Expenses setting up a webshop

I want to sell a product online, how many expenses should I expect?

[Kongen]

Hey

Im about to start up a webshop. At the moment i just want to sell a single product, and I do not wish to spend alot of money on this.

What are my expenses to begin with?

I have the domain and webhost

And im sure some of you guys can recommend me a nice php script for a webshop? :-)

Then about payments...Is it very expensive to make it possible for people to pay me with their credit card?
And how is that done? Do i have to contact my bank, or what do I need to do. Hope you have some tips for me, or can refer me to a similar thread if such one exists (Sorry if it does, then I did not look thoroughly enough).

In the beginning, I will only sell very cheap products, so maybe something like Paypal should be considered instead?

[Essex_boy]

You can use OSCommerce its free and for payment processor use 2checkout.com

To set up your account with OSC all you need to do is enter the account number and teh program does teh rest, Id have thought you could start a site on less than $100.

[Tsuren]

Kongen, the price depends on kind of your product. E.g. if you are going to work with jewelry your biggest expenses will be pictures. Tell us what yo are going to sell.

(maybe you should do it via stickymail)

[Essex_boy]

Im assuming that he can use his suppliers.

[Kongen]

Yeah, I should explain this a bit further.

I do not need any big solutions, as I am only creating a little site, where i want to tell a little plastic gadget that costs about 5$ + shipping.

This is the one and only product I am going to sell, and in the beginning, I will only order 500 pcs, so I do not need any expensive solutions, just an easy way to collect the money :-)

[topr8]

use paypal.

although it is not the cheapest solution if you are doing large volume, it is the best if you are not i think, because it is very cheap to set up

[eaden]

it's not worth using oscommerce for 1 product.

You can probally do it fine with Paypal's cart ( free ) and static html.

[Tsuren]

Kongen, eaden is right. You have a choice between PayPal, americart etc. That's it. You do not need scripts or merchant account for so small amount of money/merchandizes. Spend them for design of your page.

By the way, you can try ebay to test your product

[Essex_boy]

Kongen for that id use paypal and their cart.

Cheap and easy

[Fighting Falcon]

I would suggest a 'hosted' shopping cart system that supports a number of different payment systems as well as paypal. Although you do have your own hosting already arranged you may need to add additional secure server / database facilities for order management etc. For a single product you shouldnt have a problem finding a decent hosted ecommerce system for a couple of hundred dollars or so. If things go wrong at least you know there's someone to call upon!.

FF

[rominosj]

What is your budget? $200, $500? If you give us an estimate we can give you more precise options.

[bsnrjones]

For one product I would use Mals-e with 2-checkout/Paypal.

If you only accept Paypal, you will hurt your sales from my experience. Even though they have made it easier, it still seems to confuse people who simply want to use MC/Visa.

[shaijujose]

Hi all,

I fully agree with Fighting Falcon recommendation of 'hosted' shopping cart system. To add to his points, hosted shopping cart system has other advantages such as start up cost is low, investment in infrastructure isn’t required and you should pay only for use.

Most hosted shopping carts come with an integrated payment system with multiple options to choose from. Some carts like Goecart also offer custom payment options.

Product testing on eBay and Froogle is also a good idea.

Best Regards,
Shaiju