best way to have online shop

[want2findout]

I already pay for web hosting with 1&1 and currently have only a holding page which I designed myself using coffeecup. However we're now looking to sell our designs online. It's only a small business so we're not talking big department store standard, more small boutique. What would be the best package to use. Will need shopping cart? what's the deal with worldpay? how would you go about setting this up? or would you recommend another method?

Any advice much appreciated.

[WoWo]

It's all a major pain in the arse. From what I remember even with Worldpay you need a merchant account to be able to take credit card transactions.

Personally I'd just get yourself on ebay as the hassle and expense is just too large for you to make any money out of it.

I know that might sound a bit negative, but can do you remember the company a few years ago which was set up to sell clothes on the internet backed by a multi million pound advertising budget? No neither can I, successfull internet retailers are few and far between, try and think off the top of your head or 10 really successfull online shops..

By all means set up a website to promote your business but I'm telling you now retail on the internet, especially clothing is a mugs game, you will thank me in the long run ;)

[plowter]

WoWo is absolutely right. Be realistic about the size of your business. How many designs do you expect to sell each month/ What would be the avearge size of order?

If you're selling small numbers to individuals, as opposed to selling hundreds of each design to traders set up an eBay shop. You can still have a funky graphic website to showcase your designs and outlook. When the visitor is ready to buy there's a link to your shop.

When you're ready to have a full-blown ecommerce website you could try your local enterprise agency for advice.

Good luck.

[Twenty20]

If youre looking for a professional looking shop online, personally I wouldnt use eBay. You can set up a simple shop yourself and even the cart and payments.

If you can build a web site yourself then you can add the cart and payments too. Have a look at www.romancart.com, the basic package is free and you can accept payment through PayPal or credit and debit cards. The romancart side of it will deal with the cart etc and even keep track of your stock as people make orders.

Hope this helps.

[want2findout]

Thanks for your answers. You're right. It's so expensive and not worth it for a small business. I do however agree with Twenty20 and feel that ebay is not for me. What I have done is gone and bought a website in a box! www.mrsite.co.uk which includes shopping cart etc. and is dead easy to use! Payment is through paypal although I can also give people the option of sending cheque should they wish.

Thanks again!

[webhostingUK]

We offer you free shopping cart with our hosting packages (www.webhosting.uk.com) along with 24x7 live support.
You can also have secure transaction by getting a secure SSL certificate so that all the transaction would be safe.

Following are shopping cart which comes free with Fantastico : OS Commerce, E-Commerce, CubeCart, Zen Cart etc.