posted on June 18, 2001 09:28:23 AM new
I've been looking over some of the web storefronts out there including: Bizland, Freemerchant (which isn't free), econgo, Bigstep.com, and Mal's free e-commerce. All of these sites allow you to setup your own online store for a very low cost.
Is anyone familiar with any of these companies? I love doing auctions but I'd like to try an online store too without spending a fortune! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
posted on June 18, 2001 11:41:47 AM new
The only one I'm familiar with is BizLand--that's where my site is currently hosted (being moved very shortly--not because anything BizLand has done--recently registered my own domain and don't want to pay BizLand's hefty price for that.
I have a charter membership which I think gives quite a few good options for the money. However, you're limited to a 12-item catalog. I don't sell anything on my site--it's an info site--so that's never been a problem for me.
What is a problem is that I want to add some CGI scripts to my site. I can't do that without upgrading to a $19.95/month account which is a bit spendy.
One thing I can say in support of some of these sites is they are great starter sites. I make my own HTML docs (such as they are) and it's easy to upload them (don't have to use an FTP program). The site also has great features like a list manager, counters and site stats.
However there are many web hosts out there that once you register a domain name charge a small percentage of what BizLand charges and many of the services are expanded.
The hosting service I'm moving my site to gives 50 megs free with the 2-year registration of your domain name. Granted, their registration is a little high compared to some ($35/year) but with free hosting that equates to half of what I'm spending at BizLand AND gives me the CGI capabilities I'm looking for and very generous bandwidth.
It pays to shop around. Go to metacrawler and do a search on web hosts and make comparisons. Web hosting prices seem to vary greatly.
posted on June 20, 2001 02:01:30 AM new
I think it depends on what you need it for? If you do alot of actions and just want a store for some fixed price items then start with auctionwatch store fronts. Auctionworks has a nice store/shopping cart at a very reasonable price. Freemerchant is ok but, bigstep gives more flexability in the building of the site. I also like Homestead it's alot like bigstep but, IMO easier to use. don't know much about bizland.
posted on June 21, 2001 04:38:31 AM new
I use Mals-e for my shopping cart services. It's actually very easy to use once you get the hang of it and it works with just about any host. Mals also has a mall you can put your store into as well for some free advertising. I use ProPay for credit card processing.
posted on June 21, 2001 07:32:03 AM new
THANK YOU wallypog, mfcwizzard, and saxkid for replying to my cries for help. Of course, now I'm having an even harder time deciding which storefront to use
I want something inexpensive with a shopping cart. My daughter set up a store using Mal's E commerce for her friend but I'm concerned that they are based out of the UK (she says it doesn't matter-it won't crash since I'm doing my own hosting) I just don't know html real well and I want to do this myself. Anyways, thanks again for the advice!
posted on June 21, 2001 11:32:38 AM new
Ethelmarie, I know the feeling--I think all of them first-hand, LOL.
Learning HTML and writing your own pages takes time and practice. However, I think it's time well-spent.
If you want to get started on HTML click on my website link and go to the Web Tools page. There are links there to some HTML tutorial sites.
I'm currently in the process of moving my site to its own domain name (probably said that before, LOL). The hosting service I'm currently using is based in the UK. Last night I had a question I needed help with and hooked up to their 'live' support. They seemed fairly busy but got my question taken care of right then. That was really nice.
posted on June 21, 2001 01:02:17 PM new
Hey wallypog,
Thanks for all your advice. Your doing a great job on BidVille with the $1 SALE project (I have a different ID on BidVille).
You've went to alot of trouble to help the BidVille people (me included)
I definately plan to carry more than 30 items in my store so . . . hmmmm. Did you say you were moving to Hypermart or Freemerchant? Also I just bought a HUGE book for learning HTML. Study time . . .
posted on June 21, 2001 09:15:38 PM new
I moved my site to a host called One2host.com. If you register your domain name with them at $35 for a year you get 50 free megs for your site. I know $35 is a bit high for registration but with free hosting it ends up being about half of what most of the good priced hosts are charging.
My sister has set up a website at Hypermart--it's sort of our CGI practice play-ground (actually she's doing all the CGI practice for the moment, LOL). I'm not sure how much they charge for a no-ad site but if you have a free site they have ads on your pages AND pop-ups. It makes me glad we're only using it for educational purposes--I'd hate to have a site like that for people to actually visit, LOL. I'd much rather pay for a site and then if I want put my own ads up, even if they don't make enough to pay for hosting.
posted on June 22, 2001 09:52:24 PM new
saxkid,
Thanks for mentioning propay! I've been using it myself to accept credit cards. It's the best solution i've seen for accepting credit cards w/o setting up a merchant account.
I've used most of the free sites (when they were still free) Personally I like auctionworks shopping cart because it's very simple for me and my customers and it recommends other products when a customer buys from something. It's great for selling extra accessories. My main site is just hosted on my isp for free. Then I just forward my domain name to the free site which links to the shopping cart for products. doityourselfstore.com if you want to see.
In my opinion if you want a site and shopping cart all in one I would use homestead. Freemerchant would be my next choice. freemerchant is very easy to use but you have very little flexability from their templet. Homestead uses an easier click and drag building software much like geocities. If you go to my FAQ page at doityourselfstore you will see that I use these other sites to build info pages. I only did that for search engine optomization to draw traffic.
posted on July 3, 2001 11:20:33 AM new
Hypermart seems to offer alot of options. Has anyone used it? It seems most online shopping carts such as Bizland and Bigstep really limit the number of items!
posted on July 4, 2001 09:37:50 AM new
What's so good about hypermart? Looks like a hundred (or thousand) other hosting sites out there, can you launch items from your shopping cart to ebay? Does anyone know? Also has anyone tried bizhosting seems pretty good to me but, haven't tried it.
