soprey Posted May 20, 2007 Share Posted May 20, 2007 I,ve been serching a lot of web hosting sites. Would like to hear some feed back on hosting sites people on the forum use, and which hosting sites have the least hidden fees. also Who would be good for a murchants for shopping carts for visa and mastercard? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arkangel Posted May 20, 2007 Share Posted May 20, 2007 Depends on what you're looking for. I've been designing websites since 1993 and a graphic designer for ten years before that - I'll try and break everything down to it's simplest form. You'll need the followinga host: basically, someone to give you server space to store your web files.a shopping cart (look for free carts like zen cart or mal's cart): This will 'compile' your orders and allow people to pay and check outa merchant account for your business: this is the 'banking' part of your business - it will allow you to accept credit cards in your company's name. Many merchant account services will provide you with a free shopping cart. A payment 'gateway' - a secure way to transfer the credit card payments directly to your bank account (like authorize.net)Now - there are some hosting services that will include a shopping cart with your monthly service. Since there are some very good free shopping carts out there, I don't see the 'packaged' shopping cart as a very valuable extra for a hosting service. There are hosting services that will offer you free templates. There are PLENTY of free templates out on the internet, many condusive to ecommerce. There are sites that will charge extra and 'design' your site for you - I can do that and I'm better (snicker) As far as a merchant account, VERY easy set up with moderate monthly fees can be found at charge.com. It will combine your merchant account with a payment gateway (I think they use authorize.net) and will set the whole thing up for you (no set up fee). They also offer a free shopping cart. You can then use a host like godaddy for only $3.49 a month. They'll register your site for an additional $10. Like I said, web hosting depends on what you're looking for, however, the sites that irk me are the sites that overcharge newbies for things that they'd be getting for free anyway if they knew what was out there.Just my 2 cents! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ring of Fire Posted May 20, 2007 Share Posted May 20, 2007 I,ve been serching a lot of web hosting sites. Would like to hear some feed back on hosting sites people on the forum use, and which hosting sites have the least hidden fees. also Who would be good for a murchants for shopping carts for visa and mastercard?DIY websites, WAHM Shops, both excellent. I suggest you check out all the possibilities before deciding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichelleOH Posted May 20, 2007 Share Posted May 20, 2007 I'm with DIYestores and am very satisfied:grin2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherl Posted May 20, 2007 Share Posted May 20, 2007 This is my webhost and they are zencart and oscommerence [2 very nice free carts] compatible. Hard to beat $8.95/month.. gets cheaper if you buy more months at a timehttp://www.sashbox.net/alf/idevaffiliate.php?id=1259 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wader Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 We host ours with Hand Craft Market. They are very helpful, and work hard to get you what you need. www.southernstarcandleco.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissMary Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 I personally use Vodahost. They have an easy drag and drop builder that includes a free shopping cart (SoHo Launch), along with a different builder (BlueVoda) that's a bit more involved. I've used both, but I liked BV better, and put in oSCommerce myself. Plus OsCommerce also has a TON of modules that allow customizing. I also have real time shipping for USPS and FedEx both! Both come with sets of free templates, so you just load it and go.I pay 7.95 a month, and got the domain name free for the first year (after it's the normal registration each year), but the 7.95 never changes.They also include forums where you can ask BEFORE you buy any questions you have, and after you buy you can ask questions in a multitude of areas. I can't tell you how invaluable it was to have a forum to ask anything I needed to, anytime I wanted to.ETA: with that 7.95 you also get 600 gigs of monthly transfer, you can easily upload MySQLs, and if you want to play for fun and see what you come up with it's also Frontpage and Dreamweaver compatible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soprey Posted May 22, 2007 Author Share Posted May 22, 2007 Thank-you! for all the feed back that i have recieved. I'm excited to review the hosting sites that were mentioned. Thanks for all of the explanations about the sites. Helped alot.:highfive: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cre8tivelegance Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 I too use vodahost.......did a lot of research before going with them and in my opinion.......THEY ARE THE BEST AND THE CHEAPEST! Check them out, you can't go wrong! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crafty1_AJ Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 I've been super happy with redlimeweb as my host. www.redlimeweb.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakbrookcandles Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 www.camelot-hosting.com Call tony and speak with him. Best service i have found. Several issues over the past 2 years and all were taken care on within a matter of hours.They are small but you definately get dedicated service. If you are using Zen-Cart he can install it for free and help you with any issues you may have.Can you tell im impressed with my host?.....lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BubbleBath Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 VodaHost here also. I tried a couple of other webhosting sites, but eventually switched to VodaHost. The best part was that I could download BlueVoda and try it out before I committed to VodaHost. Can't beat the price and integration with Mal's e-Commerce was simple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mslegacy Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 I second camelot hosting. We have been working directly with Tony for several months and he is wonderful to work with. We have 2 sites we host there, and have never had any issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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