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Setting Up Ecommerce, Which Web Hosting and Builder?

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Mechatrommer:
i'm thinking to upgrade my website to online store, currently its a dormant website (soasystem.com) on a free hoster package (dreamhost) provided by Torch about 5 years ago iirc.. so i'm looking for builder like Zen Cart, i have a book for dummies on how to setup Joomla store, etc and the list... https://ecommerce-platforms.com/articles/open-source-ecommerce-platforms ... Zen Cart provided a list of requirement, PHP, SSL etc... https://docs.zen-cart.com/user/first_steps/hosting/ so i need to make sure my web hoster will support to run them, i doubt if my current free hoster can support those...

so then i'm looking for currently suggested web hoster, the price range from $1-4/month at what i consider as normal or beginner stage.. https://hostadvice.com/lp/hosting-services/?targetid=kwd-11276501&matchtype=e&device=c&campaignid=1902019566&creative=478599736714&adgroupid=69977813505&feeditemid=&loc_physical_ms=9065417&loc_interest_ms=&network=g&devicemodel=&placement=&keyword=best%20web%20hosting&target=&aceid=&adposition=&category=generic&subcategory=&subcategory2=&country=&gclid=CjwKCAiAr6-ABhAfEiwADO4sffgyW51_9PoiJMMTqEB6DKFR8joEmUsHwbPdqC65Bm64_OygGGAn9RoCq50QAvD_BwE i dont need much i think, only my main web page is the online store, so the sub domains like soaystem.com/eng and the free SW https://www.soasystem.com/products.html i can manage myself using FTP or anything secure this days. so i think one domain is sufficient? so i'm looking for the cheapest beginner plan that just enough for my need without extra stuffs that i dont need.

and then i tend to choose my current free hoster, because it kept my domain alive for this time. but the spec is quite unclear... https://www.dreamhost.com/hosting/shared/ so i feel divided... its been a while since i played with cPanel and all, so i've forgotten things for the sake of learning ee, it was on godaddy hoster, but then i terminated it because i was having difficulty to get any income out of it nor keeping up updating things. so i decided just to keep godaddy as my domain's registrar ($17/yr incl 6% government tax and 20 cents? :palm: fee to ICANN) and then Torch came to the rescue with his free hosting.

i wish i can setup things from raw, edit in my local PC and upload all at once to web hoster but i guess thats not how it works today, i'll try to catch up when time is right. so basically what i'm looking for is (1) better and recommended ecommerce builder (free is better, but secure and more features like categories/options of items sold etc) but not too fancy that make it a more expensive package... and (2) decent price to cheap hoster that can support the ecommerce builder. i can search myself and come up with something, but its better to hear from someone who are probably in the business and familiar with this, i'm all ear, thanks and cheers.

Mechatrommer:
just saw this... https://www.dreamhost.com/hosting/shared/ i think its ok if it can maintain $2.59/mth throughout subscription period... vs... https://www.hostinger.com/pricing.. maybe i should contact them for more clarification on ecommerce builder support? i already PMed Torch for asking this, cheers.

torch:
For clarification: 5 years ago Mechatrommer was a starving student putting his valuable software (eg: Goltech for the Hantek DDS3x25) out there for the rest of us for free. I don't have those skills, I just leached off his generosity. But I did have a shared webhosting account at Dreamhost and it didn't cost me a dime to make space for soasystem.com, saving Mecha a few bucks.  Win-Win.

I have been using Dreamhost since 2005. I think the price is the same now as it was then -- about US$190 for 2 years if paid in advance. Includes 1 domain name. Some domain names have gone up since then, I think additional names were $9.95 originally, now there's a sliding scale based on the top level. You can still get something like a .eu for $10, but .audio will set you back a cool US$130! The included domain name has to be one of the cheaper ones now.

I chose DH originally for myself because it was the best bang for the buck. You get PHP, CGI/FastCGI, unlimited number of  MySQLdatabases, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited storage, unlimited visits, unlimited e-mail addresses, unlimited (and free) subdomains, SSH access, automated Let's Encrypt free SSL certificates, cron, automated back-ups, etc.  I run several different informational websites, but have no experience setting up an e-commerce site. I have not looked at what is out there lately because overall I have been satisfied with Dreamhost but comparing DH regular price to Hostinger's regular price, DH is still the better bang for the buck IMHO. And both are way ahead of GoDaddy. (Somebody's got to pay for all their expensive advertising! <lol>)

I can say that there should be no problem with anything you mentioned. For Joomla, see:
https://help.dreamhost.com/hc/en-us/articles/360047925992-Joomla-Installing-and-updating

For Zen-Cart, see:
https://help.dreamhost.com/hc/en-us/articles/360045866891-Zen-Cart-Installing

There are a wide array of other options, too. I personally use Drupal for most sites.

If you are going to be taking payments through your website, an SSL certificate is essential. As noted above, DH makes it painless. One-click installs of the free Let's Encrypt certificate, you can force https only access with a second click. You can edit the Apache .htaccess file to force TLS1.2. That said, you might want to fork out the $15/year for a paid certificate since you are setting up for e-commerce. See:

SSL certificate: https://help.dreamhost.com/hc/en-us/articles/215089118-Adding-an-SSL-certificate-overview

Unlike many others, Dreamhost does not use C-panel. They have their own custom interface but it performs pretty well all the same functions. e-mail support is free, telephone support costs. They used to offer a wider array of automated "one-click" installs that provided automated updating. At one time, that included Joomla but now they seem focused on WordPress almost exclusively. I'm not a big fan, WP is probably the world's most hacked website software, so I don't use it.

You are welcome to stay were you right now are for as long as you like, of course!  :)

 

WattsThat:
If you think you need SSL to handle credit card processing, think again. If you want or need SSL for other reasons, fine. But not credit card numbers.

No one should ever put themselves in a position to have access to credit card numbers, let the card processors like PayPal, Stripe and others be the exclusive owners of that data. Do not pass that data through, let the transaction re-direct to the SSL servers for the payment processors. You don’t want to put yourself in a position to have direct access to customers credit card data, period. No! Don’t do it. Don’t even consider it. Ever.

You get what you pay for with free website crap. Crap hosting and crap service. Buy a commercial template and use a decent hosting company. Even with a stress tested website template, you can still get hacked but going non-commercial, untested SQL code is just website suicide. If you’re not willing to invest some money in order to make some money, it’s not a business and likely not even a serious hobby.

/rant

torch:

--- Quote from: WattsThat on January 24, 2021, 09:12:29 pm ---If you think you need SSL to handle credit card processing, think again. If you want or need SSL for other reasons, fine. But not credit card numbers.

No one should ever put themselves in a position to have access to credit card numbers, let the card processors like PayPal, Stripe and others be the exclusive owners of that data. Do not pass that data through, let the transaction re-direct to the SSL servers for the payment processors. You don’t want to put yourself in a position to have direct access to customers credit card data, period. No! Don’t do it. Don’t even consider it. Ever.
--- End quote ---

I believe that Paypal requires SSL encryption (specifically, TLS 1.2 or higher) on the referring website. 

Otherwise, that's good advice.

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