Ecommerce Website

[GuavA!]

What i need is a basic 5 page web site typically home, about us, services / products, the team & contact us. I also need a online store and will probably have about 50 products for now.
I know when a online shop is brought into the equation you need to look at credit card payment and that gives rise to a merchant account etc.
Is this worth it or should i implement other payment methods?

Im not a web developer so im looking to have it done through someone else/company.
Can anyone give me guidelines as to how to go about this?
Anyone know the cost im looking at to have this website setup?

A general breakdown of what direction i should go in will be greatly appreciated.

 

[guest2013-1]

The design would cost you in the region of R3k. Depending if you have a logo yet or not (high-res logo). If not then that could bump up the price a little.

With the design done, others would probably give you something like Joomla! and Os-commerce to work with. (and most would design for those systems)

However, I usually don't. So the cost is relative to the system built.

It could easily be close to R10k, which is still cheap IMO for an online e commerce enabled website. custom. Not those regurgitated "free" commerce stuff.

You'd have to research the cost of the merchant account/payment gateway yourself though. I'd suggest working with www.paygate.co.za

 

[Grimspoon]

I have set up a few ecommerce sites and have a family business running on one. I did all the development and payment stuff myself so it was a big learning curve, but if you get someone else to do it all you will really have to worry about is organising the merchant account through the bank. That can be a mission though, if I recall you will need a business plan before they will give you a account.

 

[GuavA!]

Alright thanks for the info.Ive been quoted from shopdirect for a
basic package
where i get a template and i basically do the designing and the content pages etc for
R2300 for the initial setup and
R513pm
Or there is the advanced package which they do your designing and pages and logos etc, so the site will be up and running for
R6300 initial and
R513 pm

Now i dont mind paying the initial setup but R513pm is a bit steep for a guy just starting out or is that about the average rate one would look at?
If anyone knows any other companys that supply ecommerce websites please could you post there links here

 

[guest2013-1]

Alright thanks for the info.Ive been quoted from shopdirect for a
basic package
where i get a template and i basically do the designing and the content pages etc for
R2300 for the initial setup and
R513pm
Or there is the advanced package which they do your designing and pages and logos etc, so the site will be up and running for
R6300 initial and
R513 pm

Now i dont mind paying the initial setup but R513pm is a bit steep for a guy just starting out or is that about the average rate one would look at?
If anyone knows any other companys that supply ecommerce websites please could you post there links here

Ask them what that price includes. If it includes authorizing of all transactions (and you not having to get a merchant account) and hosting. It will be worth it.

So check (copy/paste here if you're not sure) what you get for your monthly contribution.

Sometimes (a lot of the times) it's best to just do it as a once off cost, but like I said, you're looking at close to 10k if you want something unique

 

[Adenoid Hynkel]

It could easily be close to R10k, which is still cheap IMO for an online e commerce enabled website. custom. Not those regurgitated "free" commerce stuff.

Just a quick question on the side. Where would your own developed shopping cart(ecommerce) be better for 3 times the price in comparison to Virtuemart?

 

[guest2013-1]

Just a quick question on the side. Where would your own developed shopping cart(ecommerce) be better for 3 times the price in comparison to Virtuemart?

I cater to my clients needs. So I won't add a lot of features they don't need.

Their solution is also flexible so growth (and evolution of) the website (which is inevitable) is accounted for and the development costs to add features are minimalistic.

To give you an example, I was ignored by 2 clients of mine, who opted for pre-bought packages. I've been customizing and changing the code for them for 18 months now, costing them over R110k over that period (each).

If we started out with what I proposed, that cost wouldn't have exceeded R7k for the same features they have today.

Custom Solutions always wins out when you're looking at cost.

If you don't mind having your website look like 10000 other websites when it comes to using pre-bought software (with an image here and there that's different) and something that's inflexible to change as your requirements change while you grow your business, then fine.

I guess people have very deep pockets and love spending that money in getting their primary source of income upgraded to suit their needs just because they were cheap to not do it properly from the beginning....

Amazon would beg to differ with you

 

[Adenoid Hynkel]

I agree with you.
Lets be realistic here. Most shopping carts work the same way. For eg. You code a shopping cart for client a. Client a wants that extra future. Client b does not need that extra feature, client C wants the extra feature but a bit customized.
In the end, your using the same code over and over. ALl you do is customize it for the client, add a feature there and there.
So where does that differ so much from Virtuemart?

Btw, Virtuemart/Joomla is very customizable. I can turn Virtuemart ( the design) into something totally different if I wanted to. So yo wont even know it a Joomla/Virtuemart site