I want a web site

[wobblycogs]

I was just about to recommend a Joomla based site when I noticed matt mentioned it.

All the sites I design and run are, from now on at least, going to be Joomla based as it's quick, easy, stable, free etc etc. It takes a little to get your head around how the site is put together but once you "get it" you realize how powerful the organizational system is. The best thing about it though is the wide range of, often free, plug-ins that you can download and install that give the site various different bits of functionality such as e-commerce.

There are other CMS (content management systems) out there too such as Drupal, Plone, WordPress and about a million others but Joomla is, IMHO, the best.

Really though before you go rushing into getting a site you need to be clear in your mind what you want from the site. An e-commerce site is quite different from a personal site and the two don't generally mix well.

 

[whacky]

Just out of interest if you wanted to sell items via a website is that much more expensive? I only ask because the wife runs a small business via ebay and we are thinking of opening an ebay shop.

However I would prefer to sink the money into our own website and grow her shop from their rather than on ebay.

 

[Chems]

Just out of interest if you wanted to sell items via a website is that much more expensive? I only ask because the wife runs a small business via ebay and we are thinking of opening an ebay shop.

However I would prefer to sink the money into our own website and grow her shop from their rather than on ebay.

Your own site would be a lot less money, if you still used paypal but removed the ebay listings you would quickly recoupe the cost of your webhosting over a few small sales.
If however you were to pay for a site and set up secure payment it may take a little longer to recoupe.

 

[wobblycogs]

In my experience* you have to be selling a reasonable amount of stock to justify setting up your own site. I was able to develop the site myself which saved a lot of money but there are off the shelf solutions now which are reasonably priced. I found the most expensive part to be setting up a merchant account to accept credit cards. At the time I went with Protx (now SagePay) and they seem to still be one of the most popular. The fees will make your eyes water though. There is normally a flat monthly fee and then a per transaction fee per plus / or a per transaction percentage.

If you are selling high value items with a decent profit margin I suppose it's not to bad. I found though that I was only making a reasonable profit on the biggest things I sold which, of course, I didn't sell many of. The day to day items made me pennies at best.

One option you might like to look at is something like this http://www.123-reg.co.uk/ecommerce/ - I'm not saying go with 123-reg this is just an example, although I have a couple of domains registered with them I don't actually like the company all that much.

* For a couple of years I ran an on-line shop selling fish keeping equipment. I sold through both ebay and my own site

 

[Dibs-h]

I found the most expensive part to be setting up a merchant account to accept credit cards. At the time I went with Protx (now SagePay) and they seem to still be one of the most popular. The fees will make your eyes water though. There is normally a flat monthly fee and then a per transaction fee per plus / or a per transaction percentage.

Protx (SagePay) are obviously the Payment Gateway, but who was your (Internet) merchant account with? What hoops did you have to jump thru for the provider?

Cheers

Dibs

 

[wobblycogs]

The merchant account was with NatWest and my main business account was with Abbey (now Santander). I hosted the website myself and delegated the actual credit card details capture to Protx as that means there's no need for a secure server.

I don't recall there being any particular hoops to jump though in order to sign up for a merchant account - no security needed, no trading history etc. I chose NatWest because they offered the best prices at the time. There was a lot of paper work where you had to tell them about what sort of sales volume and value you expected and that you understood they would come down on you like a ton of bricks if you got a charge back. I suppose because they hold onto the money for so long they aren't really exposed to much risk from merchants defaulting.

Once it was all set up it was cheaper than getting money via EBay + PayPal but not by as much as I was hoping it would be and it left me with the problem of trying to drive customers to my site. If I was to do it again (not in a million years) I'd look seriously as Google Checkout. The rates seem to be lower than the other options, the only downside is that it's not as well known.

 

[Dibs-h]

I suppose because they hold onto the money for so long....

My understanding was that in most cases monies were credited within 2-3 days into the business account. Only WorldPay hold onto the money for around 60 days - they're also owned by Natwest\RBS - thieving so and so's. 60 day cashflow hiccup could seriously ruin a business.

Dibs

 

[wobblycogs]

I seem to remember they held onto the money for 30 days but I could be mistaken, it was a few years ago now. What it really opened my eyes to was how much of a rip off the banks are - pretty much all the processes are fully automated but you are still paying a fortune for every transaction. The actual costs of processing most transactions must be tiny fractions of a penny in reality.

If you think a 60 day cashflow hiccup is bad you should see some of the clients my current business has. One company we work for, an international house-hold name that makes tons of money, has us on 90 day payment from the end of the month that we submit the invoice. In other words it can take up to 121 days to get paid for work we've done!

 

[Doctor]

I'm curious as to what the site is for, you seem to have been asked loads of times but have not given an answer.

Is it a rude one? :lol:

go on give us a clue, I have no idea what it could be for..........