online shopping

IMHO, since you're going to need some company to process the credit cards and get the money to your bank account, I recommend you buy a full featured service, which would include a shopping cart, maybe even web page design, etc. (after competitively shopping for the best price).  Credit card services are usually called "merchant services" or "merchant accounts".  You can do search at yahoo or google.

A cheap alternative if you're just starting out small is to use PayPal to accept payments.  That way you can build the site yourself, although you'll probably pay more per transaction than you would with a regular merchant account.

i used to run a crappy record label and was able to get a merchant account.  so you might not have trouble.  here's a link to a list of resellers for payment gateway at authorize.net:

http://www.authorizenet.com/reseller/directory.php


beware though, some resellers will try to get like $250/month from you.  I wouldn't pay more than 25-35, maybe 50.  

also, heres a place that offers turnkey solutions, including a cart, a gateway, and merchant account:

NEW! The premier online credit card processing service now provides a complete low cost turn-key operation including 24/7 support, your own individual merchant account -  fully automated online secure transactions. Nearly all merchant types accepted including brand new Internet sites, mom and pops, bad credit, no credit, high volume accounts. It just doesn't matter - you can be approved to accept credit cards.

http://www.electronictransfer.com/


and another:

http://www.onlineorders.net/

wellsfargo.com

@

A lot depends on where you are in the world.  It might be a good idea to give some sort of clue.  

Dont't forget that Experts-Exchange is a global information sharing service and gets enquiries and answers from all over the world.

You should also indicate where you expect your customers to be located.  Make sure that you offer a service that looks familiar and takes all the sorts of payment cards those customers are likely to want to use.  


@

You can purchase your own ecommerce software application which has a shopping cart, tracks inventory, adds shipping and handling...many many more....you can see a demo site at www.extremecamo.com, or an in the works project at www.pcpartsusa.com and you can visit their main website at www.infi-netsolutions.net

IMHO, it doesn't have much value as a PAQ but the answers were well thought out, pertinent & answered the question.