I want to put out a webstore. I will be selling backpacks, bags and any accesory that I can come up with. I do not have a physical store. I get my items from wholesale companies. I need to get a host that will help me do this. This will be online business only. Ofcourse unless this works the way I want and it becomes a physical retail store. Can anyone help?

well all you need is a good program to manange the shopping cart.. you could check some out at hotscripts.com [ free and paid ] .. you would need a merchants account [ authorize.net, revecom.com, cybercash.com ] ... other then that, you need a host ;)... wizardshosting is great, tera-byte is good too... a lot off ppl are happy with venturesonline.com...

hope this helps..

Well I get many orders physically at my home. I do not want to commit to a merchant account and gateway until I know that I will get enough orders to make up the monthly fee on those. Is there anywhere you can get a shopping cart where it encrypts the info to your email. Ofcourse also it needs to be secure.

Michelle

maybe a business plan would be a good idea, so you can see whether it's feasible?

you know what they say... it takes money to make money, and other such cliches...

Michele, you can find some free shopping carts at hotscripts... free doesnt mean bad :) check it out..

as for the merchant account.. you can signup with revecom... they just have a 50$ start up fee.. thats it...

Michelle,
There are some initial costs for merchant accounts but most of them dont cost any more than $30 a month

Yes that is true, but I heard of a comapny that has a free shopping cart, Its Advanced Internet Technologies, but I am weary. I hear things or rather read things. It seems to be a great deal if you can set up your items and sell with out the extra charge of the gateway and merchant account. I just want the orders to come in. I have a physical merchant account at home that I can use. The business plan is on the table. It will be great to save where ever you can right???

Michelle

i would be wary of ***.. they have been spamming this board of and on... they have broken every rule possible..

another site you could check out is, freemerchants.com

SPAM??? tsk tsk tsk. I will check out your suggestions. Add them to my list. I hope you undertand I am going to look up all the suggestions. *** looks like a great company. But this is my business I am trying to get going and I need to check every corner. As they say, dot every I slash every T

Or you can go buy the Online Merchant Software and use any Unix/Linux based host.

You can find it at http://www.onlinemerchant.com

It's a great piece of software for people who can't create a complex shopping cart system themselves, or who can't afford someone to do it. And the only requirements to host the store are Perl 5 or greater, ability to run cgi scripts and that's it.

I published the sample store that comes with the software in minutes. You can see it http://olm.webfors.com

[Edited by tabernack on 04-04-2001 at 01:30 PM]

I saw it, But I can't see it in action. There are no items. Maybe I am too picky? I want a working shopping cart. Well I will keep looking. You guys are great feedback though.

Michelle
"In search of shopping cart"

Michelle,
What do you mean "I have a physical merchant account at home that I can use"

You mean a card swiper?

Try instabill.com , free to start up with.

yes ee-o a card swiper. The Idea was to receive the orders from the shopping cart and the manually process them.

Michelle