cheapest way to build an ecommerce site if you have tech background

tech junkie wants to save money by ditching his Yahoo! store

[yoderfarms]

can anyone recommend a good template or set of templates or book or something to build an ecommerce website that is cheap where i can put my technical background to use and save money. I know perl. I can learn PHP. I know SQL. I've never created a site with a shopping cart connected to a virtual terminal before but I bet I could figure it out if pointed in the right direction.

between Yahoo!'s 1.5% and CSI's 2.39% I've got about 4% of my REVENUE being taken away on every sale. In an industry where mature sites are lucky to have 10-15% margins this is aweful. I can barely compete pricewise, even when setting my price at breakeven levels there are other competetors selling it cheaper! On top of that I have to advertise?! Can anyone show me a way to use my programming skills to build a cheap functional website so that I can stop throwing away 1.5% of my revenue?

[edited by: mack at 9:48 pm (utc) on Oct. 30, 2006]
[edit reason] No URL's please [/edit]

[ahmedtheking]

Go download OSCommerce! No links remember!

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

OSCommerce is excellent and free but if you require support you may want to have a look at Ecommercetemplates.