E-Commerce Tools: Using Third-Party Vendors

Another is option is to use a vendor who includes everything you need to get your online business started. This is certainly a more painless way to go than designing and developing everything yourself and then hoping all of the elements will work together happily.

There are some reputable companies that offer these types of services, and many will include not only the Web site design, shopping cart software and merchant account, but also they will register your domain name(s) and host your site for you. Others provide templates and wizards that let you build your site yourself without having to know HTML coding. They include integrated shopping cart software that ties in with an included merchant account.

If you decide to go this route, keep these things in mind:

  • watch out for hidden fees
  • make sure you've read and understand all of the terms
  • make sure you don't have limitations to how you design your site.
  • check on importable file formats (like Microsoft Excel spreadsheets for product databases)
  • compare different vendors!
Some vendors include:

When comparing vendors, go to some of their clients' sites and see how the shopping cart interface works. Go through the ordering process and see if you like the way it looks and feels. Be sure to visit several stores from each vendor to make sure you're getting a good representation of the features.

Look at the variations of site layout and decide if the ideas you have for your site will work. You typically don't have the flexibility in design with templates and wizards that you have when you design your site the old fashioned way! There may also be limitations in size, database capabilities, etc. Take your list of site functions to the proposed vendor and see if they can accommodate your needs.