help on making a store/shop site

[Sai]

hi, i've never done an online store site before. but me and my friends is thinking about making an online store site... ofcourse there will be no illegal stuff! we're planning to sell some used and new stuff. from CDs, Games, Movies, DVDs, and books. NO BOOTLEG materials!

so how do i go about making something like that? i mean i'm good at making web templates, layouts, and graphics design. but i have no idea how to start an online store site...is there anything or software or whatever that can manage the content/item automatically for me?

that faster you guys help me out the faster bluehost will get some money, cause i need to buy and whole new domain and stuff for this.

thank you in advance!

[adorabledelusion]

you could use the free shopping carts in fantastico like zen or oscommerce. i personally would recommend CubeCart, it's very easy to customize especially if you have good design skills and they have a lot of free mods and super cheap mods if you need more add ons. Their basic cart should get you through just fine. you have many shipping options in all of them and you can have unlimited products and categories.

I personally think oscommerce and zencart are a pain in the butt to customize, way too many files to dig through and the support can be lacking at times if you need help - if you start working with those and then try cubecart the sky will start twinkling and you will weep with joy at how few files you have to tinker with to personalize your store.

All these stores, once installed, are administered through a web interface so it's easy to upload your products and keep track of your customers.

As for payments you could always do the paypal thing but if you want a more professional feel, you could check out PayQuake for really reasonable rates on authorize.net accounts.

You can use shared SSL to secure your store (i think Bluehost has that, dont they) but SSLs are so cheap these days and you can get one directly from Bluehost.

And I think Bluehost is still offering the $50 yahoo advertising credit to get you started on exposure but dont hold me to that one, i dont know the current status of that offer.

to make that long story short... host, domain, cart, payment system, SSL, then you are good to go

[vegasgwm]

I personally think oscommerce and zencart are a pain in the butt to customize, way too many files to dig through and the support can be lacking at times if you need help - if you start working with those and then try cubecart the sky will start twinkling and you will weep with joy at how few files you have to tinker with to personalize your store.

I totally agree, i too used cubecart for 2 of my clients.
There are similar previous posts, do a search on shopping, store, cubecart or oscommerce.

[datalova]

HI,
have never added a shopping system. Anybody ever use Shopping Cart Guru? I only see mostly Zen cart talked about here.
Thanks for your help.
pam

[charlesgan]

i setup oscommerce before. and this guide that i found just now is good to start with: http://www.webhostplus.com/help/oscommerce/first_steps_for_oscommerce_setup.htm