Creating a catalog/shopping cart

[trlarsen]

Ok I am new to this stuff so bear with me, please!

I work for a non-profit organization and all of our profit goes else where so we don't have a lot of money to spend. With that being said, I am creating our website on my own with the help of Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premuim. The problem I have ran into is developing our catalog and an order form/shopping cart. At this time we don't want to process cc electronically, we just want them to place their orders and we will contact them by phone for payment. (my boss is skeptical about safety issues) Are there any templates out there or good websites that will walk me through the process? I don't want to have to buy any more software and we can't really afford to pay a monthly fee for anything. Any tips you could give me would be great! Thanks
Tracy

[Compguy Pete]

I'm not sure what part I have more issue with in your problem...

I think the largest being that you should not be creating a shopping cart with such software... There are plenty of known secure software packages.

I think your bosses concerns are misplaced and outdated. "safety issues" are few and far between.

I recently setup a site for non-proft org... using ZenCart they are able to run all payments though paypal or offline/check. The Low Vision store (http://lighthousefortheblind-duluth.org/lvstore)

The method your asking for is going to cause a major barrier for your clients... Most clients don't want to talk to anyone when ordering. If you list his/her objections lets work though those... getting them to change their mind will be easier than building a site in the method you currently considering.

[trlarsen]

I couldn't agree with you more, but as of right now this is what my boss and the board want. Trust me I am pushing for the entire thing to be online and I am sure it will adventually. Right now we just want to get our item list up and going and then we will move from there. Thanks for the advice, but I am kind of stuck doing it the hard way for now!

[Compguy Pete]

Ok... well with that said...

1. where are you stuck the most.
2. How many products are we talking about
3. do they have a "catalog" right now?

#3. is more than likely the quickest and best route for now... If they have catalog already of the products turn that into a PDF and add an order process and call it good... while then making a site to showcase/highlight popular items.