overview of requirements

[Gombul]

Can someone please outline in a numbered list all the different people/services I'll need to involve in the process of creating a shopping cart for a small to medium sized business (ie: is it webhost, merchant host, bank and cart-software?). I'm the designer so that part isn't necessary.

There is so much biased information on the web but so far I haven't been able to grasp an objective understanding of the end to end process.

[sadcox66]

1. Domain Name - point it to you hosting server.

2. Hosting server estimate bandwidth and harddrive space. Start low then increase your package as you make money.

3. Shopping cart software - find one you are most comfortable with. Since your a web designer you may be able to do the customization. You can get a paid for shopping cart or one based on open source. Since customization is a one time issue you can get help from someone.

4. Payment interface. Estimate what your monthly sales will be. If it will be greater than $1000 a month it is more profitable to get your own
i.) Merchant account - a bank
ii.) Payment gateway - electronic connection to bank
iii.) Your own SSL certificate
iv.) cURL installed on your server. Required if you will go this route.(In almost all cases I am aware off)

If your sales volume will be small use a third party payment provider. You will use their SSL certificate.
Look for one with no monthly fee. Expect a higher per transaction cost but no monthly fee.

5. Shipping.
You may need to get ID with UPS/FedEx/USP if you will use them. You interface to their System to download fare tables and track packages. Make this information available to your clients.

Extras:
Affiliates/Banner Management
Web Statistics
Mailinglist (some shopping carts have this built in)