Hey all,
I'd like to create an online shop for my band, selling t shirts, custom guitar picks, albums, etc. I've never created an online store before, and I was curious on to go about selling things. Whats the easiest way? and whats the cheapest way? Ive looked at paypal alittle but I'd have to open a bussiness account from what Ive read, and technically I'm not a bussiness.

Thanks,
Kevin

id use zen cart for your online store. Its great for organization and can set you up with transactions, e.t.c.

The PayPal thing is probably still a good way to go. The way I read their info, you don't have to be an "official business" in the eyes of PayPal, you just have to sign up for their Business or Premier account so that you can accept credit cards on your store. If you don't want to use a business/premier account, you can still do a PayPal personal account but whoever wants to pay you for stuff would have to have thier own PayPal account.

The biz account makes for a smoother transaction from your customers' perspective.

As far as the shopping cart, I've never heard anything different about Zencart than what woz said, other than one friend said there were alot of product variables (descriptions, prices, taxes, discounts, etc.) to wade through and that are tideous.

Best of luck on your project - would like to hear about it when it's up.

Zencart is the only way to go if you are selling online.
Safe, reliable, and...what you need!!!

Jacob.

thanks for all the info guys, i think ill test zencart out after work.

Well, actually PayPal now has an option for clients to just pay with a credit card without having to create a PayPal account.

I've been selling online with a Kart and everything with PayPal without upgrading to a Business account. So technically you don't have to but to not get in trouble with the IRS if you start raking in lots of cash with PayPal, then you should.

BUT!!! and this is a bigger but that J-LO's haha

PayPal has recently been flaky about upgrading to a business account. I've been trying to do that but after I enter all the information, I get a link that says "Click here to retry". When I do, it just goes blank.

I've contacted PayPal about this and they say they're "working on it". It's been like that for months so I have not been able to upgrade to a business account so if I get contacted about making money online, hey, it's THEIR fault I don't have a business account.

Anyone else have this problem with PayPal?

basically, you would need a cart to manage every transactions. Try checking out this one: http://www.shoppingcartelite.com

that is a paid software

Drupal can do it using the e-commerce package of modules. It's free.

I think,you create your PayPal account for online payment because it's easy to use,safe and fast.

try building a ecommerce site or use zen cart but plz dnt go for paypal....i have a worst experience and i have lost money using paypal so dnt think of using it