Setting up a business online

[e_dawg]

As the computer guy amongst my group of friends, I often get asked questions on what computer / laptop / peripheral to buy, what ISP to go with, upgrading and troubleshooting questions, you know what I mean... But one question that has stumped me is how to set up a business online.

I mean, I know how to establish an online presence -- building a website, registering a domain, getting a DNS administrator and host, META tags, search engine submissions, etc. What I don't know is the whole electronic commerce aspect of it. Forget about having everything tied into your inventory and order management system and being able to integrate electronically with your suppliers and customers. It would be nice to know how to set up a site to be able to accept credit card payments online. All I know is PayPal (which does allow one to accept CC payment)... but there must be a better way (it makes your business look like a eBay auctioneer, which is often not the goal of establishing your own business online... otherwise, why not just sell your products on eBay, right?).

Would it be advisable just to use one of those companies that host your site provide shopping cart software, and can process credit card payments for you? Perhaps most reputable might be something like Yahoo Shopping or a merchant in amazon.com's marketplace. This is the first solution that comes to mind. But then again, there's a bit of that small-time eBay side business stigma associated with those stores, no?

Anybody have any tips on hosts, "prefab stores" / marketplaces, credit card payment/verification services, etc.? This is far from my area of expertise. I haven't even sold anything on eBay.

 

[ddrueding]

I've had good luck in the past with verisign.

You have the shopping cart on your page (so you can tie it in with inventory management), and redirect with parameters to their page when it comes time to process the transaction. After the transaction is complete, they redirect back to you with parameters indicating success or failure. You even have some nice controls about the look and feel of your page on their server.

 

[Howell]

My web-hosting provider gives me the option of installing three different e-commerce packages:

osCommerce
phpCOIN
phpShop

 

[Handruin]

In addition to shopping cart systems, you will might want an online payment processing service such as www.2checkout.com, www.worldpay.com, www.Authorize.net to handle your credit card transactions. They all charge a processing fee, but I'd look into it anyways because there are some benifits for the cost.

Then as an example, osCommerce has plugins to interact with different payment processing companies.

 

[timwhit]

You could open a merchant account with a local bank and then tie this in with a shopping cart system on your website, this way you wouldn't be using any third party site to sell your goods. I think this way is the most professional looking way to sell goods online.

 

[Buck]

You can also use PayPal, the buyer doesn't need a PayPal account to use the service, credit cards are nicely accepted. Just open a business account with PayPal.

 

[i]

Avoid WorldPay like syphilis.

I've had a few dealings with them as a customer of sites that have used them. Their website setup ... honestly, a group of hyperactive 12 year olds could put together something less buggy and more secure.