Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Not sure if anyone follows the Web 2.0 arena, but if you are looking for a product that can help you get your small ecommerce business on the web, you may want to look at Shopify.com

I got their beta invitation about a week ago. I really haven`t had time to play with it and customize to the way that I want, but it`s very promising for those working on a budget and can`t afford a full blown ecommerce solution. It`s hosted on their servers and they use an Ebay like system whereby they take a small commision out of what you sell. So, they don`t make money unless you make money. Techcrunch did a post on them if you wish to learn more.

WOW!  Thanks for this great resource! 

~Kim

There are better Open Source Solutions out there. I would consider researching before I`d jump on something like that. Hosting on their servers means it`s not going to be as cheap as you think it would as if you where to buy hosting and use an open source shopping cart that is fully automated and can be upgraded. Can I ask you something? Does this Ecommerce solution give you all the tools you need or do you have to buy separate modules? for different things? If you have to buy separate modules, it can get expensive.
have you considered OSCOMMERCE? OS Commerce is Open Source with an unlimimited amount of "FREE" modules that you can install.

I offer this free to my customers when they host with me. Of course I charge a small fee for modifying the code and changing the face of the shopping cart.
You want a shopping cart that handles over 40 payment gateways?
real time UPS, USPS, and FedEX modules that calculate shipping rate in real time?
Need to print packaging slips? It will do it for you automatically
Need to see who is on your web site and which is the most purchased item on your cart? Here is your solution.

 

 

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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

OSCommerce, Miva, Zencart are still considered Web 1.0 solutions because they`re based on PHP and MySQL. 

For now, Web 2.0 is still a far-off vague idea.  The leading Web 2.0 technologies such as AJAX or the next step in XHTML/XML still need a lot of work.  It is good news that those technologies and languages are much more open than ASP although they`re not open source.  Keeping an eye on websites such as Sitepoint, FTPOnline, and Infoworld can help you stay ahead of the curve.  But the word for now is that it`s still effective to stick the more grounded solutions and languages.


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"Forget inspirational quotes to keep you going. If by doing what you do, you get an hour every day to relax, be with the ones you love in comfort without doing wrong, then it is all worth it." -Anon.

Edgar- Since you brought this up, how much are you charging for this? Just curious to know should I get any ecommerce inquiries.

dean

Hello H-dean,
Well since you asked I think I will let everyone here know what I charge $19.99. For the web hosting, that includes the shopping cart. FYI, the shopping cart comes Generic. SO....

You need CSS, PHP, and HTML experience to modify and re-arrange the shopping cart to your needs.
But for a small fee I can help you get your E-commerce shopping cart of the ground. 
I can totally customize the shopping cart to your needs, and likes. We can add Flash, drop down menus, and Just heavy customization. It all depends how fancy and creative you want to get with the shopping cart storefront.
Visit, RDB Electronics this was basic customization with CSS formatting.
and minor, php and HTML adjustments.


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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

oscommerce is free to download but can be time consuming setting up. It has to be te best e-commerce software available. The amount of features available from cross seling to  SEO is amazing.

The fact that it works only on MSql and php is good. It can run on a microsoft server (with plugins) but works best with Linux. Generally, hosting costs less with Linux operating system. It is also a solution that will grow with your company.

There are many companies offering this system. check out  www.oscommerce.com

 

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iain@4thecraic.com

Iaindc,
downloading and installing is fairly easy on a linux system. As far as being the best shopping cart software I agree with you. I`ve used MIVA, NTCart, cubestore, and various other`s but my customers` would complain alot about the features. After learning about OS Commerce about 4 years ago. It has been my shopping cart of choice that I offer on all my web hosting packages.
For $19.99 a month you get unlimited "Technical Support" on both web hosting and OSCOMMERCE. how bad can it be?
I have over 45 clients using it right now. some with very minimal modifications, others rearranged the whole look of the cart.

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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

I think shopify is great. I used it to launch our new service: logo4US
There were still some issues but the guys were very supportive and seem to be hard at work to improve the service.


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| Marko van der Puil | www.brains4all.com | Brains4All - Internet Consultants |

Marco- that`s great to hear. Did you edit the CSS design yourself because it doesn`t look like a template that Shopify offers. Feel free to rate me since you heard about it through me

I wish I had something to sell so that it gives me an excuse to play around with Shopify as well.