dknight1972 started this topic @ 09:16 on 25/04/2006
I've been selling my fashion jewellery on ebay for the last 2 years and in the last few weeks have been seriously considering having my own e-commerce website to sell my range on - hopefully connected to my PayPal account.
I just want to share what I've found out so far, and hope people can contribute to this thread and share their own thoughts and maybe recommend other website companies.
First off - I don't want to spend a lot on web-design! I know this might prevent me from getting a decent website, but I just do NOT have the budget.
With that in mind, I found these web services to be pretty good
http://www.merchandizer.com/
http://www.oneandone.com/
Do you have an e-commerce website? Who developed it for you? Getting any success?? I want to get this right first time!!
Cheers,
Dave
[ spam url removed by moderator ]
RE: e-commerce websites - who to choose?
SPower | 25/04/2006 09:53 AM
The obvious ommission from the list is Actinic (www.actinici.com); they now have an express version which suits smaller businesses. From the information gleamed - having not used any of the sites listed in your post - Pure Silva has the advanatge of being UK based, and they have 50 users. The sample site looks OK and has some image rollover funtionality and a decent template (not sure about the orange colour though!). I use 1&1 for hosting some sites and they are very efficient and reasonably priced; not sure about their ecommerce offerings.
The other option you have Dave is to develop a site independant of an ecommerce provider. This means tagging in all the individual components - such a payment clearance, site development, hosting etc. - rather than buying everything from one supplier. Its a bit like taking an independant holiday rather than a package tour.
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Sean Power
www.quadrigamotivation.co.uk
http://startup-it-security.blogspot.com/
"What I do today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it."
RE: e-commerce websites - who to choose?
dknight1972 | 25/04/2006 12:35 PM
thanks people for your input - cubecart looks good too - for me it's between [ spam removed ] and cubecart!
RE: e-commerce websites - who to choose?
Chrisinti | 25/04/2006 01:51 PM
http://www.mrsite.co.uk
That might be an option? £34.99. It might be a little basic for your needs but worth a shot? You can set up everything via that within half hour and do it all yourself. You'll be up and running in no time what so ever. Easily receive PayPal payments also. Hope it helps. I'm currently in the same position as you. This is my site all done via them. Nothing breathtaking but it's sufficiant enough for all my needs for now. http://www.reggaefraternity.com I know there isn't no products on there yet but this is an example of someone else' store all done through Mr Site... http://www.fortunechocolate.co.uk you could probably get a feel of what yours could potentially look like. Good luck.
Chris
RE: RE: e-commerce websites - who to choose?
dknight1972 | 25/04/2006 04:26 PM
Yeah had a look at MrSite - they have a lot of sites already made, big client base - very good. One thing I didn't like is the shopping basket though (just based on the example site you gave). I don't want to use PayPal's shopping basket. I want my own, then the customer checksout at PayPal. Let me know how you get on Chrisinti with MrSite - certainly they are cheap at the price - but I don't mind paying a little more for the right service.
Will let you all know how I get on!
RE: e-commerce websites - who to choose?
Chrisinti | 25/04/2006 05:50 PM
Just come across this site also done with Mr Site. I've noticed they have a different layout for their store (I think) and they accept a wider choice of payment. Definitely looks a lot more impressive. I'll hopefully get mine to look more like that once I crack on and get on with it. I've used Mr Site a few years now and have had no problems what so ever. It's so simple, easy to use and have so so many different styles/layouts/templates etc. I'm still in the process of getting it to look exactly how I like it... and my stock etc. I'll definitely let you know how I get on though. Good luck once again. All the best.
http://www.harvingtoncricketclub.co.uk/
RE: RE: e-commerce websites - who to choose?
dknight1972 | 25/04/2006 06:24 PM
Hi Chrisinti,
Thanks for your encouragement - if anything, things are a lot easier than a few years back when website companies were asking for thousands and you had to hope you can get your money back in sales!
One thing about MrSite which might prevent me from going with them is their 50 page limit. This is really limiting because for a start I have over 50 categories of products, so how am I supposed to list all my products, let alone add "about us" , "contact" page etc? I don't want a limit on pages because I'm always buying in new stock too. I got the 50 page info from their FAQ page:-
http://www.mrsite.co.uk/faq.htm
I want to have detail pages on all my products too, and from what I see from the testimonials page on MrSite, this isn't possible due to the page limit - to be honest, not good for selling products - I want describe my fine jewellery in detail with several images per product. I expect my customers to spend time considering their purchase and I have to have the information to help them decide.
Also I need a site that deals with search engine optimization and is easy to add products to like Froogle and Kelkoo. So far, [ spam removed ] aren't making me say "no good" to their terms/limitations, and the bottom line is fine (the price is OK and I know I can make a profit if all they say is true).
I'll leave an open mind for a few days though.
By the