How do I setup my website to sell products online?

[blondebier]

I'm very keen to re-build my website to sell products online and accept payments live.

I've been browsing round this forum and it seems way more complicated than I originally thought.

Just to clarify, i'm looking to build something like amazon.co.uk, dabs.com, ebuyer.co.uk

Are there any templates to work from?
Where do companies like Verisign and Thawte fit into this?

Basically, where do I start?
Is ASP or ASP.NET a good way to develop something like this?

Thanks for your comments,
Francis Lang.

 

[CoreyBryant]

It all depends on how many products etc. I would recommend .NET myself. That way as your business grows - it will grow into your site. I also would recommend a MS SQL database.

Actually Thawte is owned by Verisign. Since you mentioned these in the same sentence, I am going to assume you are speaking about SSL (https). You can purchase a security cert from one of those companies or from

http://www.geotrust.com.

Some hosting companies provide free SSL as well. You will want to use SSL to encrpyt the credit card information when you send it over to the gateway.

Most credit card processors will give you the information on how to access the gateway from your web site. Consider this when you start to build that peice. Locate what gateway you will be using & download their white papers. This will provide you examples of what fields to transmit, etc.

As far as templates - there are quite a number of sites out there. But the names that you give are pretty big. It would be best if you designed your own. And then had someone do your logo as well for you. Afterall, the templates that are available online & for all to see - means that others can download it as well.

__________________________
Corey

http://www.merchantaccounts4less.com