ecommerce solution for start-up - can you help?

[trixie]

Hello,

I have a b2c start-up business and am looking for a low cost ecommerce platform. I have looked into Venda SBS which seems to cover most basic requirements - and looking at cost it is definitely very attractive. Does anybody know if there is another solution out there which is worth considering?
Thank you for your comments!

Best regards,
Trixie

[TotalWebSolutions]

Hi Trixie,

I have just sent you a PM as I may be able to help.

Kind regards

Simon

[alanc]

Trixie,

Your choice of shopping cart software is a very important decision, as it will be with you for years to come. I suggest you look around at a good number or alternatives. Trawl this section of the forum and see names that have been suggested in the past. Google "shopping cart software".

£49.99 per month does not seem low-cost when there doesn't appear to be any end date.

Most software packages are a single cost in £100's, not £1,1000's. Support may be an on-going cost. Domain registration and hosting can be fairly cheap if you shop around.

Alan

[Place of design]

Cost is very relative

£1000 for a e-commerce site is cheap if you compare the site to what tesco's have for example. £10000 for a website might sound expensive, if your store sells one or two products - but may be cheap if you are looking for total integration with multi-site warehousing, accounts and differential vews of the stock data from user to user

In other words. you need to clearly define the task. Plan for the future too, produce a "absoloute core spec", and a "desirable" spec, and then get some estimates and quotations

[jamieclick]

PM sent as this is what we specialise in :-)

[paretowasright]

Hello,

I have a b2c start-up business and am looking for a low cost ecommerce platform. I have looked into Venda SBS which seems to cover most basic requirements - and looking at cost it is definitely very attractive. Does anybody know if there is another solution out there which is worth considering?
Thank you for your comments!

Best regards,
Trixie

Trixie,

Search the forums for e-commerce and you will find a whole list of postings about the various options. There are various managed solutions and also bespoke carts where you would need someone to build a site for you.
Beware of people sending you private mails who have hardly any track record on here too ;)

[CreationCoast]

Hi Trixie,

You could have a look at the following free systems:

osCommerce - http://www.oscommerce.com/

Cre Loaded - http://www.creloaded.com/

Magento - http://www.magentocommerce.com/

The advantage of these systems is that there are some great designs that can be plugged into them so you can have a really good looking site affordably.

If you need any assistance, we build a lot of these sites for our clients so give us a shout. If your budget can stretch by an extra £500 we have another very good cart system we can demonstrate to you - just call or PM.

Good luck!
Clare

[quikshop]

Hi Trixie,

If you don't want the worry of maintaining your own open source shop, you could try a hosted solution - this is where all the hosting, maintenance and tricky technical stuff is done for you usually in return for a monthly subscription.

We've a help article here on how to open your own Ecommerce shop (http://www.internetretailer.biz/partner/how-to-open-your-own-ecommerce-shop---5-steps-to-selling-online.aspx?qsaid=213).

[stasilo]

we specialize in Magento, Virtuemart. Both are free. Our prices start from £900.

Let me know if you are interested.

[timson-wholesale]

Hi,

I've recently set up an e-commerce website which offers a free dropshipping service to dropshippers in the U.S.. I am of course based in the UK, and I act as a middle man.. Its going great, I am a dropshipper and have chosen to offer dropshipping to others. This way I never get to see the product, and if people choose to buy for themselves all the same..
Its very cheap and is not very time consuming at all, apart from the start up. It can generate a great income providing you either have your own products or find a cheap/free dropshipping service to use..

Take a quick look at my site, i've never designed a website or built one before and I think its not bad for a first effort its so simple.. With your background and knowledge of computer software and programming, getting one off the ground should be a piece of cake..

Take care

(w w w ) timson wholesale . info - Free Dropshipping Service in the U.S

[quikshop]

we specialize in Magento, Virtuemart. Both are free. Our prices start from £900.

Brilliant, you're charging a minimum of £900 for free software :p:D

[Place of design]

Brilliant, you're charging a minimum of £900 for free software :p:D
Installing it takes minuites. Working and sorting the software enough to be a commercially aceptable product is what costs the money. Time is money. Skilled time is more money

[quikshop]

Installing it takes minuites. Working and sorting the software enough to be a commercially aceptable product is what costs the money. Time is money. Skilled time is more money

Its the height of hypocrisy to promote Magento and Virtuemart to a potential client as a free solution... oh but by the way that'll be 900 quid please :eek:

What you are actually saying is that open source solutions are not commercially viable products with their default out-of-the-box installation?

Perhaps I'll use this thread the next time someone on this form pipes up about open source being the cheapest commercial option ;)

[Place of design]

Its the height of hypocrisy to promote Magento and Virtuemart to a potential client as a free solution... oh but by the way that'll be 900 quid please :eek:

What you are actually saying is that open source solutions are not commercially viable products with their default out-of-the-box installation?

Perhaps I'll use this thread the next time someone on this form pipes up about open source being the cheapest commercial option ;)
I agree with you, and we ALL know exactly what point I was making

It's like saying "I will give you some free paint". In reality this means your home won't get decorated witout the right tools, or effort or skill

[Place of design]

What you are actually saying is that open source solutions are not commercially viable products with their default out-of-the-box installation? Thats exactly what I am saying

Perhaps I'll use this thread the next time someone on this form pipes up about open source being the cheapest commercial option ;)
Great idea

There is a common missconception that e-commerce requires no effort, skill, craft or investment. Either opensource, or bespoke stores will not be sucsessfull or commercially viable without a lot of investment in:



Copyrighting
Design
Photography
Organisation
Servers/hosting
Backend integration
SEO
IM
etc. etc.

Investment can be in the form of time, effort, money, or outsouced professionals

[quikshop]

It's like saying "I will give you some free paint". In reality this means your home won't get decorated witout the right tools, or effort or skill

No, its like saying 'do it this way because its free' and then billing them £900, its highly misleading. Read stasilo's statement again.

I actually agree with you, open source is not commercially viable straight out of the box and it does need skill and effort to turn it into a proper product. There should be a charge for that and as with all services it should be up front without the 'its free to use' irrelevance - its not free to the client you're billing.

At £900 a shop owner would have to be using our hosted Ecommerce (http://www.internetretailer.biz) service for nearly 2 1/2 years before they reach that level of total cost by which time (if their business was ever going to work) they would have more than proven their business concept and more than recouped their financial outlay.

[quikshop]

There is a common missconception that e-commerce requires no effort, skill, craft or investment.

Couldn't agree more, there are few barriers these days to getting an on-line live but without the time and effort it is unlikely to succeed. The investment generally determines the speed of growth of a viable business. If its doomed to failure from the outset then no amount of investment will help.

[stasilo]

No, its like saying 'do it this way because its free' and then billing them £900, its highly misleading. Read stasilo's statement again.

I actually agree with you, open source is not commercially viable straight out of the box and it does need skill and effort to turn it into a proper product. There should be a charge for that and as with all services it should be up front without the 'its free to use' irrelevance - its not free to the client you're billing.

At £900 a shop owner would have to be using our hosted Ecommerce (http://www.internetretailer.biz) service for nearly 2 1/2 years before they reach that level of total cost by which time (if their business was ever going to work) they would have more than proven their business concept and more than recouped their financial outlay.

I can't agree with you. If you buy some commercial software you would still need to employ a professional to do design and some customization and you would need to add cost of software.
With VirtueMart or Magento you don't have to pay for software. You just pay for design and customization.
Apart from that in real life support and customization for commercial software is normally more expensive.

[quikshop]

I can't agree with you. If you buy some commercial software you would still need to employ a professional to do design and some customization and you would need to add cost of software.

There are no additional software costs with a hosted / managed solution. Customisation will cost extra whichever solution you go for.

With VirtueMart or Magento you don't have to pay for software.

That is irrelevant because your client doesn't get their shop for FREE, do they? It just means your costs are lower and you are making more profit from your client.

Apart from that in real life support and customization for commercial software is normally more expensive.

Your costs are on a par with getting an Actinic shop developed and customised, that's the UK's leading small retailer commercial software so where is the cost benefit in using open source with you?


I've no doubt you do a great job for your clients but using the word FREE is nothing more than a marketing ploy, its not FREE to your client :rolleyes:

[stasilo]

That is irrelevant because your client doesn't get their shop for FREE, do they? It just means your costs are lower and you are making more profit from your client.
I've no doubt you do a great job for your clients but using the word FREE is nothing more than a marketing ploy, its not FREE to your client :rolleyes:
I'm not claiming that they will get shop for free. I'm saying that VirtueMart and Magento are free. and they are.
It does not mean I'm making more profit.
I clearly state my price everywhere. I think it's not the cheapes but it's competitive.

[cmcp]

The OP is looking for a cheap ecommerce platform - Stasilo identifies that the open source solutions are free, and lists his prices for working with these solutions.

I actually agree with you, open source is not commercially viable straight out of the box and it does need skill and effort to turn it into a proper product. There should be a charge for that and as with all services it should be up front without the 'its free to use' irrelevance - its not free to the client you're billing.

And the poster has been completely transparent about his costs in working with such a solution. The Place of Design analogy with the paint is spot on, and Stasilo explained in plain English what his charges are (design and customisation) which to me is a fair competitive price.

[quikshop]

It does not mean I'm making more profit.

Yes it does, re-selling free software is more profitable than re-selling commercial paid-for software... obvious when you think about it :rolleyes:

[cmcp]

I find your comments unfounded and slanderous towards Stasilo.

The software is not being re-sold and you are wrong and rude to insinuate it is.

Poor shot at a competitor - I'd give up before you start to sound really silly.

[stasilo]

Yes it does, re-selling free software is more profitable than re-selling commercial paid-for software... obvious when you think about it :rolleyes:
I'm not reselling it. I do design and customization.

[quikshop]

I find your comments unfounded and slanderous towards Stasilo.

Perhaps if you didn't operate with anonymity on this forum your comments would be taken more seriously?

[quikshop]

I'm not reselling it. I do design and customization.

So you don't offer a complete solution providing the software, design and possibly hosting or installation to your clients?

[cmcp]

Scraping the barrel.

Perhaps if you didn't operate with anonymity on this forum your comments would be taken more seriously?

You're entitled to your opinion :)

[quikshop]

You're entitled to your opinion :)

Yes, yes I am :D

[stasilo]

So you don't offer a complete solution providing the software, design and possibly hosting or installation to your clients?
hosting would cost more obviously.
why?