New Ecommerce Site?

hobbit666

Got a friend (well my old boss) he runs a small IT Shop.
One of his regulars has come to him asking for help about a website, both aren't very "weby" so have asked me

Problem is the last website i looked at and rebuilt (about 3-4 yrs ago) i used WordPress on a generic hosting provider.

Now things have moved on i'm not sure what the "going" CMS is for Websites and Ecommerce? Is Wordpress still good with some Shopping Cart/Payment modules still ok. Or are there better "all in one" solutions that are more drag and drop design wise.

I'm happy to setup and get the basics going for them, but page creation and adding store items they will need to do, so something easy would help.

I did come across this but not sure if you would "trust" something like this?
https://www.wix.com - Seem to have a "ecommerce" plan available.

stacksofplates

@hobbit666 said in New Ecommerce Site?:

Got a friend (well my old boss) he runs a small IT Shop.
One of his regulars has come to him asking for help about a website, both aren't very "weby" so have asked me

Problem is the last website i looked at and rebuilt (about 3-4 yrs ago) i used WordPress on a generic hosting provider.

Now things have moved on i'm not sure what the "going" CMS is for Websites and Ecommerce? Is Wordpress still good with some Shopping Cart/Payment modules still ok. Or are there better "all in one" solutions that are more drag and drop design wise.

I'm happy to setup and get the basics going for them, but page creation and adding store items they will need to do, so something easy would help.

I did come across this but not sure if you would "trust" something like this?
https://www.wix.com - Seem to have a "ecommerce" plan available.

Squarespace or Shopify. You're not going to be able to do it for cheaper yourself.

wirestyle22

@hobbit666 There's also Weebly

hobbit666

Yeah thanks, that's what i've been thinking.

But i think he (i.e. old boss) will want to host the site on his plesk based server as he "resells" hosting hence WordPress and something for ecommerce shopping.

stacksofplates

@hobbit666 said in New Ecommerce Site?:

Yeah thanks, that's what i've been thinking.

But i think he (i.e. old boss) will want to host the site on his plesk based server as he "resells" hosting hence WordPress and something for ecommerce shopping.

Hosting it yourself means you'll have to deal with payment gateways like Stripe (pretty much the de facto) and now some form of PCI compliance (probably). Stripe makes it easier in that everything is contained in an iframe so nothing has to touch your application. However if you store any card data at all you now have to deal with PCI.

Another issue is GDPR (and the like). He may want to host it himself but there is a reason the ecommerce sites exist already. If it takes him even half an hour for any maintenance per month on the site it's costing him more than one of the hosted solutions.

All I can say is good luck.

stacksofplates

Also was that a mistype or did you really mean plesk server?

travisdh1

@hobbit666 said in New Ecommerce Site?:

Yeah thanks, that's what i've been thinking.

But i think he (i.e. old boss) will want to host the site on his plesk based server as he "resells" hosting hence WordPress and something for ecommerce shopping.

Speaking from experience here, becoming PCI compliant is a pain. Not because it's difficult, but because everyone involved with it has a checklist they go by and no actual brain usage.

If they want to get into hosting their own web store and the maintenance that comes with it, they should probably just open their own online marketplace like Squarespace or Shopify.

hobbit666

@travisdh1 @stacksofplates Yeah think he's already PCI/GDPR etc registered and stuff (well so he tells me lol).

I've given him some options.

Basically blow away the current site as it's compromised. Get a better/new domain name. Forward the old crappy .net domain to the new. Create a better more secure site, either on a better host, or with the likes of Square/Shopify etc.

hobbit666

@stacksofplates said in New Ecommerce Site?:

Also was that a mistype or did you really mean plesk server?

What's wrong with plesk?

stacksofplates

@hobbit666 said in New Ecommerce Site?:

@stacksofplates said in New Ecommerce Site?:

Also was that a mistype or did you really mean plesk server?

What's wrong with plesk?

The way that read it sounded like he's reselling hosting on his plesk server.

hobbit666

@stacksofplates He is.

They have a "server" in a colo somewhere and uses plesk to set-up websites for clients/people

stacksofplates

@hobbit666 said in New Ecommerce Site?:

@stacksofplates He is.

They have a "server" in a colo somewhere and uses plesk to set-up websites for clients/people

I'm a moron, I'm sorry. I kept thinking Plex. Never mind.

travisdh1

@stacksofplates said in New Ecommerce Site?:

@hobbit666 said in New Ecommerce Site?:

@stacksofplates said in New Ecommerce Site?:

Also was that a mistype or did you really mean plesk server?

What's wrong with plesk?

The way that read it sounded like he's reselling hosting on his plesk server.

You're thinking of the other Plex server. One shares media files and the other manages hosted web services.

jmoore

@hobbit666 That sounds like a bad idea in my opinion. Wordpress is still good but a little more involved than Shopify which is about the best value you can get. If he resells hosting you would think he would not need help.

jmoore

Oops Im wrong, I was thinking plex also

hobbit666

@jmoore Yeah most of the sites he "hosts" are simple static stuff, and i've done the work previously but not worked for him for 4 yrs and this is the first "new" client he's had since lol.
Think this one is more of a favour to someone. But have recommened he gets them on Square/Shopify/Weebly and then i don't mind doing some of the initial setup and layout work then they can add the items to the shop.

jmoore

@hobbit666 First new client? He needs to increase the marketing budget lol. I know what you mean though. You just need to keep it simple for him, if hes the one going to be managing it.

scottalanmiller

@hobbit666 said in New Ecommerce Site?:

I did come across this but not sure if you would "trust" something like this?
https://www.wix.com - Seem to have a "ecommerce" plan available.

Nothing screams "not a real business" like a Wix site. I would never do business with someone on Wix, I would never trust that they were a viable business.

scottalanmiller

@stacksofplates said in New Ecommerce Site?:

@hobbit666 said in New Ecommerce Site?:

Got a friend (well my old boss) he runs a small IT Shop.
One of his regulars has come to him asking for help about a website, both aren't very "weby" so have asked me

Problem is the last website i looked at and rebuilt (about 3-4 yrs ago) i used WordPress on a generic hosting provider.

Now things have moved on i'm not sure what the "going" CMS is for Websites and Ecommerce? Is Wordpress still good with some Shopping Cart/Payment modules still ok. Or are there better "all in one" solutions that are more drag and drop design wise.

I'm happy to setup and get the basics going for them, but page creation and adding store items they will need to do, so something easy would help.

I did come across this but not sure if you would "trust" something like this?
https://www.wix.com - Seem to have a "ecommerce" plan available.

Squarespace or Shopify. You're not going to be able to do it for cheaper yourself.

Agreed, my wife does web design and while we could use WordPress of Magento or similar, it's not smart. She always tells people to look at those two.

scottalanmiller

@hobbit666 said in New Ecommerce Site?:

But i think he (i.e. old boss) will want to host the site on his plesk based server as he "resells" hosting hence WordPress and something for ecommerce shopping.

Um.... he does this but needs advice on this stuff?

Tell him my wife owns a web design business AND I own a web hosting business and I'd not do this even for my own stuff. Even as a web site operator, he's not making any sense.