OSCommerce site; technology & price advice required

[thosecars82]

Hello there

What would you suggest in these two particular cases?

1.If you wanted to develop an ecommerce websitefor someone who knows nothing about information technologies so that they could put easily their offers including product and price from time to time:
Is there any standard technology that you would be thinking of particularly to start of the web development? OSCommerce? Joomla? others? which ones?

2. If you wanted to develop a website in which ecommerce is not needed for someone who knows nothing about information technologies so that they could put easily their offers including product and price from time to time:
Is there any standard technology that you would be thinking of particularly to start of the web development? Joomla? Wordpress? Others? Which ones?

Moreover, what would be a typical range of market prices we might be thinking for each of these two choices?

Any advice/idea is really appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[enigma1]

Developers usually follow a specific cart or cms, using the basic framework of the web s/w, they customize it on client's requirements.

However there are many packages, if you are after open source check the open source repositories. Now for a package you should check few basic things without having programming knowledge

- If you need support is there an open forum, team, or community who can assist you with at least the basics?
- Is the s/w easy to administer the site and expandable, do you understand its interface?
- Does the site work the same with different browsers?
- If you need new features can you find someone to do them for you?

The more packages you see, the better the idea you'll have, most have an online demo site.

As of market prices they can vary a lot really depends on the site specifics. You can use the host's ready to install web packages therefore you will pay nil, or you can have a whole company to do development and customizations for you, in which case you will spend a fortune. But you also have many levels in-between.

[thosecars82]

Thanks

And if the ecommerce site is developped by a freelancer living in Spain who is customizing something like oscommerce for a Spanish shop which is in a big city in Spain, where would this prices range might start?

Thanks

[enigma1]

With freelancing is very hard to predict/determine actual prices. Demand, living costs, ready scripts/plugins, expertise, customer/site requirements and many other factors all play a role and significantly change the price tag for a store.

My advice would be to check the local market by asking freelancers for estimates. It will give you an idea what to expect.

Also check the marketing potential of the site in question, find out its possibilities for sales, see what the current competition is. A startup site who sells online may take longer for ROI than a seasoned store. Product variety carried and product prices also play a role for how much a merchant can afford to spend initially.

Merchant mentality also varies, others target long term customers, some target a wide range of customers because of price competition with their products even if they have the same store in place.