Setup a Cheap Low Cost Online ECommerce Store

Previously, I had written how to startup an e-commerce business in Malaysia. The only challenge was the investment sum of around RM10,000 to set it up properly. And as expected, someone came by saying they’d be able to do it much cheaper followed by my reply; I know someone who can even do it cheaper – students.

How else can you setup a cheap low cost online e-commerce store? Well, you could do-it-yoursef (DIY) if you’ve interest or background in websites. Or, there’s always your children or relatives you think they can do the job because they’re studying the subject. Besides getting an inexperienced or very cheap e-commerce solution have you ever wondered why can they offer their e-commerce solution at a much cheaper price?

The information I’m about to reveal is one of the biggest secrets of the website design and development industry.

Will this help you decide who to hire to setup your e-commerce store? Yes.

Will this affect the website designers and developers offering their e-commerce solutions? Big yes!

Will this teach me how to setup a cheap low cast e-commerce store? No. But let’s get the secret out shall we.

First of all, there are free e-commerce store platforms for download on the Internet. Because they are free, the cheap solution you’ve decided costs nothing – zero (0). As for the installation, some hosting companies now have a 1-click install for free e-commerce platforms. The cost is still nothing except for the website hosting and domain name.

What about the special functions I’ve asked the person to help me install and he charged me $1000 for it? Okay, there are free extensions or modules you can install into your free e-commerce platform to use. There are also paid extensions and modules but they’re priced ranging from $15. So the cost at the moment; $15.

That pretty much covers the development cost of your cheap low cost e-commerce store. So let’s move on to the website design for your e-commerce store. I hope you’re sitting down. There are free e-commerce templates made to share within e-commerce communities but a handful only are great or optimized. There are template libraries for anyone to purchase designs ranging from $25. What the provider will do later is ask you for your information and help you insert them in. Cost so far is now $40.

If you hadn’t thought about it, the chances of someone already seeing your e-commerce design could be 1 out of 10,000 customers depending on the template design’s popularity. I don’t even want to mention how website design from template libraries have near similarities.

But don’t worry, there’s one part of an e-commerce store which isn’t cheap. The payment gateway to process your online payments if you accept credit cards or online banking. These rates are determined by the companies like PayPal, WorldPay, 2CheckOut, iPay88 and etc. Cost here would range from $500 or even $0 (for PayPal).

But so far the cost to setup a cheap low cost e-commerce store is now $540. If we now added in the person’s operation cost, throw in time to customize (or integrate) and beverages during meetings possibly would add to $1500.

So there’s your cheap low cost e-commerce store. Don’t tell me I didn’t forewarn you from this post onwards.