Newbie , Needs Help !

[Jonno]

Hey Guys,

My first post on the site so let me say hi !

I'm after a bit of advice on starting up a internet shop. Basically i don't have a clue where to start so need major help so please bare with me and possibly my stupid questions.

A friend & me are setting up a small part time internet shop, selling kite parts. We are wanting a very basic , easy to use / navigate shopping site, we are only going to be selling a few items to start with then hopefully expand if we get enough orders. We need Something that's easy to customize for someone who doesn't have much knowledge with coding and something that customers can use with ease. What sort of programs would you recommended ?

Also on the payment side , how does it work ? do you have to input your bank details, then the program automatically sends the money to that ? would you recommended using paypal as the payment method ? what would you suggest ?

I think that's it for now just want to get my head around what needs doing before i start anything.

cheers.

[YvetteKuhns]

If you only have a few products, a small budget, little e-commerce experience and limited time, you may want to use the PayPal Add to Cart buttons (http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/xcl/rec/singleitem-intro-outside) that go to the PayPal shopping cart.

If you want to keep track of inventory, you may want to install OScommerce, ZenCart or Magento. They require more time to learn, the shopping cart is on YOUR server, you can use different payment options besides PayPal, you must maintain your website and database and you can customize the cart.

Don't be intimidated by software. There are tutorials and support forums for most popular open source programs. Be sure to explain your payment, refund, shipping and privacy policies. You must charge appropriate taxes and explain to where you will ship. Shipping and taxes may get too complicated for the PayPal cart depending on your situation.