adding on-line shop to web site-advice please

[Robert Lambie]

before going this route, what do you plan selling in your shop?

[Warren Beard]

I am also interested in this so please supply feed back on what is required to set this type of thing up.

Thanks

Warren

[Andrew Bennett]

wow,
I was just thinking about this and was recommended to a site called
mr site
I am not connected to it in any way and if i breached any rules can the mods edit me please

Anyway, they do the lot including the basket thing etc etc etc

I just don’t know more than one person who uses it to get an opinion in the round.

[Andrew Bennett]

quote Robert Lambie:

before going this route, what do you plan selling in your shop?

This is the most important question.

[Dave Martin]

You dont need to buy software to do this there are many free "e-commerce" solutions. However unless you know what your doing (im guessing not here) your best off getting some one who knows what they are doing to set it all up etc.

If your only planning on selling a few products paypal is ok, but despite you not needing an account to pay for your items many people people still believe you do and will simply cancel the transaction at the checkout end.

Im guessing by the way what you meen by merchant equipment is the facility to take cards over the phone in store etc? You will need to keep these as many customers would still rather pay via the phone if possible, especially if they want to ask you a question etc

You may want to look into a nochex merchant account its cheap to setup and has a better cleaner checkout system.

If you are unsure get a pro to do it, a well designed website can make you money a badly design/programmed website can also lose you it.

[Barbara Eden]

Wooeee! I asked a useful question for once- didn’t I ?? 🙂 🙂

Rob, I don’t make signs, this is for my sportswear, which I’ve been making for 12 years now.
Getting more international enquiries lately, so thought this should be the next step.

Andrew, thanks for the recommendation, I’ll look into that later.

Dave, I hear what you’re saying, but it’s only me who’s clueless 😳
My daughter has been designing and maintaining our web site for a few years now, and though I say so myself, it’s a really nice job-just right for our type of customer.
We just wanted advice on the best way to proceed 🙂
Barb

[Warren Beard]

Hi Barbara

Have you been taking payment over the phone then all this time? Do you think this method scares customers away? I only ask as I want to sell some products but need an online or card method of payment.

cheers

Warren

[Dave Martin]

Ok as long as she has a good grasp of html/css/php/mysql (not frontpage) knows how to directly edit/backup/restore the database in case of emergency. Knows the law regarding DSR, and accessibility standards as well as the quirks regarding various browsers then head over to the following locations:

http://www.oscommerce.com/
http://www.zencart.com/

ZenCart is a bit more user friendly and easier to mod for templates etc,
both have more than enough features to keep you busy for the next few months.

Also paypal would not be the route to go for as you would need to check every order is the correct price and that what you actually recieve is what you thought.

I would definitely recommend http://www.nochex.co.uk/merchant-account/ if your just starting out etc.

[Peter Normington]

Hi Barbara, Nice website
But why does it ask if I want to paste the content off my clipboard to it when I click on your the link, or is it just me?

Peter

[John Gregson]

Same happened to me Peter – got me a bit worried 😳

[Steve Underhill]

We have actinic developer, and 18 months later still not used it, cost £1800 in all, with a support package etc (hasty decision by cousin)
Its apparently pretty good though and links directly into the major banks etc, it looks pretty easy to use as I have had a bit of a go with it and has won plenty of awards by ecommerce reviewers so might be worth a go, the developer edition is the multi site, multi station one, its a lot less if you buy the single site one.
They also do a 30 day trial here

http://www.actinic.co.uk/products/best-ecommerce-software.htm

[Barbara Eden]

Dave, thank you so much for your help, and for pointing us in a few directions.

Peter and John, it seems that it’s a quirk of Explorer6/7 or so my daughter tells me, I have Firefox,and don’t have a problem. 🙂

Warren, some we take over the phone, as some of our products are expensive, and,as has been said, some customers like to chat anyway.

But we also have order forms on the site in PDF format that link to us, which encrypt all the data, so are as secure as we can be
To be honest, apart from the International orders I get, we were also thinking of the ‘must have it now customers’ and that was the main reason for my query.

Oh,Peter, thank you for your kind words about our web site. I have already passed them on to my daughter, as I know you don’t give praise lightly-so doubly appreciated.
Now that you’ve met the rest of my ‘family’ you know where most of my hard-earned cash goes 🙂 🙂
Barbara

[David Rowland]

yes, clipboard grabbing for some reason… thats the only thing I don’t like about your website is the security risk. Appears to be mainly in Javascript with encoding at the beginning, some kind of web protection. Very unusual in standard web development

I am currently in the process of setting up a payment engine… we are FSB (Federation SMall Business) deal which works with Streamline which also works with Worldpay… damn good rates 😀

[Lynn Normington]

Barbra that is a nice web site now we have seen the rest of your family it would be nice to see you 🙄

Lynn

[Peter Normington]

quote Barbara Eden:

Dave, thank you so much for your help, and for pointing us in a few directions.

Peter and John, it seems that it’s a quirk of Explorer6/7 or so my daughter tells me, I have Firefox,and don’t have a problem. 🙂

Barbara, its a fact that most people using the net use explorer, so many of your potential customers may be put off if they are asked if your site can copy from their clipboard. I have never come across this before, so you do really need to sort it.
quirk or not

Peter

[Steve Underhill]

Have to agree there, firefox/opera/netscape etc are all used, but not anywhere near as the same scale as IE 6 and 7, you need to view your site in at least IE firefox and netscape I would say, as there are still a lot of diehard netscape users, I remember back in like 1995 I used to use that.
Also you would do well to make sure it can be seen in AOL browser, as they have 2 milliion users in this country alone.

[Andrew Bennett]

quote Peter Normington:

Hi Barbara, Nice website
But why does it ask if I want to paste the content off my clipboard to it when I click on your the link, or is it just me?

Peter

Barbara Eden is known more for her role as the jeanie in "I dream of Jeanie" so maybe it’s just a bit of magic going on 😀

[Andrew Bennett]

quote Dave Martin:

Ok as long as she has a good grasp of html/css/php/mysql (not frontpage) knows how to directly edit/backup/restore the database in case of emergency. Knows the law regarding DSR, and accessibility standards as well as the quirks regarding various browsers then head over to the following locations:

http://www.oscommerce.com/
http://www.zencart.com/

ZenCart is a bit more user friendly and easier to mod for templates etc,
both have more than enough features to keep you busy for the next few months.

Also paypal would not be the route to go for as you would need to check every order is the correct price and that what you actually recieve is what you thought.

I would definitely recommend http://www.nochex.co.uk/merchant-account/ if your just starting out etc.

I was thinking about your post Dave and then I remembered an old friend out in maclean, Australia who runs an Oz web commerce consultancy and after rooting about a bit on his companty site I saw that they use this
http://www.cubecart.com/site/home/
I don’t know anything about it or if its any good but it must be worth an examination. and it’s user friendly….I am told.

I also understand that nochex is cheaper than paypal in its transaction fee’s.

[Jason Xuereb]

Ok I will throw my opinion in here. I was a web developer. I still am. I run our own website. I have just added online ordering to it. All custom built with a simple shopping cart.

How many products do you want to sell?

Do the products have options size etc?

I have setup a simple oscommerce site for a friend http://www.store.auto1059.com/ she configured it all herself templates images etc.

I think if you want to integrate something simple into your site the way I did it was pretty straight forward. I found all the shopping cart solutions to be to cumbersome for what we wanted.

Depends on the type of products you sell.

If you want any advice drop me a line. I think you can see our website as well being a member.

[Jason Xuereb]

Steve,

Half my website visitors use Fire fox with 30% using Internet explorer with those Internet explorer users basically split in half between v6 and v7.

So a lot of people are making the change.

You guys with a website should setup a Google Analytics account. Its free and gives you a wealth of knowledge about your website.

Jason

[Dave Martin]

quote Andrew Bennett:

I was thinking about your post Dave and then I remembered an old friend out in maclean, Australia who runs an Oz web commerce consultancy and after rooting about a bit on his companty site I saw that they use this
http://www.cubecart.com/site/home/
I don’t know anything about it or if its any good but it must be worth an examination. and it’s user friendly….I am told.

i have heard a good few things about cube cart, but never had to use it, tbh ive only ever used OSC and the a wordpress shopping cart addon. Apart from that im a bit like Jason in that i have a strong web background so tend to code everything i need.

[Barbara Eden]

quote Lynn:

Barbra that is a nice web site now we have seen the rest of your family it would be nice to see you 🙄

Nah Lynn! The horses are much easier on the eye, and unlike me, they love posing for the camera 🙂 🙂

Peter, the problem is Explorers,not ours 🙂

[Barbara Eden]

Barbara Eden is known more for her role as the jeanie in "I dream of Jeanie" so maybe it’s just a bit of magic going on :

Now you’re showing your age Andrew-as you remember the program.
I’m nowhere near as gorgeous-just almost as old !! 😮 😮
Barbara

[Peter Normington]

quote Barbara Eden:

barbra that is a nice web site now we have seen the rest of your family it would be nice to see you 🙄

Nah Lynn! The horses are much easier on the eye, and unlike me, they love posing for the camera 🙂 🙂

Peter, the problem is Explorers,not ours 🙂

Barbara, sorry to be a pain but it is your problem, it is like saying your add in yellow pages is wrong, so its their problem not yours…
Its your web site and it should be viewable by as many potential clients as possible, I never ever got the "can I copy" message from any other place, so you do need to rectify it,
your choice if you dont, I dont need a saddle anyway… 😀

Peter

[Barbara Eden]

Peter, I’m only repeating what I’m told-so stop smacking my hand 🙂
According to this it’s Explorer 7’s increased security?

Sorry,didn’t know how to post the link

In you’re using Internet Explorer 7, there are several enhanced and tighten security features that have been incorporated into IE7. One of them been restricted Clipboard data access by websites and web pages. In Internet Explorer 7, both IE 7 installed on Windows XP or IE7 that comes together with Windows Vista, the behaviour occurs when you visit a website or webpage that tries to access the information stored in Clipboard’s memory, as Clipboard’s memory stored data can be sensitive and private. For security purpose, IE7 will pop-up a warning alert message as below:

Do you want to allow this webpage to access your Clipboard?
You will then need to press or click “Don’t Allow” or “Allow” button to get pass the popup

Barbara

[Peter Normington]

Barbara, I use ie 6.
I would rather kiss, than slap your hand.
I am just saying its up to you (or your daughter) to solve the problem,
not blame the browser..

your web site should not be asking for my clipboard contents…

xx

Peter

[Jason Xuereb]

I tested the site in IE6 what is this popup? I can’t replicate it. Someone care to post a screen shot maybe I can help.

Barbara you are right Internet Explorer has quirks. But there are work arounds and its your job or your web developers job to fix them.

I had an issue the other day with the box model. Internet Explorer 6 has this problem and I had to find a work around cause some customers couldn’t order.

[Peter Normington]

posted a screen print in off topic

Peter

[Jason Xuereb]

Your problem lies somewhere in here in your javascript code at the top.

http://pastebin.com/m5e48af8e

[Jason Xuereb]

Further research led me to your web developer using this http://www.html-protector.com/encrypt/

Can you upload your site to an un html encrypted area for testing?

I don’t get why you need to use this. It simple converts html into hex. If your just trying to protect your email addresses simple change the mailto to the hex code not the whole html code. Its making your pages alot bigger then they need to be.

It also makes your website totally unusable for anyone with javascript disabled.

[Barbara Eden]

Peter said:

your web site should not be asking for my clipboard contents…

Peter, I do apologise,you are quite correct, I do beg your pardon 😳 😳 😳

I had ‘just done as I was told’, and when I couldn’t paste the link, pasted the text……….
then read it afterwards 😕 😕

Hopefully,with jason’s help,it can be sorted.

Barb

[Barbara Eden]

Hi Jason
Thanks for all your helpful advice-a little more would be greatly appreciated 🙂

Basically, we had a serious problem with our web contents being copied and used to describe other products (copyrights etc). We are the UK distributors for the saddles, and very proud of that, and wanted to protect ourselves.

Helen (my daughter) got in touch with Namo (who produce our web design software) and they recommended the thing that’s causing all the bother 😕

If you have suggestions to rectify the problem, and still keep our site secure Jason, I’d really appreciate hearing your advice 🙂 🙂

Thanks again..
Barb

[Dave Martin]

Copy protection on websites is not really worth all the hassle just accept it will happen, if you do find a website that has copied your info then get in touch with there provider. (www.dnsstuff.com can help)

Copy protection just makes the code over bloated and way to slow to load,
It will also make the site inaccessible to many people << this is a big no no if running a store.

and anyone with a spare 5 Min’s will be able to get round it. (took me 3 clicks using firefox)

[Andrew Bennett]

Isnt there a right click cancellation thingy so visitors cant save your pics and stuff please?

[Jason Xuereb]

So all you want to do is stop people copy and pasting your text on your website?

Your right click protection is useless. I can highlight the text and CRTL+C to copy it still.

quote :

Made by Christ Lammfell of Germany, these are the ultimate in luxury for the horse. The upper fabric is a dense quality cotton quilt and this is lined underneath with a half-panel of split pure Australian Sheepskin. These panels have a velcro opening at the front for the addition of shims if needed.

Don’t really see the benefit of your protection.

Are you saying they were stealing your html or stealing the body copy text of your product descriptions?

[Dave Martin]

problem is most copy protection is via java or java script, all of which can switched off using firefox, if someone really wants it they will just use a screen capture then use an OCR or photoshop to crop the image.

I wont even go into the amount of SEO issues it can cause…

http://www.beersoft.net/sitechecker/www … ian.co.uk/

scroll to the bottom and you will see what a search engine like google see’s on your site

[Andrew Bennett]

Boy there’s some talented people on this site.
Makes one feel quite inadequate in some ways and happy to be here in others.

[Barbara Eden]

Now I’m reeaaallllyyy depressed 😥 😥

Jason, we were trying to stop text and pictures being copied-it has been a right headache.
From what people have said, it seems nothing can be done??

Barb
(going to hibernate) 🙁 🙁 🙁

[Andrew Bennett]

quote Barbara Eden:

, we were [i]trying to stop text and pictures being copied-it has been a right headache.
From what people have said, it seems nothing can be done??

Well there is a little thing called copyright and a little thing called Trade Mark Barb.

[Dave Martin]

yes things can be done like you have shown…

however you need to way up the fact your trying to stop a couple of people taking some images and text, against maybe stopping a potential audience of 1000’s?

this is why i said from the begging you need to get some who knows what they are doing…after-all being able to use small a4 desktop printer does not make me a sign maker…… or indeed changing a light bulb make me an electrician.

First thing i would recommend is getting rid of all the unneeded java-script and at least try to get a better SEO ranking.

If you do find people taking you images and text, e-mail there provider…. things can be done.

If you need help with this post a link to the website that is doing it and i will send you the contact details of who you need to contact.

[Barbara Eden]

Yea! I know Andrew-but that’s more for the manufacturers (in my case) and they’re in Italy!
Also, trying to get anything done on that score is time consuming andveryexpensive 🙁
Which is why the barstewards get away with it!!!
Barb

[Andrew Bennett]

Hmmm,

our barbara sells stuff and retains all rights to authorship on her website(insert special symbol here) Copyright and Copy 2008 specialist retailer of Trade Marked goods.

Dave and JAson will see you right barb, cheer up me deario. 😀

[Barbara Eden]

quote Dave Martin:

yes things can be done like you have shown…

this is why i said from the begging you need to get some one who knows what they are doing…after-all being able to use small a4 desktop printer does not make me a sign maker…… or indeed changing a light bulb make me an electrician.

I agree with you on this Dave, in fact,in the beginning that is exactly what we didbut we got skinned and hung out to dry 👿 👿

Hence, we do it ourselves (or my daughter does) 🙂 it’s been a heck of a learning curve – and (obvious with this thread now) we’re still getting things wrong-but, I have to say, I’ve seen a lot of web sites that I[/b]wouldn’t pay a cent for 😕 😕
Barb

[Jason Xuereb]

I’m with Dave.

I’d rather be making a tone of sales by having my website available to the majority of people then worrying about people copying my text and images.

I can do a screen capture paste it in photoshop crop it and I’ve got your images. If your that anal about pictures watermark them with your website address. That makes it harder for people to steal without having to modify the actual graphics.

As for the text they will get it either way. Even right down to retyping the text just by reading it.

I’d rather be filthy rich and have everyone copying my website then having a website not being able to be copied then making no sales at all.

[Gary Marks]

I have built probably 20 or 30 sites now for myself, friends and a couple of companies.

If she is relatively computer savvy she will get on with Actinic. Its what I use.
You do not need any html or knowledge of coding, its very simple to use and set up. Actinic will accept paypal, paypal express and paypal pro, it also accepts nochex, Actinic now have there own payment scheme.

The beginners course is well worth the money and they have a yearly sub which gives you tech support and software upgrades. They also have there own forum.
Once she gets used to Actiic she can then start customising it with code if she wishes, but anyone can built an ecommerce site with Actinic.

Actinic will also link to Sage for your accounts.
It produces packing lists, invoices and all sorts of reports.
It will email you when you have orders.

In fact there is pretty much it wont do.

If you do want a site built, go to there forum and there are some very clever developers that will build your site but give you control over the downloading and orders, some of these guys do Actinic so well Actinic employ them to trouble shot, evaluate and build add on’s for them

I have never regretted buying it 5 years ago