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Can this even be done?

by TyBrown
5 replies
Hello,
For years I've used a lot of different autoresponders, shopping carts, etc. I've used oneshoppingcart, aweber, constantcontact, membergate, and others.

I know zero about programming but I run a business that is both on and off line.

I'd love to have an autoresponder with shopping cart that was customized for my business. It would have CRM functionality, marketing tasks, and other things.

I know about infusionsoft but I don't want to go that route.

What I'm wondering is; if I was able to track down a good overseas programmer how possible would it be to get someone to design a system for me? Are we talking huge dollars here? Are there any big hangups like getting a system that would work with authorize.net or other regulations in emailing that would be hard to work with?

If I could get something like this designed then I think I could eventually sell it to others in my industry (dog trainers) but for starters I'm wondering how to go about getting this done, if its cost prohibitive, or what else I need to know.

So what do you think? Can this be done in the $1000-$3000 range (perhaps there are off the shelf products that are ready to go that can be customized into how I want them), am I looking at $3-5,000? $5,000-$10,000? Or even bigger bucks?

How would I even go about finding out how to start a project like this?

Thanks!
  • Profile picture of the author phpbbxpert
    It is going to depend on how many systems you plan on hooking into.
    Eg. multiple mail autoresponders, multiple payment platforms.
    They all have different APIs and how to hook into them.

    Also, it will depend on how big the back end is.
    How many things (tasks) do you plan on doing from this system.
    Payments, autoresponders, invoices, CMS, store front, log-in system, permission system, sessions, etc...

    It can be modular to make it more efficient and easier to add-in stuff down the road.
    But you better have a good programmer if you want someone else to be able to understand the system later when that time comes. Otherwise, modular or not, it will cost even more for each add-in you want.

    So to get any kind of price range idea, you will have to fill in the blanks and have a fairly detailed list of everything you want.
    Some of the items I listed above will be required, like log-in, and sessions, but hopefully you see the point.
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  • Profile picture of the author TyBrown
    Thanks for the feedback. I kind of figured that I didn't know a lot of what I didn't know and you confirmed that.

    I've got to think that I need to hire a programmer who has done shopping carts, autoresponders, etc. I know I can go on elance, on here, odesk, etc. but would anyone know if there is a resource where I could find people that have the right type of experience and have shown a track record of that?

    I mean, I don't even know enough about programming to know how to post a job like this. Is this something that is done in php? Are there other key words I should be looking for?

    Thanks for the help.
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    Online Dog Training
    Salt Lake City, Utah Dog Training
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  • Profile picture of the author stma
    Something to consider since you said overseas programmer. Language can be a barrier. What you are talking about may not be as complex as you consider it - but if you can't get your idea across properly you are going to be paying for the wrong work, then the fix, then the next fix, etc...

    Might be better off paying 3 times as much per hour to have it done right the first time.

    If you are invisioning an aweber type AR, a high end shopping cart, a high end crm, etc... you are talking big bucks. I could spend a month doing nothing but just one of them. Go download magenta for example and look at how many lines of code and design that is.
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    • Profile picture of the author TyBrown
      Originally Posted by stma View Post

      Something to consider since you said overseas programmer. Language can be a barrier. What you are talking about may not be as complex as you consider it - but if you can't get your idea across properly you are going to be paying for the wrong work, then the fix, then the next fix, etc...

      Might be better off paying 3 times as much per hour to have it done right the first time.

      If you are invisioning an aweber type AR, a high end shopping cart, a high end crm, etc... you are talking big bucks. I could spend a month doing nothing but just one of them. Go download magenta for example and look at how many lines of code and design that is.
      That was kind of what I was wondering. I was wondering if the scope was too big.

      As far as you know, are there off the shelf products that can be customized and grouped into one overall program to meet my needs?
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      Online Dog Training
      Salt Lake City, Utah Dog Training
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  • Profile picture of the author stma
    I'm going to say go look into delavo. I think it can act like you want, but I'm not sure since I have no clue what you are really up to

    Then you can spend some money skinning whatever you tie into it to look nice instead of programming.
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