I want to open an online store

[jane65]

Hey everyone, I am thinking about opening an online store and I have no clue where to start. I don't know anyone who can build the website for me and I don't know the first thing about hosting and how to choose the best plan for my website. Can anyone guide me through the process?

 

[CheeseMoon]

What are you going to sell, and do you have a budget? I've helped a couple of small businesses setting up simple webshops for physical goods, and other than the website itself you should have some idea about shipping, payment processing and last but not least returns.

In both cases we found that setting up shop on Squarespace was the simpler (but probably not the cheapest) option, because you have to spend very little time fiddling with anything technical to get it off the ground. It's website and hosting is all in one, and you don't need to know anything about programming. They have a 14 day trial period so you can test it.

Note that I have no affiliation with them. Just a satisfied user/customer.

 

[Diana_Devil]

What are you going to sell, and do you have a budget? I've helped a couple of small businesses setting up simple webshops for physical goods, and other than the website itself you should have some idea about shipping, payment processing and last but not least returns.

In both cases we found that setting up shop on Squarespace was the simpler (but probably not the cheapest) option, because you have to spend very little time fiddling with anything technical to get it off the ground. It's website and hosting is all in one, and you don't need to know anything about programming. They have a 14 day trial period so you can test it.

Note that I have no affiliation with them. Just a satisfied user/customer.

really thank you for the answer , its what i was looking for !

 

[Dan N]

Another suggestion can be Wordpress CMS and WooCommerce plugin.
All you need is a domain, host and of course, products.
Wordpress CMS is one of the most popular content management systems and free to download/install/use
If you want control over all aspects of your online business, WP is your best choice.
But feel free to test, prospect other services too, its not a bad idea to have multiple options and choose the one which you feel most comfortable with.

A few guidelines
* Domain name
- you'll need to choose a domain name and register it (buy it) / Try GoDaddy or NameCheap
* Hosting
- finding a good host with good assistance/support can be a challenge these days but yes there are good hosting providers... can't give you any names because my personal hosting is from Romania and the business one is hosted by Amazon
- for starters you can go with 5GB hosting / unlimited bandwidth / cPanel / SSL (certificate) included... should not exceed the 5 to 10$/mo
* Install
- if you decide to go with Wordpress CMS, the install process is very simple assuming your hosting provider enables the cPanel for your account
- once you have your own wp platform installed on your domain, a couple of plugins needs to be installed. For store, WooCommerce, for security WP Cerber or Wordfence. The rest is up to you.
Themes and plugins for Wordpress can be found on admin dashboard or you can go for premium ones from Envato/CodeCanyon and other online websites.
My choice, if I were to start a fresh online business and not a tech savvy would be this.
A raw estimation investment of 30$ or less, really depends on what are you going for -- domain registration might be the most expensive acquisition.
My wife did the same and she has no clue, absolutely 0 IT experience about any of this stuff I wrote above... yet online store is up and running

Good luck.

 

[Chojin]

I bought a domain name on GoDaddy and made a shopping cart, but I don't use it.

I've found that listing on eBay got more sales. If you made your own site, you'd have to promote it.. On eBay, you just get instant sales. Facebook Marketplace is very good too and there's no fees to pay. I get more views per product on Facebook than eBay.