[newmember]

First off, I know very little html (like how to bold words ). Is it easy and time friendly to build your own website and have some hosting site host it? How do you make sure you comply with PCI?

What do think about Ecrater, Ebay, or Volusion? Ecrater is really cool because it free, but I don't know believe you can set up merchant credit cards with it. With Ebay, you pretty much have to accpet Paypal, and I don't trust Paypal... too many horror stories about them frozening accounts for no reason... It seems like thousands are on the net.

What do you guys think of Volusion? It is kind of expensive, but looks like it is easy for someone who never ran a ecommerce site.

[gofrugal]

Best is to have your own website.

[newmember]

Originally Posted by gofrugal

Best is to have your own website.

But how, and who/what software should I use? Who would you recommend for my shipping chart, and how what do I need to know about PCI requirements?

[newmember]

Originally Posted by gofrugal

Best is to have your own website.

How much time is required to build your own site (with help from oscommerence or one of them places)? I know I can build a good storefront in about 2 min with Ecrater, but I would have a sub-domain name and could only accept Paypal, Google Checkout, checks, and money orders. It is completly free, no fees at all.

Please help

[gofrugal]

Getting it done from a professional programmer is much better than using a proprietary software.You can get it done very cheaply from guru.com or craigslist. It is not very difficult to set up your own merchant account to accept credit cards. I have with BestMerchantRate(chase), so far they are ok. Paypal also is not too bad as long as you send to confirmed addresses. Its is very difficult to meet all of PCI requirement, just too expensive but you can do some of it , like using encryption to store user information and credit card information. If you use the hosted cart by these merchants then you don't have to worry about that too.

[newmember]

[quote=gofrugal;174261]Getting it done from a professional programmer is much better than using a proprietary software.You can get it done very cheaply from guru.com or craigslist. [quote]

I would rather not go through one of them, how much do professional programmers cost to make a website and how did you make your website?

[gofrugal]

I made it myself , I am java developer. It took 3 months for me and my wife to put together.

[rogercbryan]

[quote=newmember;174278]

Originally Posted by gofrugal

Getting it done from a professional programmer is much better than using a proprietary software.You can get it done very cheaply from guru.com or craigslist.QUOTE]

I would rather not go through one of them, how much do professional programmers cost to make a website and how did you make your website?

Do you just want a store front or do you want an auction site. You can buy simple sites for under $100. I would do this and learn how it works before you start paying a programmer. You can get a site made for $500 but you can also easily spend $10,000. You need to have a clear view of what you want before you get started.

[newmember]

[quote=rogercbryan;174298]

Originally Posted by newmember

Do you just want a store front or do you want an auction site. You can buy simple sites for under $100. I would do this and learn how it works before you start paying a programmer. You can get a site made for $500 but you can also easily spend $10,000. You need to have a clear view of what you want before you get started.

I really haven't decided what I want to sell yet. I just want a storefront, a simple, professional site. I can't spend 3 month making a site, since I have very little programing skills...

Is Shopping Cart Software by Volusion Ecommerce Solutions a good place to get a storefront hosted and so on?

[pboychuk]

buy a premade template from a site like monstertemplates.com they are inexpensive and allow you to have complete control.

[pboychuk]

also diversify, sell on ebay and a website let them drive traffic to each other