Cost Effective Ecommerce Solutions

Ecommerce use to be about spending thousands of dollars on setting up your shop and hundreds of dollars on getting a merchant. My, how things have changed over the years. Now anyone with a few hundred of dollars in their pocket(or less if you have the time to learn it yourself) can have a great working ecommerce system up and running in the matter of days. This also includes the full ability to accept payments from Credit Cards, manage customers, create invoices and more.

The most cost effective ecommerce solution on the market today is Oscommerce.com. Why is it so cost effective, well because it is free. All you need to do is learn it yourself or get someone who works in the web world(a web designer or programmer) to set it up for you. This can run you anywhere's from $500-$900, give or take a bit depending on the features you want and if you want it integrated into a custom built design. In a all in one solution you can set up products to sell, have a visitor sign up and pay via the osc(oscommerce) payment section, create an invoice for that client as well as deliver the product(if it can be transferred via email) or create a packing slip to be mailed out. These are just some of the features located in oscommerce.

Another great feature about oscommerce is that you can integrate it to fit right into your site design. If you view my site at www.Logo2D.com and click one of the links at the top(such as logo templates) you can see that it fits snugly into the design. You can customize any part of oscommerce including the buttons for the shopping cart. It is a really great program to use.

One of the hassle before with ecommerce was getting something that would process payment. Payment was a big issue as before it was very costly to get a merchant account, which usually cost around $400USD. Also you had to pay a % of every sale you made, which can really add up.

Today there are two great forms of payment that can be added to Oscommerce as your payment modules, they are Paypal.com and 2Checkout.com . These two options are a great way to go. Paypal.com is free to sign up, has over 78 Million accounts, only charges a small % of each sale/payment, can be funded by your credit card or bank account if you want to purchase something online and any sales you get you can take straight down into your bank account. Though the user does have to have a paypal account to pay you, but with 78 Million Accounts, you can see that is no problem.

2Checkout.com doesn't offer as many features in the way as you being able to purchase products offline, but it is great if someone is purchasing products off of you. It allows you to take payments via credit card and the customer doesn't even have to have a 2checkout.com account. It only takes a small % off when you take money down into your account. The only down side to 2checkout.com is that there is a one time fee of $49 to purchase a membership and they only send payment out twice a month(the middle of the month and the end of the month). So really not much of a downside at all.

So combine these three options and you can have a fully functional ecommerce website up for only a few hundreds of dollar!

Anthony Jewell has over 6 Years experience in the Web & Graphics World. You can visit my business at http://www.logo2d.com

©Copyright 2005 Logo2D.com - Feel free to use this article freely but please keep in the copyright

---

What You Must Know About Selling Online to Europe

The European market is a multi-billion $ sector which you... Read More

Using Drop Shipping for E-commerce

Thanks to the ubiquity of the internet, online virtual businesses... Read More

Why This Is The Perfect Time To Start Charging For Website Subscriptions

If you're a writer, researcher, subject matter expert, enthusiastic hobbyist,... Read More

How To Stay Cutting Edge In Online Business

Let's face it, there's just way too much information out... Read More

Electronic Commerce and WTO

The Internet may not be useful for all businesses, nor... Read More

A Tale of Two Revolutions - Ecommerce: A Historical Perspective

The World As It Then WasThe dynamic economic growth of... Read More

Database: The Secret of Success

BENEFITS OF A DATABASEBy maintaining your list as a database,... Read More

6 Steps to Attracting Black Customers Online

by Jamila White, "The E-Commerce Diva"In the rush to keep... Read More

Online Consumers ? What Are They Complaining About?

For many businesses, e-commerce represents a tremendous method for generating... Read More

Shopping Carts For The Faint Of Heart

The chief criteria for judging an ecommerce shopping cart are... Read More

How Measuring Key Performance Indicators Can Improve E-Commerce Strategy - Part Two

Why time spent on your site is importantAll websites regardless... Read More

Saving Money On Your E-commerce Site

After building and transferring many e-commerce sites it still amazes... Read More

Dont Get Ripped Off Getting A Merchant Account

Far too many people get ripped off when setting up... Read More

E-Gold

E-gold is a digital currency, used extensively on the Internet... Read More

The Plain Man?s Guide to Making Money Online

I'm a plain man who uses plain thinking in devising... Read More

Intranet Project Names - Some Ideas

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose... Read More

Bringing the World to Your Door

According to Internet.com, by the year 2008 nearly 30% of... Read More

Accept Credit Cards Online Without a Merchant Account

There are two major ways to accept credit cards on... Read More

Increasing E-Commerce Website Sales: A Guide for the Online Newbie

Because of this encouraging surge in activity, many individuals are... Read More

The ClickBank E-Commerce Solution

ClickBank.com can offer you multiple solutions for your e-commerce business.... Read More

Accept Credit Cards Online Without A Merchant Account

It is often assumed if you want to accept credit... Read More

Guide To Safe Online Shopping

Online shopping can be a little frightening to people who... Read More

Say Something Worth Talking About

I recently published a short e-book called 'One Thing I... Read More

Complementary-Relational Linking and How It Could Save Your Internet Business

The concept of linking is that sites with common interests... Read More

Turn Your Rusty Junk Into eBay Gold

Often times people to stop to realize the income potential... Read More

Intranet - The Benefits Realisation Plan

The Millennium ExperienceA successful project is one that delivers on-spec... Read More

Paypal Primer

To conduct business on the Internet, whether informal, one-time only... Read More

The Five Steps of E-Commerce

You set up a retail business, you advertise in your... Read More

Simple Steps to Start a Profitable Member Only, Subscription Web Site

Having a successful member only, paid membership site is one... Read More

What is SSL (the little padlock)?

SSL ("Secured Socket Layer") is a protocol used to... Read More

Choosing an Ecommerce Shopping Cart

Choosing an online shopping cart is a big decision. Unlike... Read More

Drop-Shipping ? A Great Way of Making Money Online

Using the Internet to sell products and services to ever... Read More

Shopping from Your Cell Phone with Froogle Wireless

Many surfers already know about Froogle, Google's shopping portal that... Read More