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i'm super new to this and need a lot of explaination to certain things. first off, what do i need to start off with to run an online store? and if possible without spending all of my funds to build the site. i've read a lot about oscommerce..and how it's a free. however, what does it do exactly? stores customer's info? sorry if all these questions don't make any sense now..shopping cart..will that be a separate thing i'll need aside from oscommerce? if i need to purchase...who would you recommend? what else would i be needing?
osCommerce is a free open-source catalog and shopping cart. It has pretty much everything you need to run an online store - however, it may not be the best choice for someone who is totally new to ecommerce.
It seems to me that you are looking for something really simple. I heard about one site recently, Shopify.com. I have not tried it myself, but I have heard good things about it.
A good place to find info about ecommerce (besides here) is to search for blogs on the topic - they often have software reviews and comparisons.
You can visit the official forum at http://forums.oscommerce.com. It's a big software that will do almost anything, minus actual credit card processing.
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1. You need to be comfortable at modifying PHP source files.
2. You need to understand the concept of database (specifically mySQL) in case you need to fix something on your own.
It's a free php script which uses mySQL to store data of your online catalog customer information. It does almost everything including displaying items in different categories, show available options, calculate tax & shipping, invoicing, customer order history, sales report, and a bunch of other stuff. Basically, it has all the features of a standard ecommerce package. It's free so you can just download the script and play around. Support is available at the site that I posted above, you got a lot more reading to do.
You may also want to check out www.cubecart.com as a shopping cart option. It's also free, and I've found it a bit easier to customize than oscommerce.
The installation is pretty easy, but they do have folks that can help you out with that in the forums if you aren't clear on some part of the instructions.
You will then need a way to accept payments from customers. A lot of people use PayPal. You can also use a "Merchant Account", which allows you to accept major credit cards without the customer leaving your site. A merchant account usually has higher monthly fees, but looks a bit more "professional" to the end customer (seamless).
There are also other payment processing options like 2checkout.com, ccnow.com, propay, Google Checkout, etc.
I'll also add zen-cart to the list. Zen Cart is based on osCommerce, and I haven't used osCommerce to compare, but I like Zen Cart.
Smoeone new to these things can work with them alright -- but it will take TIME and PATIENCE. You'll have to be willing to learn and do a lot of reading to figure out how to customzie your storefront the way you want to.
I use paypal shopping cart and I collect any credit card with their virtual terminal. My monthly fees are $20. plus transaction fees. You do not need to be member of paypal to use a credit card with this service. Lou
explaination needed :/ 
now..shopping cart..will that be a separate thing i'll need aside from oscommerce? if i need to purchase...who would you recommend? what else would i be needing?
i'm so lost
