Anyone out there building their own webshop at the moment? I'm getting stuck on the payment bit!

[fourlittlefeet]

I've managed to get a site up and registered, but am not sure how to get a professional payment engine in there. Please do post your site here with examples as I'm really trying to get my head around this quite quickly (have got 6 month old and 2 yr old so want to make my site work in the hope of not going back to full time!). High hopes, I know.

anyone?

If you are just starting out, I would recommend a pre-built e-commerce solution from someone like 123-reg or UK2.net.

If you are determined to try and integrate something yourself, look at Google Checkout, PayPal Website Payments and maybe WorldPay.

Thank you for responding. I am using a 1&1 package, but each time I think I'm there, I find I have to upgrade to get what I want. So its got a shop module, but no payment. I guess its either upgrade again (and rebuild the whole site again) or try and integrate one of the payment websites.

I wasn't sure whether I can just add paypal type buttons into the site, or whether I have to try and build a payment page to look more like my site as well. Can you advise at all?

Yes you can just add buttons, although this will not give as professional a user experience as a full integration. The PayPal doucumentation shows you how to do it.

off to read it. thanks again. tis a minefield.

Have you looked at the Mr.Site package? For £35 you can transfer your hosting and it gives you all the templates you need to build an e-commerce site, incorporating PayPal. I used it to build my site from scratch and I am a complete I.T. dunce. My site is up, running and selling. No problems.
I'm not saying it's the best site in the world but it does the job and I had little or no budget. I like the fact that I can go to it at any time and make changes instantly without having to wait for some webdesigner to do it at a cost!
www.alwaysreadthelabel.info

Thanks tiny. What a useful site!

My problem is that I've got a hosted package and have actually paid to create an eshop and pay monthly for the privilege. I thought I could just activate paypal, but it looks as though I can't. Its with 1&1. Not sure if anyone else has tried it. Really easy and the site looks good. Just that people can't pay, so its a bit of a waste of time so far! Think I'll have to call them as adding paypal buttons will mean I can't use the 1&1 cart system. hmm.

Wordpress - wordpress - wordpress
It's free, it's completely open source and you can make it do anything you want with plugins other people have made - for free.
PS paypal is best to start out but if you start making some money take your time to look around for the best deal

i don't know what host you're using : i use Webeden now (after being with streamline.net ; useless, btw) and there's a PayPal widget thing.
webeden is really user-friendly too: you can completely design it all, but use their templates if you're bad at that sort of thing.
but defintely try paypal for payment (i think google has a payment system too: google checkout, but i don't know if it's any good...)

thanks for the tips! I've added paypal and will go and look at wordpress. maybe I can set it up then move across when its ready . what I'm using now looks great but its very pricey.

I use romancart as a shopping cart on my website (www.chiggs.co.uk) it works well and isn't too pricey, I use paypal and nochex with it. If you've added paypal, Nochex may be worth a look as it works on the same lines (ie no upfront fees, charges per transaction) in fact the fees are slightly lower than paypal.

I also pay monthly to have Paypal Pro so that I can use my computer as a virtual terminal and take credit card payments over the phone. This is especially useful for me as I also sell my products wholesale, so can take orders and credit card payments direct from stockists, but I have friends with retail websites who take customer orders by phone or use a laptop as a terminal to take c/card payments at fairs/events.

don't know if this is relevant to your site!

thanks betty, its very interesting to know how others are doing this as my option is costly as I'm just starting up and sales are still gearing up. Can I ask you for any tips about advertising too? I like your product, by the way!

Now I know nothing about all this, but DH is a web designer and I was going to post the same as Spritch - he uses Wordpress and seems to be doing ok with it. There seems to be a great forum for advise and support as well.

(You weren't at the Wordpress gathering last weekend by any chance Spritch were you....?)

thank you, have yet to have a gander at it as research is so hard with two little ones, by the evening I just have to do the most important bits before I pass out!