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How to Get Someone Else to Build your Ecommerce Site for You

© Bonny Albo

Don't have enough time to create your own ecommerce site from scratch? Aren't willing to learn the intricacies of CGI, HTML, Perl... or any anacronym? Are unwilling to spend thousands of dollars paying someone else to do it for you?

Of course you don't want to, especially when you are trying to run a successful business from your home. Is there a quick and relatively painless way to get around these hurdles and still have a viable ecommerce site? Most definately yes. You just need to know where to look, and what questions to ask.

In searching for an ecommerce solution, I came across many "do it yourself" companies that take care of the back end (meaning programming, databases and shopping carts) for you. And where I found one, I found many more. But the options confused me, and the prices were difficult to compare. And if they got me going in circles (and I consider myself to be an intermediate level programmer), then most home business owners would be rolling their eyes faster than they could smell their youngest son's dirty diaper.

So, sit back, have a coffee, and expect to learn a little about ecommerce. Also, have a pen and paper ready to jot down some notes about how you want your site to look and feel. And finally, check out the sites mentioned, and then let me and all of the other home based working parents out there know what you think.

Quick Reference Best of the Best
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eParcel Store
Surprisingly, Canada Post, I think, has come up with a real winner by teaming up with Clic.net. Want shipping options calculated for you, a shopping cart, multi currency functions, security, AND only pay when you sell? Then this is the answer for you and your business. The most that you will pay in any month is $95.00 Cdn; if you sell less than 50 items or less than $750.00, then you pay nothing, except bank fees, credit card transaction fees, and shipping charges. Also, if you already have a site and just need a shopping cart (and know HTML), then this feature is available as well. International version for non-Canadians is available here. Check out the store that I made in less than one hour here.

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