VERY VERY OT & LONG - E-commerce websites?

This is a long shot, very OT so please skip if you want - I fully
understand! But I'm hoping someone can give me some guidance, or at
least a bit of moral/mental support here...

I work part-time in a local craft shop - I'd be there full time but
Karen can't afford to pay me a proper wage - at present I get paid in
stock (which believe you me works out VERY nicely!!!) As well as being
behind the till and generally helping out and abusing customers, I write
her website (http://www.pullingontheglitz.com) and have gotten loads of
favourable comments about it.

We've been thinking for a while about getting an online shop bolted onto
our website, and after a bit of research, chose a software package
called Actinic (e-commerce in a box) which initially I downloaded a
trial version of from the internet, and spent 5 weeks playing with it.
We both agreed that it looked fairly straight-forward, so she lashed out
and bought it - £445 (about $833 at the current exchange rate).

Now I am starting to have serious panic attacks and doubts as to whether
I can pull this off - its a hell of a lot of money for her to have
invested if it all goes pear-shaped if I can't get the software to do
what we want - it does look fairly simple in that you enter your product
details, upload it to the web and wait for the orders to pour in - but
on closer inspection, there are loads of criteria that I have absolutely
no idea about, and the advanced users guide runs to 199 pages... (I'm
not daft - I took it into work on a CD and got the computer boys to
print it out for me!)

Long shot question here - anyone run e-commerce software who can offer
any advice? anyone seen/heard of Actinic? At £300 for a days training
course with them I am kind-of loath to contact them too much as I really
don't want to seem like a klutz, but I get the distinct feeling that
Karen is rather depending on me to get this up and running "yesterday"
and have hundreds of orders pouring in every day.

One of my main problems is that I work full-time elsewhere, and only get
evenings and weekends to play with this - Karen is a confirmed
technophobe, but is at least willing to learn what I can teach her about
using the software and downloading the orders/emails etc., but there are
only so many hours in a day, and at the moment I have got my own health
problems and parent problems - I'm currently having trouble seeing in a
straight line... I know that something is going to have to give, and
going part-time at my main job is certainly something we are
considering, but its a gamble in having enough money coming in to pay
all our bills - sound familiar?!

Any help or advice would be very useful - I could certainly use some
support if nothing else! And - thank you for listening to me this far.

Suzie B
--
"From the internet connection under the pier"
Southend, UK
--
Please remove NOSPAM when emailing me!
http://community.webshots.com/user/suziekga

Bear in mind that there are two parts to your software, with which I am not
familiar, but I've dealt with a number of these storefront software
packages. Part 1 is listing your items, prices, descriptions and pictures.
You no doubt found this fairly easy to understand and somewhat easy to do.
The second part is the "acceptance and fulfillment" part. Acceptance refers
to how your orders get the credit card approvals and payments credited to
you. Fulfillment refers to your packing and shipping the correct order to
the customer.

I can see that you're in the UK, so I can't guess what online system is used
to process credit card orders. Actinic probably does this for you, but
you'll need to read the instruction booklet to figure out how to get the
right data, etc., with the credit card providers. They want their cut, as
you know. You'll need to inform Actinic about your storefront in the
numbers that the credit card providers understand. This should be somewhat
straightforward, but not necessarily easy. I daresay, you'll be filling out
numbers and addresses for the better part of a day.

Then you and Actinic have to get together about fulfillment. E-mails have
to confirm the order with the customer, you have to get the order and be
able to answer customer's e-mailed questions, and then you have to pack and
ship the order in the manner in which the customer desired (overnight, air
mail, etc. (p.s. I wonder if the UK has as many types of sending as the
US--probably)).

All of this feeds into a database, so that your customers can be recognized
when they come back to shop again. Actinic will provide the database and
its format, but you will probably have to provide the computer space for it
to live on. As I said I don't know this software, but in the past it has
taken me hours to get this database (Db) up and running correctly. I'm
hoping Actinic will make it easier for you.

I have never yet worked with any online store that met the owner's
expectations to any degree. As with any business, to make money at it you
have to devote a lot of time to it. Unless you're the only online store of
your type in all of England, then the expectation that "hundreds of orders
pour in every day" is very unrealistic. Check out the online
competition--perhaps the online need for her store is already being met by a
competitor.

Finally, you might wish to talk to a couple of locals who do this kind of
web thing for a living. At a guess, a professional could get the framework
set up in a day or two, and then you'd only have to worry about updating the
pictures, descriptions, prices and stock. This has the advantage of
splitting up the labor among those best able to do it. And might even be
cheaper in the long run.

Sorry to be so long winded, and reading this over, I realize that it's not
really very much help. But I do wish you the best of luck. T


"Paul & Suzie Beckwith" wrote in message
.uk...
This is a long shot, very OT so please skip if you want - I fully
understand! But I'm hoping someone can give me some guidance, or at least
a bit of moral/mental support here...

I work part-time in a local craft shop - I'd be there full time but Karen
can't afford to pay me a proper wage - at present I get paid in stock
(which believe you me works out VERY nicely!!!) As well as being behind
the till and generally helping out and abusing customers, I write her
website (http://www.pullingontheglitz.com) and have gotten loads of
favourable comments about it.

We've been thinking for a while about getting an online shop bolted onto
our website, and after a bit of research, chose a software package called
Actinic (e-commerce in a box) which initially I downloaded a trial version
of from the internet, and spent 5 weeks playing with it. We both agreed
that it looked fairly straight-forward, so she lashed out and bought it -
£445 (about $833 at the current exchange rate).

Now I am starting to have serious panic attacks and doubts as to whether I
can pull this off - its a hell of a lot of money for her to have invested
if it all goes pear-shaped if I can't get the software to do what we
want - it does look fairly simple in that you enter your product details,
upload it to the web and wait for the orders to pour in - but on closer
inspection, there are loads of criteria that I have absolutely no idea
about, and the advanced users guide runs to 199 pages... (I'm not daft - I
took it into work on a CD and got the computer boys to print it out for
me!)

Long shot question here - anyone run e-commerce software who can offer any
advice? anyone seen/heard of Actinic? At £300 for a days training course
with them I am kind-of loath to contact them too much as I really don't
want to seem like a klutz, but I get the distinct feeling that Karen is
rather depending on me to get this up and running "yesterday" and have
hundreds of orders pouring in every day.

One of my main problems is that I work full-time elsewhere, and only get
evenings and weekends to play with this - Karen is a confirmed
technophobe, but is at least willing to learn what I can teach her about
using the software and downloading the orders/emails etc., but there are
only so many hours in a day, and at the moment I have got my own health
problems and parent problems - I'm currently having trouble seeing in a
straight line... I know that something is going to have to give, and going
part-time at my main job is certainly something we are considering, but
its a gamble in having enough money coming in to pay all our bills - sound
familiar?!

Any help or advice would be very useful - I could certainly use some
support if nothing else! And - thank you for listening to me this far.

Suzie B
--
"From the internet connection under the pier"
Southend, UK
--
Please remove NOSPAM when emailing me!
http://community.webshots.com/user/suziekga

Paul & Suzie Beckwith wrote:
This is a long shot, very OT so please skip if you want - I fully
understand! But I'm hoping someone can give me some guidance, or at
least a bit of moral/mental support here...
Suzie B
Haven't got a clue how to help, but hang in there. With all the smart
people we have on here, there's sure to be someone who can help.
Meanwhile, have a cuppa and start slowly digging through the book.
Best of luck. You can do it!
~handmaiden

I had actinic (I think)- very good. BackOffice gold - easy to
use..... shopping cart easy to use. Get someone to show you how
it works, it will save you time to go through the manual
yourself. I know someone who is proficient with all this, but je
lives in Scotland...so a bit far for training sessions.

Got the WorldPay account?
Good luck and go for it!

Krysia

This is a long shot, very OT so please skip if you want - I fully
understand! But I'm hoping someone can give me some guidance, or at
least a bit of moral/mental support here...

I work part-time in a local craft shop - I'd be there full time but
Karen can't afford to pay me a proper wage - at present I get paid in
stock (which believe you me works out VERY nicely!!!) As well as being
behind the till and generally helping out and abusing customers, I write
her website (http://www.pullingontheglitz.com) and have gotten loads of
favourable comments about it.

We've been thinking for a while about getting an online shop bolted onto
our website, and after a bit of research, chose a software package
called Actinic (e-commerce in a box) which initially I downloaded a
trial version of from the internet, and spent 5 weeks playing with it.
We both agreed that it looked fairly straight-forward, so she lashed out
and bought it - £445 (about $833 at the current exchange rate).

Now I am starting to have serious panic attacks and doubts as to whether
I can pull this off - its a hell of a lot of money for her to have
invested if it all goes pear-shaped if I can't get the software to do
what we want - it does look fairly simple in that you enter your product
details, upload it to the web and wait for the orders to pour in - but
on closer inspection, there are loads of criteria that I have absolutely
no idea about, and the advanced users guide runs to 199 pages... (I'm
not daft - I took it into work on a CD and got the computer boys to
print it out for me!)

Long shot question here - anyone run e-commerce software who can offer
any advice? anyone seen/heard of Actinic? At £300 for a days training
course with them I am kind-of loath to contact them too much as I really
don't want to seem like a klutz, but I get the distinct feeling that
Karen is rather depending on me to get this up and running "yesterday"
and have hundreds of orders pouring in every day.

One of my main problems is that I work full-time elsewhere, and only get
evenings and weekends to play with this - Karen is a confirmed
technophobe, but is at least willing to learn what I can teach her about
using the software and downloading the orders/emails etc., but there are
only so many hours in a day, and at the moment I have got my own health
problems and parent problems - I'm currently having trouble seeing in a
straight line... I know that something is going to have to give, and
going part-time at my main job is certainly something we are
considering, but its a gamble in having enough money coming in to pay
all our bills - sound familiar?!

Any help or advice would be very useful - I could certainly use some
support if nothing else! And - thank you for listening to me this far.

Suzie B
--
"From the internet connection under the pier"
Southend, UK

K.T. - starannie opakowana

Well, I can only help minorly with www.zen-cart.com which is free (it's what
I'm putting on my website). You might have luck searching the forums that
are specifically dedicated to your product.

Charlie.

"Paul & Suzie Beckwith" wrote in message
.uk...
This is a long shot, very OT so please skip if you want - I fully
understand! But I'm hoping someone can give me some guidance, or at
least a bit of moral/mental support here...

I work part-time in a local craft shop - I'd be there full time but
Karen can't afford to pay me a proper wage - at present I get paid in
stock (which believe you me works out VERY nicely!!!) As well as being
behind the till and generally helping out and abusing customers, I write
her website (http://www.pullingontheglitz.com) and have gotten loads of
favourable comments about it.

We've been thinking for a while about getting an online shop bolted onto
our website, and after a bit of research, chose a software package
called Actinic (e-commerce in a box) which initially I downloaded a
trial version of from the internet, and spent 5 weeks playing with it.
We both agreed that it looked fairly straight-forward, so she lashed out
and bought it - £445 (about $833 at the current exchange rate).

Now I am starting to have serious panic attacks and doubts as to whether
I can pull this off - its a hell of a lot of money for her to have
invested if it all goes pear-shaped if I can't get the software to do
what we want - it does look fairly simple in that you enter your product
details, upload it to the web and wait for the orders to pour in - but
on closer inspection, there are loads of criteria that I have absolutely
no idea about, and the advanced users guide runs to 199 pages... (I'm
not daft - I took it into work on a CD and got the computer boys to
print it out for me!)

Long shot question here - anyone run e-commerce software who can offer
any advice? anyone seen/heard of Actinic? At £300 for a days training
course with them I am kind-of loath to contact them too much as I really
don't want to seem like a klutz, but I get the distinct feeling that
Karen is rather depending on me to get this up and running "yesterday"
and have hundreds of orders pouring in every day.

One of my main problems is that I work full-time elsewhere, and only get
evenings and weekends to play with this - Karen is a confirmed
technophobe, but is at least willing to learn what I can teach her about
using the software and downloading the orders/emails etc., but there are
only so many hours in a day, and at the moment I have got my own health
problems and parent problems - I'm currently having trouble seeing in a
straight line... I know that something is going to have to give, and
going part-time at my main job is certainly something we are
considering, but its a gamble in having enough money coming in to pay
all our bills - sound familiar?!

Any help or advice would be very useful - I could certainly use some
support if nothing else! And - thank you for listening to me this far.

Suzie B
--
"From the internet connection under the pier"
Southend, UK
--
Please remove NOSPAM when emailing me!
http://community.webshots.com/user/suziekga