Online Shops? What works?

[OddSocks]

Hi all!

Long time no post.

I have a client who wants an online shop. Trying to decide do I

1 - Give them osCommerce, etc, set up from scratch
2 - Tell them to get an eBay shop
3 - Show them how to make pages by hand and use PayPal buttons

For 1 - Buggered if I can find a (free) web shop that intelligently handles large images without using just the browser to shrink the damn things. Also it's a pain setting up Australia Post codes, etc...

For 2 - eBay shops want money for every sale. Is the increased visibility worth the expense??

For 3 - Seems the hard way to do things, but the stock they sell doesn't change that often so perhaps it's not so bad. PayPal handling of postage might still be an issue.

Any advice gladly appreciated. Will keep researching in the mean time.

[lostreality]

whats his budget?

[OddSocks]

Not huge at this stage - maybe 100 products or so. I didn't ask exactly what they wanted to spend.

Let's say $500 setup (at my rate $50/hr, not listing all products) with ongoing preferably $50 or less per month. (I'll host for them at around $15 per month if a php or cgi system is the way to go.) It's only a small business and this is perhaps an experimental step.

[lostreality]

start with eBay and if that proves successful, introduce an e-commerce solution through that, build up the custom from there.

you can always use other ecommerce scripts such as zen cart (http://www.zen-cart.com/)

otherwise if the online shop fails not only have you wasted your time - and potential profit for the future but also your reputation.

[C0V3R]

Either go with ebay shops or do it properly. You cant do any ecommerce site properly on $500.