Web Site Question

RiverMan · #1 (**permalink**) August 26th, 2004

Do you guys with web-sites find it necessary to have shopping carts? I ask this as I am at a point where I want to start a web-site but I am finding it hard to justify the additional cost associated with "E-Commerce" capabilities. It seems that launching a site is reasonable but as soon as you want a shopping cart things get spendy in a hurry. Also, how do you know your page will receive "hits" when searched at a browser?

Thanks ahead of time!

Jed

woodsac · #2 (**permalink**) August 26th, 2004

I know when I start surfing for baits and lures, when I find them, I want to be able to buy them.

Most of the time, if I find a site that talks about the baits but doesn't sale them, I won't return in the future. I already know I want them, so I don't want to waste my time looking around.

I've seen some pretty expensive carts as well. But osCommerce is FREE !!! You will probably need some help installing it, but it's a very reliable system.

RiverMan · #3 (**permalink**) August 26th, 2004

Thanks Woodsac,

I feel pretty much as you do about the online purchasing. You know I build and sell lures after my full-time day job, it's still a hobby. Because of this it's hard for me to justify paying someone a bunch of money to get a page rolling. There are a ton of hosts out there that offer page building software that includes shopping carts but most are 50 dollars a month and up. I could afford to do this but again it's a bit hard to justify given the number of baits I expect to be selling. I have much to learn in this regard.

Jed

Big Splash · #4 (**permalink**) August 26th, 2004

Jed;
I think a cart would be a good idea if you plan to sell enough product to justify it. I don't have one on my site yet and a lot of emails are exchanged for each sale = time spent. Plus a lot of potential sales are lost because of the time lag between the urge to buy and the actual sale.
I chose to go without one for now becaus this is all quite new to me at this point, and I want a chance to 'test the water' before getting in too deep.
I would go with a cart once I have a steady product line and a web site that realy works well.

RiverMan · #5 (**permalink**) August 26th, 2004

Hey thanks Splash. I spent a couple hours today investigating various options and pretty much came to the exact same conclusion you did. I intend to just build a simple site for now and if things ever get to a point of where I think E-Commerce and/or a Shopping Cart is neceessary I will upgrade. Thank you again.

jed

Richoc · #6 (**permalink**) August 27th, 2004

Jed,

Think you could get going just with a beefed up home page and a paypal account.
Quick start but get the domain name part taken care of right away.

RiverMan · #7 (**permalink**) August 27th, 2004

That's pretty much what I have decided to do Rich, plan on working on the page this wknd. As you guys know it becomes quite the challenge to manage a full time job, kids, house, all the baits, and the web page stuff......finding there isn't enough time in the day! The other thing is that I like making the baits, that part is fun, so all the "other" gets put off til later, lol.

Thanks again.

jed