One of my friends is annoying me with a question and I thought the good people of Hatrack would be able to answer my question.
My friend works for this lady who does embroidery designs and things like that and she's having to relocate and for a while she is going to be working out of her home. My friend is skilled with computers and she asked him to set up a website. He knows your basic web publishing and all that crazy jazz.
What he doesn't know is how to actually build a business online using an e-commerce system (paying online and that sort of thing) and is asking me how to do it.
I don't know how- but he asked to ask others- so I'm here at Hatrack. I also realize that I'm probably being ubelievably vague (but that's because I don't know anything more than what I told you guys).
So if you guys could tell me some good programs to use to learn, some good online walk-throughs on the process or anything at all- I'd be much obliged.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
I'd share, but since I own and operate my own business building and designing e-commerce websites for small businesses, it'd be...counterproductive for me to do so.
Because, you know, THAT makes a lot of sense.
In all seriousness, it really depends on what the customer wants. If they want something relatively complex (e.g. a database that tracks inventory and coordinates with a database contained on a local system), you're going to be talking about one thing. If they want something relatively simple - like, they just want people to be able to click an add to cart button to put products in a shopping cart and check out - you can go so far as to do it with a simple form submission, provided that you either make it clear that the form isn't submitting securely or process form submissions through a secure server.
Heck, you can even use PayPal. They have tools specifically for this sort of thing, provided you have a business account with them (easy to obtain). They'll even process payments for you.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Depending on what level of sophistication they desire, it can range from fairly easy to completely beyond his abilities.
The easiest way is to use PayPal. PayPal makes it possible to do some pretty decent shopping systems very easily; they and others have lots of documentation on this process. I highly recommend the O'Reilly book PayPal Hacks for this purpose (I own it myself). Its also possible to do some extremely complex shopping systems with PayPal.
You can do things without using PayPal, of course, but they're generally either a lot harder or amateur-looking. One example would be yahoo stores (very easy, but generally looks amateurish).
Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
Perhaps I'm overly simplistic, but why not have a web site about her company and her designs and what not and use eBay (they have "stores" also) to handle the ordering/payment (in conjunction with PayPal)? I would think that with eBay, she'd have considerably more traffic than with a conventional storefront.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
An eBay store is the wrong way to go about selling fixed-price goods.
Posted by Shawshank (Member # 8453) on :
eros and fugu- she wouldn't need anything that complicated (that is for tracking orders) just your basic click-and-buy.
Ludosti- most of her business is done by people wanting a special design made or something and then put onto clothes- like for special events and things, and I don't think eBay would really be able to help that too much.
But I don't know- I'm just showing my friend this thread and then he can decide what to do.
Posted by BlueWizard (Member # 9389) on :
Note that PayPay also has a Credit Card System that allows your customers to pay by credit card but only within the USA.
I have a friend who ran a VERY small business that sold plans for building your own methane generator, and he used PayPal Credit Cards, and it worked out nicely.
It does have some restrictions, but it's pretty much free. In case, you haven't checked into it, getting a full mechant account that lets you take credit card payment is relatively expensive. So, this aspect of PayPal is a pretty good alternative.
Of course, for members, PayPal will allow anyone to send money by email to anyone else in the world, and to do so much cheaper than any other method of money transfer.
Moving you money to and from your PayPal account and your local bank account is also very easy.
Also, note that EBAY now owns PayPal, so you have a reliable and stable company backing PayPal.
So, it seems that you have the basic programming skills available to you, and now you have two methods of on-line payment. That should get you up and running.
Steve/BlueWizard
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
quote:eros and fugu- she wouldn't need anything that complicated (that is for tracking orders) just your basic click-and-buy.
Paypal then. Definitely the easiest way to go. Through a simple form, you can create Buy-Now buttons for every product and your required HTML knowledge is very, very minimal. This way is easiest, and costs nothing on a monthly/yearly basis to use. Fees are standard Paypal receiving fees.
In conjunction with a third party shopping cart (e.g. www.asecurecart.net) & Paypal's API system, you have way more options, although it takes more effort and time to establish. Most third party carts have simple wizards to help you, though. Fees start at about $30 a month.
quote:Perhaps I'm overly simplistic, but why not have a web site about her company and her designs and what not and use eBay (they have "stores" also) to handle the ordering/payment (in conjunction with PayPal)? I would think that with eBay, she'd have considerably more traffic than with a conventional storefront.
eBay is quite possibly the worst way to sell fixed price goods, except maybe consignment. eBay's fees are ENORMOUS. They will cut your profit margins as much as 15-20%. Also, because it's a unified worldwide marketplace, the prices are so deflated tht your margins will be terrible to begin with if you want to stay competetive.
These days, trying to run a business through eBay is one of the most sure-fire ways to fail.
Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
I know that eBay is horrible in terms of fees, I was just thinking in terms of traffic.
But yeah, if she's doing custom order embroidery, it wouldn't work anyway.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Yeah, in that case I highly recommend PayPal hacks. Lots of the basics explained in great detail.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
quote:Yeah, in that case I highly recommend PayPal hacks. Lots of the basics explained in great detail.
Agreed. Especially for beginners, it's a great resource - one of the few "Hacks" books that's worth the money (unlike the Movable Type one...*grumble*).
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