Home: Message List - Start online retail.

Re: Start online retail.

amspcs — Sun, 31 May 2009 23:41:35 GMT

Amen to Nat's post. Credit card compliance is a BIG issue these days, just ask anyone who's been hacked like TJ Maxx, Heartland Payment Systems, etc. Take it VERY seriously and do your processing via a know merchant services provider using a gateway that knows what it's doing such as Authorize.net, Verisign, etc. Avoid brand X like the plague. And never never NEVER store card data under any circumstances.

AMSPCS
amspcs@juno.com
www.MerchantServices-help.com

Re: Start online retail.

Unique_Genius — Sun, 31 May 2009 18:07:02 GMT

Welcome! I have the same idea as you about starting an online business. Hope you find some helpful info, I will let you know if I find out any helpful tips
Good Luck
-Genius

Re: Start online retail.

cyildirim — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:18:39 GMT

I decided to do start an online Retail Busienss 3 months ago. After careful evaluation of all possible options for this I created a legal LLC and built a web site to sell home entertainment systems.
I wantto share my experince and learn from other's comments.

Initially my research was about finding answers to basic business and technical questions on How to Start and Online Store Business.

It is too long to share here but you can read about this on my blog at

http://cem-yildirim.blogspot.com

I wish to hear and learn from others who has experinece on this topic

Good luck

Cem

Re: Start online retail.

LUCKIEST — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 09:12:33 GMT

More suggestions on starting a business, LUCKIEST

h3. 6 Steps to Small Business Success

1. Start Smart
2. Plan Ahead
3. Set up Systems
4. Seek out Sales
5. Aim for Growth
6. Leverage Opportunities

1. Start Smart.
Identify a niche. Don't compete to be the lowest cost provider. Look
for what makes your product or service unique and adds a special value
for the client and charge for that value. Every business has many
facets. Start with what you know and like; start a business that has
meaning to you. Keep in mind that we don't know what the future holds,
many of the jobs and businesses of tomorrow don't exist today. You can
create your own success.

Now is the time to dream. To start smart, you should like the idea of
the business. The way to earn a good income and build wealth is by
serving clients well, making their life better in some way-it's more
than filling a need in the marketplace. To succeed you want to test the
idea to make sure your potential clients like the idea too. Test your
ideas.

2. Plan Ahead.
People often ask me why bother with a business plan? Look at the
lottery as an example. You may get lucky and get the winning ticket,
but the odds are against you when you rely on random chance. I'm a risk
taker...but not that much, minimize the risk of going into business and
maximize your potential for success. Take the time to write a plan of
how you get from point A to point B. A plan gives you a clear future
focus and increases your chances of success.

The first rule of a start-up is put some of your own money in the
business. As the owner you must be willing to capitalize the business.
The second rule is put as little of your own money as possible in the
business. Prepare your plan and look for funding for your business from
multiple sources, which can include a business loan or business line of
credit.

Don't go it alone. Plan ahead now to build your team. Your team may
include a CPA and an attorney that you work with as needed. Add a
mentor from your industry and get a SCORE mentor to help you plan for
success. No one has all the answers. You get more ideas and information
by building a success, support team that can help you plan ahead.

3. Set up Systems.
The most basic system every business should have is a good financial
system. Ask yourself how am I going to generate enough income to
support myself and my family. Begin here. Put together a personal
budget, so you know what it costs you to live. Now, you can move on to
the business budget and sales planning, so you can see how many sales
you need to break even and make a profit. The start-up expense plan,
operating budget and your accounting software are vital to your
success.

4. Seek out Sales.
The daunting question is how do you go about seeking out your first
sale. Recognize that since you don't have a big ad budget to be seen by
everyone, you need to target a niche and get connected in your market
community, be it local, regional or national. You need other people
selling for you-not employees-goodwill referrals. Get out and talk to
as many people as you can. Join organizations that would have clients
for your product or service. Become a visible part of your market, and
then ask for the sale. You begin the sales process with people that you
know. Yes, it's okay to start with friends and family as your first
customers, and then broaden from there.

5. Aim for Growth.
The basic tenant of creating a company is that you own the company. You
are not just creating a job for yourself. It's less risk and less
investment to get a job. Building a business is creating a company that
is more than the job itself. Think about the future. How large do you
want the company to be in terms of sales, net profit and employees?
Your answer to each of these questions will influence how you grow.
There are varying costs and profits associated with growth. It's
important to make a deliberate choice early about how you want to grow
your company.

6. Leverage Opportunities.
Good luck. Good fortune. Good timing. All play a part in business. As a
business owner, be very clear about your core focus for the business
and how it serves clients. Your core business is what pays the bills.
Then, as an entrepreneur you are about opportunity. When you see a
potential opportunity or stroke of luck measure it against your core
business focus. Good fortune is great, when it matches your vision for
the business. Always consider if a good opportunity is the right fit
for your business. If something looks great, but it's not in sync with
your long-term plan and budget, think carefully before committing your
company's resources.

Re: Start online retail.

Risktk666 — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 04:40:56 GMT

Webdesigners please feel free to contact me as well for pricing on a website. I posted in another thread about all my specifics.

Ideal website?

www.sunshinejewelry.com

This website is definitely my ideal website and although its very eleborate that is exactly what I am looking.

Thanks

risktk666

Re: Start online retail.

King & Priest — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 01:11:45 GMT

Thanks for all the advice. They are well noted.

Re: Start online retail.

NatOnline — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:51:02 GMT

As far as I am concern, all encryptions of credit cards from my customers are either captured on Authorize.net site or Paypal, this is why we are safer.

All personnal information we capture are encrypted by our SSL 256 bits. If you want to go farther my hosting company has different levels of security.

Oh you can take a service like "hackers safe" it will cost you only $9,000 per year

There is not system 100% safe.

Re: Start online retail.

volusion — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:38:49 GMT

There is more to PCI than just storage. There is credit card encryption as well, which is an expense/labor in and of itself. Open source software is much easier to crack than proprietary software, and not all firewalls are completely safe.

Do the users in this forum know everything they need to do to ensure their stores are safe? How much would they have to spend to ensure it is, given the fact that audits are several hundreds of dollars for individual store owners?

Regards,
Michelle Greer
http://www.volusion.com

Re: Start online retail.

NatOnline — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 16:26:00 GMT

You don't need to capture credit cards on your own e-commerce, a gateway provider can handle that for you and they've got a security departement monitoring transactions 24/24 and 7/7.

This is not hard to configure a SSL, I do that myself for $27 per year, when sites like yours take hundred's, but that's business right?

Sure big corporations will not take care of details and you can sell them these packs, but not staters or small companies

Re: Start online retail.

volusion — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:28:59 GMT

Actually, I'm not sure how much you know about our software. Let me clarify.

--I'm not sure why it would be a liability to point your domain towards our name servers.
--We do host your site, but bear in mind, hosting credit card information can hardly be taken lightly. Credit card companies have standards for hosting credit card data, and the average merchant will not be able to do this and comply by PCI/CISP standards. Essentially, if you are not hosting credit card data properly, you can get fined or blackballed by Visa. I have talked to merchants whose stores have been hacked, and it is very difficult for them to find hosts again. For most businesses, the expense would shut them down.
--You can customize your own template with Volusion. All of the clients in our client gallery have customized their stores using Dreamweaver or something similar.
--We do charge extra for using a third party SSL simply because it requires more configuring on our part.
--We offer a plan that allows for unlimited products and unlimited product options.

Considering Barack Obama, Omni Hotels, Pez Candy, and the Chicago Tribune as well as over 10,000 other merchants use our software, I don't think we'd be able to scam anyone. You can build a store yourself, and you can also build a car yourself or a house. With as much as merchants have to do to run a business, would you really want to though?