Re: UKNM: Need Advice

[Dan Winchester]

Mark,


Is the searchable database a product catalogue? In other words are you

after a shopping cart? If so I have been down this road before, and my

advice would be to outsource the entire shopping component to a third

party.


Having developed shopping solutions from scratch before, some issues you

might come across include:


- Interfacing with secure payment service provider

- Realtime credit card authorisation

- Merchant accounts

- Client interface to the catalogue (eg to upload new products)

- Maintaining state across a shopping session

- SECURITY - more than just keeping card details secure


If you relish a challenge then go for it! If you don't, then don't

re-invent the wheel! As to who to approach, it might be better to work

backwards, ie look at who you will use to process the final transaction,

and see who their preferred software / solution providers are. A few big

names:


http://www.datacash.com

http://www.worldpay.com

http://www.netbanx.com


Regards

Dan Winchester

http://dan.freelancers.net



Mark Hirst wrote:

 > 

 > I'm in desperate need of help.  I am a web designer but most of my skill

 > lies in the actual aesthetic side of things, making a site look good.

 > 

 > I have just got a potential lead for a project for someone who wants a site

 > with an online searchable database and the ability to do credit card

 > transactions.  I know nothing about data base design or e-commerce so I am

 > standing right in the deep end!  Please can someone advice me as to what the

 > best software to buy would be?  Also, are there any books/sites I should

 > buy/visit where I can learn about all this?

 > 

 > I know it's a large and specialised field and it may be way out of my league

 > but I'd like to give it a shot and any help would be most appreciated.

 > 

 > Thanks,

 > 

 > Mark



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

post new media vacancies for free

uknm-jobschinwag [dot] com

 				*******************

 sponsor the uk-netmarketing list and website, contact

saleschinwag [dot] com

 for more details.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  To unsubscribe or change your list settings go to

http://www.chinwag.com/uk-netmarketing or

helpchinwag [dot] com