay but (don't want to be rude) they probably wont view you as any competition. How will you be competitive against such a big organisation though? You will have to advertise and that's going to cost you.
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really i just wanna get the site up n running first, i dont mind advertising, i will even go as far as advertising in papers as a uk ebay, hoping people will try it out and then maybe switch. I have ideas on lots of stuff i need to look into first but i think ebay are so big as there is only 1 of them, i dont actually know of any other on-line auction site that isn't wholesale.
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so if i use office live, i can set my own web-shop up to sell my items?
how do i link it to paypal for payments?
I think you are well out of your depth and what you are asking is beyond what can realistically be covered on answerbank.

You need to contact a web development company, you are obviously looking at doing this as a commercial venture so you can expect to have to pay to get it setup.
>I think you are well out of your depth and what you are asking is beyond what can realistically be covered on answerbank.

I agree.

If you are setting up a web site that needs a fair size database you you will probably need a lot of web/database skills, or need to get a professional web design company to do it.

Setting up a simple web site is fairly easy (although web design itself is quite an art, at least to design a decent web site), but once you get into people logging on, and working with databases, you are in a whole new league.

You have all sorts of security things to consider (there are professional hackers who spend all their time trying to break into web sites and steal userids and passwords and I have known this happen on a few sites).

As well as secuity you also have to consider performance of the web site, a help desk for people who lose userids and passwords, also a help desk to deal with financial issues to do with the site, and you also need to make sure your site can be found with Google etc.

If you REALLY want to get into this then start by setting up a SIMPLE web site, and desigining it to make it look good. Spend a few months doing this to improve your web design skills THEN think about making it more complex with logons and databases.

Professional web design is NOT a simple process (particularly with what you are trying to do) so dont think it is something you can do with no skills in your spare time.
> i was gonna have a go at competing against these corporate bullies

Have you an idea how many people work for ebay?

Nor have I, but I bet it is in the thousands around the world.

How do you expect to "take them on" with a web site designed by just yourself, who by their own addmission has no web design skills.

I would guess to set up a web site capable of taking on ebay would cost about £200,000, and even then you have no proof it is going to make money

I have known of at least two other ebay type sites that set up and went bust, QXL was one of them

http://www.guardian.c...arewellthenqxlitsbeen
I have been fairly negative in my two replies above so here is a more positive one to help you on your way

1) First you need to buy a DOMAIN NAME. This is the name of your web site (www.myauction.com or whatever). This will only cost you a few pounds a year. You order one via any ISPs web site, say 1&1 (but there are others).

This is where you do it on the 1&1 web site.
http://tinyurl.com/yfo929m

2) Then you need to find someone to HOST your site. You can use any ISP, such as 1&1 (again there are others). You do it here:
http://tinyurl.com/ylewpun

The cost can vary depending what type of hosting you want.

Buying a domain AND getting them to host it can be done totally via the companies web site and there is no need to email anyone or phone anyone up.

I created a web site and did it all via the one companies web site. It is very easy to do.

continued....
continued.....

Once you have done numbers 1 and 2 above then you need:

3) Buy some web design software. Most professionals use Adobe Dreamweaver.

Then learn how to use it (it is large and very complex and may take a while)

4) Buy some graphic design software, such as Photoshop to design and create the images for your web site.

Again, it is large and complex so may take a while to learn

5) Then spend time LEARNING how to use Dreamweaver and Photoshop. LEARN, LEARN, LEARN

6) If you want have your data in a database you will need to learn MySQL, or whatever relational database you want to use. This in itself is a major undertaking.

7) Once you have designed your web site on YOUR computer (and if you want it to use MySQL you need a copy of MySQL on YOUR computer), and tested it on ALL the browsers available at ALL the different screen resolutions, you then upload it to the computer of the company who are HOSTING it for you.

And that is about all you need to do.

Of course you will need to keep updating your web site to correct problems, and advertise it, and check the performance, and try and make money etc etc

So as you can see, fairly easy !

Good luck.
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