website e-commerce options

[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.

[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.

[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.

[xoggoth]

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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.