eCommerce web hosting and hosted eStores
Generally speaking, there are 3 types of estore available to you.
The first type is an ecommerce hosting account where you install, configure, and maintain your own estore software, and operate and maintain the entire web site by yourself. You begin by opening a web hosting account, registering a domain name, installing osCommerce, osCAR, ZenCart or similar software, and sort it all out yourself. You would need to be mildly conversant with PHP and HTML, and be able to confidently upload files by FTP to do this.
The second and most popular type is a hosted estore account, where the ecommerce software such as osCAR is already installed, configured and maintained by the parent hosting company, and is more commonly known as a turnkey or ready to go estore. You usually have a choice of using your own registered domain name, or simply using a subdomain name of the parent hosting company. Hosted estores are the quickest way to get online, as you only need concern yourself with your products and sales, as you can safely leave the technical stuff to the hosts.
The third type is the professional or full-blown ecommerce system that is operated from either a dedicated server, or a cluster of servers by an IT crew and a collection of staff involved in the actual day to day updating and maintenance of the entire system. This system is what is deployed by the big boys, and will require nothing more from you other than hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, so we don’t think you are quite ready for this one yet.
Recommendation: Try hosted estores first.
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