Online Store – How do I set one up?
January 24th, 2020
I’m looking to setup an online store to sell products but i’m not 100% sure how to set up a secure online store. Are there trusted companies online who can help with this sort of thing? Maybe for a monthly fee? Any information would be great. I’m not savvy with security and safety so I’d prefer to leave it in the hands of an expert company.
dont think this is a serious discussion though maybe helpdesk would being better to ask in
Many webserver providers have easy to setup stores avaiable as plugins/scripts. (Just like they have all kinds of scripts – like the PHPBBS forum running )
Moved from Serious Discussions to Helpdesk.
Basically, You’re gonna need a number of things:
1. A domain name (I recommend you use namecheap for this task)
This should cost you around $8-12 per year.
2. A managed VPS (Virtual Private Server) preferably a Linux one that has at least 512MB of physical RAM.
When it comes to online stores – Shared hosting is highly unrecommended (For security reasons)
You should start with a VPS, And then at a later stage if your store would get very popular, Switch to a dedicated server. Managed means that you’ll be paying extra for management (As in have server techs to take care of things for you, Like installing scripts, Performance tweaking or hardening security etc) you could either buy a managed VPS, Or buy a regular one and pay for management in separate (There are various server management companies out there!) Anyways, Make sure you get one that comes with a control panel for easy management of e-mail/ftp accounts and taking backups (A free one like ispconfig/webmin would do, So you don’t have to pay extra for it) I suggest you check webhostingtalk (A popular webhosting forum) for offers.
3. Unless you’re willing to invest a small fortune for a custom made shopping cart script, You’re gonna have
to settle with existing ones and customize it to your liking. Fortunately for you, This will not cost you money!
See this page:
http://webtecker.com/2008/04/22/8-best-open-source-shopping-cart-solutions/
You’re gonna have to integrate it with an existing payment processor (Such as Paypal) in order
to receive payments, This shouldn’t be too difficult tho.
4. You’re gonna need an SSL certificate, This is simply a must have for an online store! There are plenty of sites you could buy one from, Namecheap is one of em btw.
Edit: On a second thought, I strongly recommend you consult a lawyer before doing any of the above!
No one in their right mind would do business with an online store that’s registered to an individual!
You’re more than likely gonna have to create a company (Not a physical one of course) and pay for
a business license, As well as create one or more bank accounts registered to that particular company, And have your online payment provider account (Paypal or whatever) set to use the details of your company (And have it set as a business account and not personal) all of this is required in order for your online store to look legit, So take care of these things first!
http://eu.dummies.com/DummiesTitle/productCd-0470107391,page-1.html
The basics are all in there.