How to set up an online shop?

[Mondus]

Ok... Even though I sound like a noob judging from the thread title.. I'm really not.. But I'm interrested in hearing what exactly I need to make a fully functional webshop using osCommerce.... I now that I need some kind of payment gateway.. But is that a part of the free osCommerce, or is that something I have to pay for? ... Also I believe I need some deals with my bank, so that the money can be transfered from the customers account to the business... right?? But what exactly do I need... Every single thing you can think of!!..

[brendandonhue]

osCommerce is all you need to set up a shop.
A 3rd party processor (eg paypal) or merchant account & gateway if you want to accept credit cards.

[buntine]

Note, most third-party merchant suppliers will take a cut of all transactions. PayPal take percentages from both incoming and outgoing transactions.

Security is an issue, also. You may want to consider purchasing a SSL certificate to ensure all transacted data is encrypted.

Regards.

[Mondus]

And there's no way to make these payment gateways free right?? And no way I can set up and manage one myself? (because I do need credit cards)...
How much would a SSL certificate cost...?? But if I'm using an external hosting company for my site, then that's not something I need to worry about right.. (if they have SSL of course)

[buntine]

If the hosting hosting company provides you with an active SSL certificate, then no, you do not have to worry about it. You will still need to set it up, though. Most hosting companies will offer a pooled SSL certificate that all clients use.

I would not attempt setting one up for free. It's a bit paradoxical, anyhow. You will end up paying thousands of dollars setting up your own.

The rule-of-thumb here is: E-Commerce is not free.

Regards.

[Mondus]

I'm not looking for something completely free though.. But just as cheap as possible... But what if I hosted it myself, on a server at my home with Debian or Gentoo... Than I wouldn't have to pay for a SSL certificate right? Since I would be able to use an Open Source equilant .. or am I mistaken?
What about the payment gateways.. How exactly does that work? Because if setting it up myself means saving 500 dollars, then I'm all for it (that's pretty much what I had to pay for it, pr. month at one hosting company)

[buntine]

If you were hosting it yourself, and handling credit card information locally, you would arguably want to be a highly-knowledgable security expert.

$500 a month is not necessary. I pay about $160 per year for hosting, an SSL certificate would be about $50, merchant accounts are often free (but take percentages of all transactions). So, whilst smalltime e-commerce is not free -- it isn't super expensive, either.

I have no experience with Open Source encryption certificates. You may want to look into it. Nor do I have any experience in setting up a Payment Gateway fro scratch. A Google search will warrant a more knowledgable answer to the inner workings of a Payment Gateway.

Regards.

[Mondus]

Thank you very much for your help.. you've been a great asset to my work....

Regards

[buntine]

No worries. ;)

[Reli4nt]

$500 a month is way out of wack for most small businesses.

I have been doing a number of ecommerce shops recently and I find that for small businesses Paypal offers one of the best deals. Gateways often charge a per month (like $10 - $30) and per transaction fee (though small) but the Merchants accounts usually charge a statement fee, per transaction fee (usually between 2%-3%) and a $.20 -$.40 per transaction fee on top of that.

If you're selling a few large $ items just make sure your % is low.

Note that you can avoid the Gateway by handling transactions manually. osCommerce will email you the CC info and you can handle these transactions on a daily basis directly through your merchant account. Gateways permit automatic, real time CC processing.