Web site and e-commerce

[Citt1]

This is really complicated problem!! I am really unsure where to begin here. A friend approached because I am in IT about his business. I know I need a lot of help on this one. There are really two types of questions here. The first is about technology and the second is about cost. Here goes.

My friend wants a web site built that would obviously need to tie in to a database. He wants to list 5,000 - 10,000 items on the web site and make it a store front. He may even need pictures with each item. I am uncertain on this last point. Here are my qustions

1. Does he require SQL server, Oracle or DB2 or will something like access do the trick? I am tempted to say no since there could be up to 10,000 items.

2. Is there one of these 3 SQL, Oracle or DB2 that is obviously cheaper than the rest?

3. Will he require IIS for this?

4. Is there a way that the web site if it is hosted by someone that they may have SQL there and he may not have to purchase SQL?

5. Is there a web host or off-site company that can do his web commerce?

5a. Is this cheaper than hosting this himself?

6. What do you guess the total cost, monthly cost will be? What is the cheapest option?

Thank you. I know this is a lot, but I don't know how to ask this and break it up? Really sorry for all the questions.

 

[Shift838]

Well sql, mysql would work. You can host it by various companies, like Yahoo. Yahoo offers ecommerce abilty and will charge I think around $50.00 for hosting per month just for the ecommerce hosting, but will charge an additional .10 cents per item in the database. On top of that he will have to get a Merchant account that is compatible with yahoo or whoever he chooses to host the site. So worst case would be probably around $1000.00 per month if someone else host it with 10,000 items, however hosting companies could go up or down in price depending on how many items you need. Yahoo does offer pictures to be uploaded with them.

This is no small task or project. I run a store with yahoo and I have 400 items and it took quite a while to get them all documented, created and upload picture of each one.

 

[nonot]

hi citt1

any luck with your problem. I am interested in the solution you chose as I have a similar problem.

Could you please share your solution with me ?

Thanks,

Nivs.