Reply to: website e-commerce options

[bluefire]

ecommerce options

5k might be a lot but it depends on the level of design and functionality in the site. If you wanted an amazing looking CMS with a great user interface and highly flexible back end then 5k would be a good deal. However you would probably also need to back it up with a strong online marketing campaign to drive traffic to the site and finally, most importantly, you need strong products at decent prices which will sell with a reasonable profit margin so that all those visits are converted into revenue.

I'd be interested to know what platform the site is being built on so that we can check out what the add on e-commerce options are for it. If it's their own proprietary CMS then only they would know the cost of adding on e-commerce.

[Durbs]

Does it really cost £5k and upwards to implement something that takes credit\debit cards, etc?

For a medium sized store it'd cost from that upwards.

But for what you describe, no, nowhere near that. I normally charge around 1.5-2K for a simple small store which includes production of a few different graphical themes for them to choose from, application of the chosen theme, setup of payment system, population of x No of products & categories, basically everything needed to start selling immediately.

[eek]

Zen Cart, AFAIK, has one of the best, if not the best support and has a very active community.

Hmm I wasn't criticising anything just reminding people of something to check for.

[Fred Bloggs]

Agreed but on the other hand surely someone else will have already caught the major security screwups if the script is popular.

Its probably best to check that it is still maintained and that you can easily apply updates quickly.

Zen Cart, AFAIK, has one of the best, if not the best support and has a very active community.

[xoggoth]

Surprised fashhosts don't have a cart option, many major hosters have.

[Spoiler]

Right - thanks first off, lots of useful answers.

Second thing - what's a reasonable way for getting something like this implemented? I've just found out about this, and think her business is pretty far down the line of getting a redesigned website done with the current lot. So I would guess they'll finish off getting the new site up & running. But if the web company are then going to be expensive for implementing the e-commerce side, she'll need to find someone else who will do it - any suggestions in how to find a resource to do this (go to hire-a-bob.com?!)

I believe their current site is hosted with fasthosts, so reasonable to assume they may also host the new site.

[eek]

I have used Zen Cart a couple of times very successfully but I always have a slight nagging suspicion about free scripts for handling commerce really.

Agreed but on the other hand surely someone else will have already caught the major security screwups if the script is popular.

Its probably best to check that it is still maintained and that you can easily apply updates quickly.

[Fred Bloggs]

I have used Zen Cart a couple of times very successfully but I always have a slight nagging suspicion about free scripts for handling commerce really.

[Cliphead]

Best free shop software I've come across Prestashop.

[xoggoth]

Well, they were owned by RBS.

[eek]

That's pretty much a Paypal/Ebay thing.

Not quite. Its well and truly hidden somewhere in the regulations but basically.

Deliver goods with signature.
Chargeback
Pay minimum £20 bank fee and battle customer's bank to get the money back.

Granted its probably not a big issue with local purchases and firms used to vetting orders but it can be an issue if the company does not already have fraud prevention routines on all purchases. With paypal and third party delivery you can accept, process order and forget, without it you do need to be more careful.

You then have the issues of PCI compliance and all the other issues of dealing with online transactions that offline transactions don't have.

Finally and I know its a personal gripe and as I don't have any clients using Worldpay I have no evidence but the last two times I saw a worldpay purchase form I left the site before completing the purchase. Nothing screams amateur more than Worldpay's 1999 era purchase form.

[TestMangler]

Don't agree with those points. Integration of Worlpay with a shopping cart via the basic method they provide is very simple, populate a few variables with name, address, order description etc and do a post to their site. They do all the secure card stuff. Doing the feedback is harder but there are messy freeware scripts that work. Worlpay also have a pay by paypal option.

proof of delivery via a third party??? News to me.

That's pretty much a Paypal/Ebay thing.

[xoggoth]

For the second issue paypal provide a purchase path for non members where they can enter their details for a one off purchase. Credit cards online are a world of pain unless you plan to earn your total living on that website let Paypal do the heavy lifting.

Also remember that you will need proof of delivery via a third party if you are taking credit card payments

Don't agree with those points. Integration of Worlpay with a shopping cart via the basic method they provide is very simple, populate a few variables with name, address, order description etc and do a post to their site. They do all the secure card stuff. Doing the feedback is harder but there are messy freeware scripts that work. Worlpay also have a pay by paypal option.

proof of delivery via a third party??? News to me.

[TestMangler]

Agreed you need to separate things into two parts:-

1) your website / shop
2) the purchase path.

For the first any of the packages listed above are fine although not exactly the greatest design. I'm sure wordpress has plugins that perform the same task.

For the second issue paypal provide a purchase path for non members where they can enter their details for a one off purchase. Credit cards online are a world of pain unless you plan to earn your total living on that website let Paypal do the heavy lifting.

Also remember that you will need proof of delivery via a third party if you are taking credit card payments. The scare stories you read about paypal chargebacks are usually because paypal are following credit card regulations and terms and conditions.

Never been a great fan of the Wordpress route, I prefer Cubecart, which you can easily change the look and feel of as it's template based.

Most cart systems integrate with Paypal easily (just by entering your Paypal email address) and it's a lot better than using individual product buttons. They are fine if you only have a couple of products.

I used to use a merchant account direct from Lloyds (who i had a business bank account with anyway) and Paypal (customers choice) and the direct cards were by far the more popular payment method. Paypal actually apply much stricter rules and are more difficult to deal with than bank merchant providers when it comes to disputes and chargebacks. paypal will work in favour of the buyer immediately and make it difficult for you to deal with them (i.e. speak to a person that can do something).

If you want to PM me the address of the site, i'll take a look and suggest some cart software. depends on how many products, how you describe them (e.g. multiple photos per product, downloadable product data sheets etc etc) and what features your hosting has (PHP Versions, databases etc).

[eek]

The paypal button thing is pretty crap and cheap looking TBH.

There are plenty of free and budget solutions available. Cubecart, OS Commerce (a bit heavy), Magento etc etc. The list goes on.

A fully integrated cart system is easier and much better to work with than paypal buttons attached to each product.

Have a look at php.resourceindex.com and look in the 'Shopping Cart' section.

Oh, and PS- In answer to your final question, No, nothing like it. Your web designer is greasing you up for penetration.

Agreed you need to separate things into two parts:-

1) your website / shop
2) the purchase path.

For the first any of the packages listed above are fine although not exactly the greatest design. I'm sure wordpress has plugins that perform the same task.

For the second issue paypal provide a purchase path for non members where they can enter their details for a one off purchase. Credit cards online are a world of pain unless you plan to earn your total living on that website let Paypal do the heavy lifting.

Also remember that you will need proof of delivery via a third party if you are taking credit card payments. The scare stories you read about paypal chargebacks are usually because paypal are following credit card regulations and terms and conditions.