Ok i have been looking into getting a business started for about a week now. I have read some of the post and a lot of people seem pretty knowledgeable about start a business.

I guess my question is ow do I get started and if you could lead me to some helpfully internet sites on how to get started that also would be a great help. I have been reading about CO2 and I have no clue what they actually do besides process CC and checks.

Please help me out I would really appreciate it.

What kind of business? Are you going to be sellng products / services? Are you in the US or outside?

I was thinking about a after market car part business i iwll be selling products I am in NY, USA

If you are thinking you might be selling over $1,000 a month, it might be a lot better for you to get a merchant account instead of a third party processor.

Do you have the products? If so, then you need a domain name - check out www.godaddy.com. You then need a web hosting company. And I like www.spidersales.com as a shopping cart. They will help you as much possible implementing it. It is ASP, so it needs to be on a Windows box.

Once you get the site up, apply for an account. You are usually approved to accept Visa/MasterCard in less than 24 hours. Discover / AmEx usually takes a little longer.

Hi Cretin,

Before you actually get into the web stuff - there are a few steps I would complete.

You mentioned youve been looking into this for about a week. Id recommend spending at least another week or 2 researching (you may have already done this, but Im just covering some bases for you).

You seem to have selected your product..

So ...
- do your market research and identify your target audience
- develop your marketing stratgey (even if this is just flyers or more complex like tv ads, etc...)
- make sure you have your suppliers secured
-make sure you have sales and business "dynamics" outlined and understood (your actual costs, processes, margins, etc...)

Then, if you choose to use the internet as a marketing channel and route to market (which is probably wise) - take a look around for a provider youre comfortable with that can provide you an end to end solution. I cant stress this part enough, as dealing with multiple vendors will just make your life more complicated.

Best of luck with your business....

Originally posted by Gargoyle
that can provide you an end to end solution.




what does that mean end to end solution?

thanks for all the help i have been given :) :D

Hi Cretin -

I would refer to an end to end provider as a vendor that can handle everything required to get your business online with the functionality you require.

So - Site &/or eCommerce Site design/setup, hosting, merchant services, etc...

We are one such provider as we feel its VERY important to provide a 1 stop shopping solution to our customers - However, there are many such providers available and Id recommend you take a look at several and find out which is the best fit for you and your particular requirements.

Hope this helps...

Hey coreybryant

i dont quite understand what www.spidersales.com does for me. Its a shopping cart that can do Credit Card transfers and information about billing right? DO you use that and how does it work for you? Would u recommend anything other shopping cart?



^^^Thanks

It is an ASP shopping cart. We have used that for a few clients - been extremely happy with them & their services. The cart will work with LinkPoint, Authorizenet.com and a few other payment gateways. These gateways are determined by your CC processor.

Another ASP cart is www.vpasp.com as well.

If you are more of a PHP / Unix person, I would suggest osCommerce & you might look at http://oscommerce.snappyserver.com/ for their hosting of osCommerce.