internet store advice

[9dreizig]

Putting together an internet store,, might have a few thousand line items..
Anybody have advice on what software package to use to build the webpage??

[Zeke]

Just went through this and I can tell you there are a few million people way ahead of you and I. There are a dozen or so all-in-one site builders and hosts. I chose 3DCart on a recommendation here and it's OK. Not live yet.

I also talked on the phone with member Cstreit. He knows this stuff well, but I'm not ready for his advice. And that's the main point I'd like to make. If you're not ready for professional help, you're just going to be a hobby seller like me.

There is a LOT to Internet selling. Trust me on that. It's way bigger and more complicated than you can imagine. If you don't find that you ultimately agree, I think you're a fool.

I know I am.

See Shaun84targa's thread on the subject.

[id10t]

15 Best Free Open Source Ecommerce Platforms | Web Resources | WebAppers

various google searching will turn up lots of reviews, best-of lists, etc.

I'd recommend start by building a linux machine in virtual box, setting up the LAMP stack, and trying a few of them to see what meets your needs. Focus on the tasks that you will have to do lots of - it may be a pain to set up an initial template, but you only do that once in a while. Managing your items, associated photos, processing orders, processing payments, etc. go on daily. Narrow it down to 2 or 3, then see what kind of user and developer communities each has. Then pick one, get a linode.com server, and set it all up for real.

In reality, I'd fire up a text editor and start coding.

But that is just the back end - what about what customers see?

For the actual web design - colors, fonts, etc. - I'd get a (semi)pro to set you up a template/css file/etc. Check the graphic design program at a local community college, etc.

[9dreizig]

Milt,
Yes there are a ton of people selling on the internet,, but I'm confident that we have a unique offering in my profession so not like we'll be in the mainstream..
Plans are to use something tried and true,, a canned package,, I know a few people as least as dumb as me who are doing it so I"m sure there's a package out there that will fit the bill.
Totally plan on hiring a pro for the website portion of it.

[motion]

I recommended 3DCart to Milt. Very happy with it. I'm a total dunce and was up and running in no time: Welcome to HotMotoStore - Motorcycle Accessories for Race and Street

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by 9dreizig

Milt,
Yes there are a ton of people selling on the internet,, but I'm confident that we have a unique offering in my profession so not like we'll be in the mainstream..
Plans are to use something tried and true,, a canned package,, I know a few people as least as dumb as me who are doing it so I"m sure there's a package out there that will fit the bill.
Totally plan on hiring a pro for the website portion of it.

That was not Milt's point.

FWIW, there are a lot of people who drive cars and have kids, does not mean they are any good at driving or parenting.

[cstreit]

Completely managed services (like 3DCart) are not a bad way to go if you are testing the waters. You lose a lot of flexibility but for a first-timer it's good to test the waters first.

DIY can be a sharp and time consuming learning curve.

If yo udecide to start your own, go with one of the basic ones like Virtuemart, oscommerce, or zen-cart. Magento looks great but we only recommend it to our Tier 1 customers as setup is very involved and time consuming.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by id10t

15 Best Free Open Source Ecommerce Platforms | Web Resources | WebAppers

various google searching will turn up lots of reviews, best-of lists, etc.

I'd recommend start by building a linux machine in virtual box, setting up the LAMP stack, and trying a few of them to see what meets your needs. Focus on the tasks that you will have to do lots of - it may be a pain to set up an initial template, but you only do that once in a while. Managing your items, associated photos, processing orders, processing payments, etc. go on daily. Narrow it down to 2 or 3, then see what kind of user and developer communities each has. Then pick one, get a linode.com server, and set it all up for real.

In reality, I'd fire up a text editor and start coding.

But that is just the back end - what about what customers see?

For the actual web design - colors, fonts, etc. - I'd get a (semi)pro to set you up a template/css file/etc. Check the graphic design program at a local community college, etc.

Once again, a foreign language to us neophytes. But I can see where hooking up with one of your types will get some of the job done.

The thing is, you have to have a target market and a way to reach them. Fancy graphics to me are only cake icing. For almost any product line, be it small or large, if it don't sell on eBay, it don't sell beyond the hobby seller level.

Once you grow your recognition, you can go on your own. That's all I know at this point. Try it. With a couple billion sites and all the SEO promises, you might do better piggybacking on Facebook, eBay, etc, before trying to be a Pelican Parts.

BTW, they used eBay a lot, IIRC, to drive traffic to the home site. If Wayne wrote a book on this subject, it would be a chapter in the Internet bible.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by id10t

15 Best Free Open Source Ecommerce Platforms | Web Resources | WebAppers

various google searching will turn up lots of reviews, best-of lists, etc.

I'd recommend start by building a linux machine in virtual box, setting up the LAMP stack, and trying a few of them to see what meets your needs. Focus on the tasks that you will have to do lots of - it may be a pain to set up an initial template, but you only do that once in a while. Managing your items, associated photos, processing orders, processing payments, etc. go on daily. Narrow it down to 2 or 3, then see what kind of user and developer communities each has. Then pick one, get a linode.com server, and set it all up for real.

In reality, I'd fire up a text editor and start coding.

But that is just the back end - what about what customers see?

For the actual web design - colors, fonts, etc. - I'd get a (semi)pro to set you up a template/css file/etc. Check the graphic design program at a local community college, etc.

You've gone way beyond the basic skill set of the target audience for turn key /boxed/hosted solutions.

Originally Posted by Zeke

Once again, a foreign language to us neophytes. But I can see where hooking up with one of your types will get some of the job done.

The thing is, you have to have a target market and a way to reach them. Fancy graphics to me are only cake icing. For almost any product line, be it small or large, if it don't sell on eBay, it don't sell beyond the hobby seller level.

Pretty spot on, I always advocate high end design/interface/aesthetics as it conveys a sense of confidence that a shopper is conducting business with a "real" company.

But depending on the product aesthetic may meen nothing.

I did a bunch of stuff a few years back for P&G, set up ecomm for their Dryel, Downy, Febreeze lines and some other minor products.

Every now and then they would call me about a product return. They had a record of shipping to the customer but could not find the order in the system to issue a refund.

I could never find them either and drove myself nuts trying to find the bug in the system.

One day the marketing guy calls me looking for a specific report.

So I run it for him and while sorting it to cull what he wanted I see a whole **** ton of orders from the same buyer email address but different ship to addresses.

That's odd, so I grab the url from the buer email and visit the site.

It's pretty much nothing more than a text listing of hundreds of products. Looks like it was done in Word.

It quickly becomes obvious the individual behind it finds products with fixed shipping prices that lets him price and advertise "his" products a couple of bucks higher but with free shipping.

So a $10 item with $3 fixed shipping he would advertise and sell for $14-15 with free shipping.

Consumers would order from him and he would order from us but enter the ship to as the original customer and pocket the diff without ever having to stock inventory.

It was frikken genius. He represented 2-3% of sales so it was actually more profitable for P&G to let him keep doing it and eat the occasional return.

And his site looked like a55.