Ecommerce Online Store.... Questions

I'm currently starting an e-commerce site for my mom. She runs a Lingerie/exotic wear line of clothing and we wanted to expand sales to the internet. We decided to go with Yahoo Stores as it seemed like the easiest solution for a pair of clueless people. We also hired an RTML developer to design our store to make it look as great and custom as possible and not like an awkward site.

Yahoo stores is expensive though, monthly fee plus a percentage of sales.

I am also in the process of setting up another store for another product line. I will start it by setting up an astore through Amazon, and if I can generate enough traffic, I will start looking for suppliers and start selling my own products (possibly through another yahoo store depending on how much I've learned by then about ecommerce)

I would love to hear from other members who ar currently running stores/astores, and how does this business model work out for you.

Thanks!

Also, there is a forum Yourstoreforums.com that deal specifically with yahoo stores and ecommerce. I suggest you check it out and ask some of your yahoo store questions there

I want to build my online store using wordpress
do anyone know how to set up wordpress shopping cart?
Where can I find the tutorial?

1) What is the pro and con of setting up a ecommerce store on your own server as opposed to amazon or yahoo store options.

If you set up a store on your server, you have got maximum flexibility. You hold all the data and it can be trasferred from host to host. If you use a hosted solution like Yahoo, all your data is with them and you are at their mercy should things do wrong e.g. if someone files a complaint that you are selling counterfeit products. They could shut your shop down immediately.

2) What are the advantages and disadvantages of a setting up a yahoo store.

As far as I know, Yahoo will charge you a percentage for each transaction. It could prove very expensive if your business grows. Otherwise it is a very easy platform to start off with.


3) What are the advantages and disadvantages of a setting up amazon store.

Although Amazon do the same as Yahoo with regards to fees, there is no reason why you cannot run an Amazon store as well as one on your server at the same time. In fact, as far as I know, Amazon will only allow you to open a shop if you are an established vendor.

4) Which is better amazon store setup or yahoo store option

I would go for Amazon but also set up a store on my server using well tried and tested software such as x-cart or litecommerce. If you are technically competent, you could also try free carts such as OS commerce, Zen Cart, and Cube Cart. The SEO modulte for x-cart and litecommerce is very good. Another route you can try is to design and construct your SEO-optimized site in html first, and then plug in a third party cart such as Mal's e-commerce or 1 shoppingcart.

Derek