[Calloween]

I have some ideas for some circuit boards and want to sell them. How do
you set up an online store?

 

[Otaku]

Interesting - what sort of boards are you thinking about?

 

[Bubbels]

I would suggest trying to sell a few on Ebay and see how that goes. There are so many angles to consider when setting up an online store. There really isn't any short cut to it either. If you don't have a very professional looking site, end users will think twice about giving you their credit card number.

Sorry to be so bitter about it! I have worked in the industry for over 10 years and have seen the value of putting many hours and many dollars towards a site.

Ebay on the other hand is just a really great solution for the small guy trying to make a buck.

 

[LV Scott T]

I agree with the eBay solution. However, if and when you are ready to take it to the next level, you'll need several hundred dollars for domain registration and protection, web hosting, and SSL certificate, plus dozens of hours to set it all up and optimize it. And that's assuming you go with a free store like osCommerce or ZenCart and DON'T pay thousands of dollars to have someone else design and optimize it for you. My online stores cost $310.85 each, plus $50 for an excellent book on optimization, and took months of "free time" (evenings and weekends) to build and optimize.

Yeah, go with eBay.

 

[Calloween]

Ok ebay it is.

 

[Mr_Chicken]

What kind of board are you designing?

 

[Calloween]

circuits to make hacked gemmy products talk. led fader/chaser/flasher. color organ. servo
controller

 

[mickkell]

Were you going for the"Magic eye"background on your site?Looks cool.

 

[Calloween]

Magic eye?

 

[mickkell]

Yeah,google it.Its 3d art that doesnt look 3d till you stare at it long enough and then it pops out in front of you,your background does it but I didnt see any image.Check it out.

 

[Calloween]

Weird it does.

 

[mickkell]

i know,LOL

 

[Calloween]

You cant focus on it.

 

[Freak 'N' Stein]

Calloween, I got lucky a few years ago when Microsoft was giving away FREE .coms and snagged mine then. I then set up all my products in a "gallery" fashion and simply used paypal links to sell everything. Paypal takes care of all the dirt work and you just put their "add to cart" links on your page and maintain your site. Worked for me. Best of luck!

 

[Calloween]

Calloween, I got lucky a few years ago when Microsoft was giving away FREE .coms and snagged mine then. I then set up all my products in a "gallery" fashion and simply used paypal links to sell everything. Paypal takes care of all the dirt work and you just put their "add to cart" links on your page and maintain your site. Worked for me. Best of luck!

Hmmmmmmmmmm.

 

[TK421]

I use paypal to sell some patches -- it's great! They take care of all the money and processing, and provide you with the necessary button and cart coding.

You would still need a domain name, server, etc. And you would still need a good looking site. Paypal is definitely a good "next step" if you have success on eBay, but I would strongly suggest you start there. They provide everything you need, and you know you're going out to a huge audience.

After a while, if eBay is successful, you can start an eBay store, or an eBay ProStore, or you can start your own site with links back to eBay.