Thinking about setting up a store for a customer...

[Sbrem]

But I'm not totally all of that work would be worth it. I have a customer, a community center, that does a lot of different items with us, and are wondering if there is a way for them to be able to order online from us. I'm guessing we would need to set up a store on our website. They would have 4 - 6 designs maybe, and I'm thinking keeping transfers on a shelf, or cutting vinyl is simple enough. We've never tried anything like this, so I need all the advice I can get. And where better to ask than here? (a little flattery always helps)

Steve

[Homer]

we're doing this same thing with about 6 schools at the moment. Rob (whitewater) showed me this company, agpestores.com

so far so good, seems pretty simple....

[zanegun08]

I would set up a bigcartel.com store, up to 5 products free, you can customize the look, make a subdomain on your site which redirects ( for example http://dougfir.annexfulfillment.com )

Super simple, paypal does the transactions.  Here was one I did that we took preorders and printed in batches  ( http://oregonscreen.com/webstores/pge125years/ ).  Did a few rounds, worked beautifully well, then all the customer has to do is promote their stores.  You handle the accounting, fulfill the orders, or produce them once you get a batch, send them out, and then cut a check to your customer with the remaining profit margins.

There are other ones that would work as well, storenvy.com is completely free, but in checkout it shows other companies products which is a con.

I enjoy doing short run stores, and like taking preorders when possible, like a ghetto teespring.

[CSPGarrett]

You can also build simple order forms with pictures via JotForm.com.  Basically a form per customer.

[Gilligan]

Wordpress with some plugins wouldn't be a bad option either.

We do a little fulfillment but we don't do much of the front end.

[GraphicDisorder]

We have an online store for over 60 car clubs world wide various made to order items in there as well as screen printing pre-orders for some of them time to time.  There are so many options for this free and paid. We personally use a paid option which means it's supported and it's always up. Some of the free options in the past would go down and id have to fix them and I just don't have the time to do that.  So consider each way depending on how important that store will be to you being up 24/7. 

[Binkspot]

So if you don't mind sharing what your using it would be appreciated.

We are running Inksoft stores now, went that way for the design features and you could have private stores which users need a password for. But as it turns out there are so many glitches in the system it's becoming a burden. Some of them "known" some being discovered.

[GraphicDisorder]

We use 3dCart. I think it's $99 a month.

You can see it here:
http://www.store.graphicdisorder.com/Club-Stores--Members-ONLY_c_7.html

[Sbrem]

this is great guys, thanks. Something to read over the weekend, even during halftime Sunday.

Steve

[larryk]

And don't forget GoDaddy........... that's what we use. Very user friendly and a ton of options. We use it a lot for fundraisers for different orgs. Customers like it when they can pick up shirts and a check for there cause... I like it because the money is already in the bank. Great for adding options as well.... like long sleeve, hoodies, crews...... names and numbers. Print them all at one time and easy money!

[Gilligan]

I'm trying to get away from GoDaddy right now... I'm just in too deep.

[blue moon]

I'm trying to get away from GoDaddy right now... I'm just in too deep.

I left Godaddy as they did not support IMAP, that was a deal breaker! We are with 1and1 for last 10+ years and they are OK. TSB is with 2by2 host and they are very responsive with developers available if needed. 1nad 1 has prepackaged e-commerce solutions, 2by2 should have it too. If you try them, I think they have some sort of referral program, so let me know.

pierre

[Gilligan]

FYI, GoDaddy does have IMAP... it's more expensive, but it's there.

Now, one of the reasons I want to leave is because of their IMAP.  I have a client that has over 20k emails in his inbox and they don't sync much passed that.  So this causes problems for him from time to time that I have to clear room for his emails to work.  Granted, it's kind of a unique problem and one that I haven't fully solved with other hosting providers yet.

[blue moon]

FYI, GoDaddy does have IMAP... it's more expensive, but it's there.

Now, one of the reasons I want to leave is because of their IMAP.  I have a client that has over 20k emails in his inbox and they don't sync much passed that.  So this causes problems for him from time to time that I have to clear room for his emails to work.  Granted, it's kind of a unique problem and one that I haven't fully solved with other hosting providers yet.

yeah, when I left it was not an option at all. There were other issues with them, too so I never looked back.

pierre

[jvanick]

FYI, GoDaddy does have IMAP... it's more expensive, but it's there.

Now, one of the reasons I want to leave is because of their IMAP.  I have a client that has over 20k emails in his inbox and they don't sync much passed that.  So this causes problems for him from time to time that I have to clear room for his emails to work.  Granted, it's kind of a unique problem and one that I haven't fully solved with other hosting providers yet.

This is not a problem with the hosting providers as much as it is with the imap protocol itself.  It ends up taking too much time for the server process to scan the inbox folder to see what the user has read or downloaded.

Tell your customer to start to use folders... the problem will go away.

honestly tho, no where near as bad as the old Outlook 2gb .pst file bug.