Site Requirements
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I'd like to build an ecommerce site to sell custom made dress shirts. I was planning on using oscommerce (any better ones out there?). I would need to have a section of the site where I can accept the customers measurements (see example sites). For ease of use, I was planning on using paypal to accept credit cards. I have a brick and mortar store, so if that makes a difference for the payment options, please let me know. Please tell me what I would need as far as SSL (I was considering Thawte, or perhaps Geotrust). is cpanel the best? are the other control panels ok? I'd also like to have a forum (maybe phpbb?), and newsletter (phplist?).

Example sites
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I'd like to build something like shirtcreations(dot)com and/or myshirtmaker(dot)com.

Hosts I'm looking at
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based on the requirements above, which host would you recommend, and why?

site5
bluehost
lunarpages (I like the tutorials they offer)
liquidweb
(other?)



I appreciate your help on this topic. Oh, if you're a hosting company, please don't pm me an offer. Just post it on here so I can see what everyone else thinks about your offer. Thanks.

look at the other namesake thread...

Hosting companies cannot advertise or post offers on WHT.

Good luck finding a new home.

Just post it on here so I can see what everyone else thinks about your offer. Thanks.
You may also want to checkout the offers section of WHT.

Most hosts use Cpanel, although Site5 has a customized version they call "NetAdmin" (doesn't look like Cpanel at all). It is a matter of taste what you prefer, but I believe the ones you list do use that.

If you *only* use PayPal, you won't need SSL.

Good Luck!

When you say *only use paypal, is that a bad thing? Correct me if I'm wrong, but using paypal, I can accept credit cards and money through paypal. Right? What else would I need?

But to pay with paypal user have to register with them and sometime people dont bother to sign with them.

I think now money can be paid even without registering with them, if that is the case then i think would be good for paypal and users aswell.

Thanks.

If you *only* use PayPal, you won't need SSL.

Not neccessarily, there's also PayPal Pro which acts like a regular merchant :)

I think that's how it is now. Users aren't required to sign up with paypal. If that's the case, then do you see anything wrong with that? I mean, would I need anything else? I think it's a great solution if that's the case, credit cards and paypal, no ssl.