Re: shopping cart

Hi Barbara..

It sounds like there wont be a very large number of products, so you
probably don't need a database-driven shopping cart.

You will want to provide someway for people to buy on-line, though, so that
means either a shopping cart program and SSL capabilities or contracting out
for that.  Secure certs used to be available from Thawte at $129 per year or
Verisign at $3?? per year, but Verisign recently bought Thawte, so the price
may have gone up.

Shopping carts are programs that you either purchase or download as freeware
(There are quite a few freeware programs available for the UNIX platform.)
The problem with freeware is sometimes you need to be a programmer just to
get the software to work.  Perhaps somebody has a recommendation of a good
and easy-to-use program for you.

The ultimate credit card acceptance is on-line approvals and sales records
tied in with inventory management.  You can also use whatever credit card
approval system he has now if you're willing to type in the card numbers
manually.  that's not such a bad idea for a small operation. On-line
approvals involve subscribing to a service that ties in with your shopping
cart which is an additional expense.

If he is currently not set up to acept credit cards, I would look for an
on-line service to sign up with.  They'll take a fairly hefty percentage of
every transaction, but the set-up headaches will be much less for you and
for your client.  On the down side, you don't learn as much about the
process, either.

All the best,
Kim


====================================================
   Kimberley Mitchell                           (732) 750-1941
   Member: HTML Writers Guild        kim(at)mighty-sites.com
   Mighty Sites Web Design               http://www.mighty-sites.com
====================================================
----- Original Message -----
From: Barbara Money <bmoney(at)brainiac.com>
To: Bryan Bateman <batemanb(at)home.com>
Cc: <hwg-basics(at)hwg.org>
Sent: Friday, October 13, 2000 8:19 PM
Subject: Re: shopping cart


> As far as I know, it will be fairly simple. He sells embroidered and
> screenprinted apparel. Server platform, probably Unix, so I won't be able
to do
> anything there. Database? Flat file? Uh, my ignorance is showing. Do you
have
> to use a database for a shopping cart? I confess I don't even own a
database
> program, except an extremely simple one called simply Data Base, nor do I
know
> how to use one. I assume he will need a secure certificate, but I
understand
> they are costly. I'm not a programmer, just a humble web site designer, so
it
> has to be simple.
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Barbara Money
> The Essential Image
>
> Bryan Bateman wrote:
>
> > There is much to consider.  How were you contemplating providing a
shopping
> > cart?  What server platform will you be using?  Will there be a database
or
> > "flat file" for products and categories?  Will you be purchasing a
> > certificate for secure server (https)?  There are more but those are for
> > starters.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Barbara Money" <bmoney(at)brainiac.com>
> > To: <hwg-basics(at)hwg.org>
> > Sent: Friday, October 13, 2000 10:24 PM
> > Subject: shopping cart
> >
> > > Hi all,
> > >
> > > I'm not sure if this is appropriate for the Basics list, but I've seen
> > > lots of references to javascripts and other stuff that are currently
> > > beyond me, and not what I personally consider basics.
> > >
> > > Anyway, one or two of my clients are or will be considering online
sales
> > > abilities for their web sites, and I wonder if you can point me in the
> > > right direction. Should I set them up with a 3rd party like
Freemerchant
> > > or attempt to build a storefront from scratch? They have already the
> > > ability to accept CC's over the phone or in person, so they'd only
need
> > > something for online CC authorization and then receiving the info for
> > > the order itself plus shipping and tax calculation. Is there anything
> > > else I need to consider? I don't want to offer ecommerce yet if
there's
> > > a huge learning curve to get over first, and I really don't think any
of
> > > them want to be the guinea pig. There's a Catch-22 for ya.
> > >
> > > Any suggestions?
> > >
> > > Barbara
> > > The Essential Image
> > >
>

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