Setting up a dealer website.

keets

I know there are quite a few dealers here and even some computer nerds or collectors who are very astute. What all is involved for a dealer to set up a website??? It doesn't have to be anything really intricate or complicated to navigate, just a portal to get collectors/dealers to his inventory and/or a means of first contact. What would you estimate the start-up costs to be, the initial time needed to get things rolling, routine maintenance or software updates needed and the approximate time needed daily/weekly to keep things up-to-date and organized??

Thanks in advance for any input.

Al H.

ebaytrader

For $300, we got 2 years of unlimited pages, 300gb of disc space, and 3 TB of transfer per month. I've barely touched the site since setting it up and have sold many, many thousands of dollars of stuff off of it. It paid for its two years in the first two weeks.

1794half1839

Depends on how you go about doing it. I am sure that if you know someone who is a web developer it can be done without much cost. Call around to local web developers and see what their charges are. Also look at dealer websites that you like see if their web developer is listed at the bottom of the page, if it is, call.

keets

what are the hardware necessities?? looking at this as a complete start-up for someone who doesn't even have an internet connection or a PC, what's needed?? would it be done off-site at a host server or would the dealer need to have his own server??

ebaytrader

<< <i>what are the hardware necessities?? >>

Any basic computer will do.


<< <i> looking at this as a complete start-up for someone who doesn't even have an internet connection or a PC, what's needed?? >>

A high speed connection is always preferable.


<< <i>would it be done off-site at a host server or would the dealer need to have his own server?? >>

Rent server space.

StrikeOutXXX

Al,

You need to register your domain name and house your site somewhere to start. I'm sure there are better deals out there, but this is what I use for my websites at the moment.

Register.com for the domain name - about $80 for a 5-year lease of the name

Jumpline.com for the web hosting - they provide you the webspace, e-mail settings, file hosting, etc. That was $77 for the 1st year, and 155 a year after that, which is close to what ebaytrader has as far as space/usage limits. They have different plans at different price points though, I run an auction company's website for them, so it isn't quite as heavy as a coin dealer site.

Once you have your name and space, you can hire someone to build the initial site and teach you how to update it, or hire someone to do it full time. It gets more complicated from there depending on if you want static pages with an e-mail/phone link to call, or a full fledged checkout system to process credit cards and such. This is the wildcard as far as costs and time, could range from cheap, once a week update, to expensive, an hour or so a day, depends how you tackle it.

Coxe

Building a website and steering potential customers are two different things too. Good luck but don't forget that even the best inventory and presentation mean nothing if nobody sees it.

seemyauction

Have you put any thought into how you will get visitors to your site ? How much are you going to spend on advertising?

If you think the search engines will find you and send traffic your way, think again. If you are not willing to throw 100 or 200 a month at them you'll get very little traffic from them.

Talk to some web site owners, ilikecoins.com, anaconda, me.........less than 1/10th of 1 percent of my sites traffic comes from search engines.

Save your money list your numismatic items on a site that already gets traffic, or better yet, list your items on several different "Low Cost" sites..........

RYK

Al,

As you may know/remember, I previously had a website for my collection (www.blackandgoldcoins.com). Jeremy set it up for me, and I believe the start-up cost was around $200 with about a $100 annual charge for the domain and the hosting. My numbers are ballpark and may be a little off.

I enjoyed it at first, but over time, I found that I was spending too much time trying to keep it current, and this was detracting from my enjoyment of my collection. About a year ago, I canned it.

RichieURich

From experience, I would say that the first step is to figure out what you want in the website. Do you want a website that shows pictures of the coins? If so, that will result in more work for you. Do you want to just sell coins or also provide educational information? Do you want to process credit cards or not? When someone orders something, do you want that item automatically removed from the website listing? How do you want to handle questions people have about a coin? How often do you plan to update the site? What will your shipping charges be, and how do you want the site to handle them? Do you want the site to print an invoice for the customer when he/she orders something? What do you want for the "look and feel" of the website? AFTER you have answered these questions and any others you can think of, THEN is the time to talk to a few website developers and select one. Remember that the more features and complexities in your proposed website, the more work the designer will need to do, the more you will have to learn to operate the site, and the more it will cost. Hope this helps.

keets

this isn't a site for me, i'm mainly trying to get some information to present to a local dealer. as for advertising, he already has a Brick and Mortar storefront with vibrant walk-in traffic, is well-known locally, has run several business ventures in the past 25 years, routinely does local/regional shows and adveriteses in the print media and local television. without offending anyone, i'm only asking for input about what i asked, website development requirements, costs and options.

from the replies thus far it would seem that a remote host website is the way to go and that it should be possible to find a host who will do most of the setup, or at least one which is easy to setup. the question now would be what are some which can be recommended that have met your needs with reasonable cost??

fc

there is no reason you need a fancy pants website.
many of us like simple web pages without glossy pictures and super deluxe flash.

a simple web page with a pic of your logo at the top and links to pages selling
the coins, pics of the coins, a price is more then enough.

put your name and number on each page for them to call you.

frontpage and a book or two on basic web creation from the library will do fine.
i assume you have a weekend to start playing.
i assume you know how to take good pics of coins.

a good example of a low tech site that works is JJ Teaparty.

i truly dislike web pages that make my browser hang due to trying to feed
me 5MBytes of data every time i click a link. I just want to see the coins i am
interested in, be able to check fast once a week, and get out.

total cost of what i am thinking is about 7 bucks a month without cc processing,
about 10 hours of your time a week once you get rolling and understand the ins and outs,
and that is about it.

but then i work at an isp and have been assisting my customers in doing this for years.
almost boring to me now days. would rather think about state wide networks and transport
for other ISPs. (mo money ;-) )

RichieURich

<< <i>i'm only asking for input about what i asked, website development requirements, costs and options.

from the replies thus far it would seem that a remote host website is the way to go and that it should be possible to find a host who will do most of the setup, or at least one which is easy to setup. the question now would be what are some which can be recommended that have met your needs with reasonable cost?? >>


Keets, I've found that the hosts basically provide only the web space and access to the Internet. (Thanks, Al Gore!) Your friend will need to find a separate website designer, generally these are people known to the local "techies", and that person will actually translate your friend's needs into the bits and bytes necessary for the website to operate. When your friend is selecting a website designer, that person will usually know what hosts offer the best value, and are the easiest to work with. It's better if the designer has worked with that host previously, as it will save the designer time, and it will save your friend money.

If all your friend is looking for is a list of the coins he is selling, a list of shows he is attending, and a list of what he is buying, that shouldn't cost more than a couple hundred bucks to design and maybe $10 a month for hosting.

mgoodm3

Some hosting places will provide the tool to make a website without much fuss. I did all of the work on my own website using the tools that Yahoo provides me (which are reasonably automated). I could easily set it up to sell coins (although adding a shopping cart may be harder). think I am paying $11/month for "unlimited" space and bandwidth.

blu62vette

<< <i>For $300, we got 2 years of unlimited pages, 300gb of disc space, and 3 TB of transfer per month. I've barely touched the site since setting it up and have sold many, many thousands of dollars of stuff off of it. It paid for its two years in the first two weeks. >>



Do you mind telling who you went through for this and once that was done did you pay someone for web design or did they help you with it?

moonshine

if he just wants a little basic something, go to godaddy.com - you can register domain, they host and also have a little program to build. It's cheap as dirt. (well actually I need to order a load, and dirt isn't 'that' cheap anymore'.) That said, I don't like the user interface, but it does work for basic. They have all different kinds of plans. There are others sites that also have the full meal deal that may be a little easier to op.

ArizonaJack

Network Solutions

I had my site up and running in 2 days with nothing but Ebay experience. Sold $1005 my first week.
Domain, hosting, shopping cart and E-commerce with ZERO transaction fees, $49 a month total

I changed my ebay store name to Apache Coin Dot Com, run a few teasers and provide a link on my "about me" page.
I have already paid for the month in first few days, AND CHEATED ebay out of $100 in commision

I love it !!!!

check it out

Tvac897

Very informative, let me ask you guys has anyone ever tried to use Yahoo! Stores?