How much did you start with?

6 figures in debt.

Sometimes necessity to be successful requires success.

I don't necessarily advocate you START there - or get INTO debt to start a business - in fact, I don't even recommend ANY business even have debt-- you're not as careful with other people's money.

But when I started, my back was against a wall. It wasn't fun, and it was scary, but as soon as I wrote my last debt payment - I have never been there since - nor will I ever be.

Talk about freedom.

I started with $0 investment

$100 I guess , lost all of it. I made all possibly mistakes, but learned valuable lessons.

If you are looking to really get into eCommerce and start with a fully functional store, there are a few costs to consider, but like Chosen2013 said, it takes almost nothing (especially in comparison with any brick and mortar-type businesses). Here are a few things that you may want to consider:

Shopping Cart: We use BigCommerce, but we have also tried woocommerce on Wordpress, Open Cart, Shopify, and in the olden days we used CRE Loaded. On average, you'll pay anywhere from $0 to $80, depending on the solution. As with anything, you get what you pay for. Although there are solutions that are free, it may be worth it to fork out a little dough to get some more functionality.

SSL Certificate: If you plan to accept credit cards on your site then you will most likely need an ssl certificate. You can get ssl certificates for as cheap as $8 or so.

Credit Card Processing: Accepting credit cards on site can really boost your conversion rate. We use Paypal Payments Pro ($30 a month plus individual transaction fees). We have been urging BigCommerce to get Paypal advanced added as it is much cheaper and safe.

Registration of domain: $10 a year.

That's about it. If you want to do it right, you can spend as little as $80 or so and have a kick-butt platform and solution in place. Of course, there are other things that you can invest in, but those are the basics that every store really SHOULD have from the beginning.

Thanks for the replies, guys, especially @mikehermy. My fault - I didn't formulate the question properly.

I'm actually coming from the payment processing field, and I'm not new to eCommerce, however, I haven't run an eCommerce website yet (I kept waiting for my moment). I'm not new to IM, either.

I'm looking to start out with about $10,000 ($8000 planned + $2000 for unforeseen expenses), but I haven't found the niche yet nor decided the best way to invest the money into my new venture. I'm currently drawing up an amateurish business plan for myself, as I really don't want to do what @Project did and lose all of my initial investments.

Any advice based on the above would be greatly appreciated, comrades!

PM if you are interested in a joint venture into a home harvest automation website. You won't need to invest any money.

I already have 10 websites that do well. Currently I stock my own inventory.

I want a drop ship website with a larger number of products.

I can coach you while you do most of the legwork. We'll split it 50/50.

GREAT experience..

According to me to start an e-commerce business any one have at-least a six figured amount in his pocket. Before starting any business do a complete inquiry about its present status that in the current market how much need for it. It will help you to choose the best business for you.

Great bootstrapping tips here. You state that you plan on $10,000 - which is around the right ball park according to Wells Fargo's Small Business index that found that most small businesses (those 2/3rds that actually needed money to start up) only needed around $10,000. However, the Kaufman Foundation surveyed tech firms and found that they needed $80,000 per year to start.

I say this: Your business plan should outline what you think you need. But you should always manage what you do have. If you only have $10,000 or $8,000 - then manage your launch to that amount. There is a trade off between time and money. If you don't have the money, then it will take you and your time to get the same thing done.

Again, love the bootstrapping ideas on here - best way to go!

Not a dime. I was a graphic and web designer with a background in advertising and marketing so I did it all myself in html back in 2001 when I started by first store, SensualElegance.com

Actually, I still do it all myself though I have many more stores these days and the money to invest. Guess I'm just too much of a control freak to trust anything to others

Back when I started, I had no more then $100 - 200 as well.
You need to do your research and fully before jumping into something.
People can make $ on anything online as long they're smart, creative and learn their niche/product well.
Good luck with everything!

Started our site for under 500 - hosting, logo, email, domain,etc..

M Bissonnette is correct. Don't go overboard with your investment until your able to "test" or "experiment" with your store.

0 dollars, nothing and this is the magic of internet, you can start with nothing

-AJ

$0.

Make use of current available free mobile market app to start with. And take the profit and invest to hosting and domain.