Hey everyone,

 

I've got the chance to do a website for a clothing company. Currently they've got a site and they have somewhere between 20 and 30 items for sale using a typical 'shopping cart' type of system.

 

I'm fine with a new design etc but I've literally no idea about the e-commerce side of things. How easy is it for me to set up something like this? Obviously it has to be secure if people are paying with cards. Also, how much would you charge to set up a site like this?

 

Can anyone point me in the right direction as I really want to do this site and I've been wanting to learn about e-commerce sites for so long.

 

Thanks so much [as usual]...

Ok lets start from the top...

 

1. Have you got any experience of installing scripts and setting up databases?

2. Have you got any experience of working with CMS's, Blogs or similar applications?

3. Are you familiar with working with template systems such as you find in CMS's?

 

If you can answer "yes" to all three you're most of the way there already!

 

When it comes down to it, shopping carts are CMS's, albeit with a few extra functions.

 

Before you take any recommendations for particular bits of software the single most important thing to find out is what features and facilities the site needs. If you choose the wrong cart it won't work for your customer and their business could suffer as a result - so beware!

 

Let us know some specs for the site and we can point you in the right direction, it will also help if you have a budget to work to.

Hey bluedreamer, thanks for the quick reply [as always]...

 

The current website can be found here. As you can see, it's obviously very basic. I managed to get through to the checkout and saw that they were actually using PayPal to take secure payments so it's not as 'advanced' as I've been led to believe, right? Yes I've used a few CMS, installed some scripts, set up databases etc. It's not something I do that often but none of that is completely new to me.

 

As far as I know all they need to be able to do is take secure payments via cards, add new products and edit products. As for budget, I'm not sure to be honest. I think they paid quite a bit for that current website - I'm not in this to rip anyone off, just get paid what I should be due so advice from you guys will help there. A new design will be made for the site so the 'store' area will obviously have to slot into this.

 

Thanks [in advance] for your help - I really appreciate it

Lol - I have a pair of Voi jeans somewhere

 

Good luck with the e-commerce side of things - I have no experience or knowledge so I cant help you here, I am sure the other guys will guide you well though

If you want to accept cards on the website then you need to comply with PCI DSS rules, use an SSL Certificate (pref EV), run PCI scans from companies such as McAfee.

 

Its much much easier if you use a company such as PayPal, Nochex to take the cards on your behalf.

 

You may want to check out Magento - should do everything you want it to do and is very secure and Open Source.

By the look of the current site they're using OSCommerce or one of it's many derivitives.

 

Based on what you said I'd say have a look at Cubecart which should be more than ample for a simple shop. I'd recommend the commercial version as it has a better feature set than the free version. Cubcart's templates are all CSS and as simple as they get so you shouldn't have many problems with the. Feature wise it supports online payments but also most payment gateways such as Paypal, Protx etc. Download the free version and have a play with it!