OT: know of any good ecommerce links?

fandelem

To anyone who replies: thank you very much for taking any time to help me figure some things out :>

...Now then.. on to my question (with a little justification first):

I am in search of a few beneficial links that can help me find what exactly I need to get an ecommerce site up & running with the proper "authentication" to have customers purchase things from a shopping cart , all within my site (ie. no paypal). I have been looking at places like http://www.thawte.com/html/whatyouneed.html ( www.thawte.com ), but I am confused as to one factor: I do not own my webspace, i rent it for 5 bucks a month (www.xidus.net .. soo awesome, been there for like 2 yrs now).

So, what exactly is the process of setting up "a secure site" on webspace I rent? What kind of questions do I need to ask my web provider (I'm positive they do not have one, already). And, most importantly, what are the prices for something like this?

Actually, thawte has a step by step process, but could someone elaborate on each step??

Step 1: Gather Supporting Documentation
-webspace, domain, but what else do i need?
Step 2: Generate a CSR (Certificate Signing Request)
-??
Step 3: Complete our online enrolment
-obvious
Step 4: Thawte processes your request ; Please monitor the progress
-obvious
Step 5: Pickup and Install your Certificate
-???

any insight would be great. i am trying to avoid places like 2checkout.com where they charge a 5% fee on all transactions...

jeremuck

I would highly recommend the project ECommerice, formerly known as OSCommerce. They offer modules for any type of payment you can think of, plus have the shipping modules integrated into the site.

http://oscommerce.com/

My webhost offers free ssl, although it ends up looking like https://ssl.servername/~myusername

fandelem

Thank you so much for responding!

I thank you for that link.. I will definitely look into that.

All that is left is to find out more of a conceptual flow of what options I can have as far as moving the money from point A to point B (and maybe to point C).

I think what I want to try and accomplish (please, tell me if this is possible, ?) is to collect the money from the customer, hold it somewhere temporary (this is the part I'm confused about -- does oscommerce do this? ie. debits customer Y's visa card 15 bucks and credits my bank account??) and then once my client has completed their "end of the bargain" (for lack of better words), the money is then moved from my temporary holding bank account to the client. Where's my benefit, you might wonder? It's in the monthly subscription of the client.. but you see, I do not know how to set this up.. and I'm in desperate need of some linkage to see how this can be done, or how the general practice is accomplished in the world today....

thanks so much!!

jeremuck

I think the general practice with stores is you have goods. The client interested in these goods offers the money demanded by you. You take this money and the customer recieves the goods.

Not sure what kind of business you plan on doing.