Not sure where to Post this, Webhosting questions

[RussellOrtego]

Hey you guys, I apologize for posting this here if it is the wrong place. The situation is that I have an ammo business that I would like to take online, but I have shipping restrictions that are pretty specific. I cannot ship to certain zip codes within certain states, and cannot ship to certain states. Should I just run a regular website and cancel orders from the wrong states? How hard would it be for me to make such a website with a builder? How about a website that doesn't allow people from specific states to checkout? I am pretty computer savvy, but have not built websites etc. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. If you guys can also throw in whatever tips and ideas you may have I would really appreciate it.

Thank You

 

[Markbnj]

I cannot ship to certain zip codes within certain states, and cannot ship to certain states. Should I just run a regular website and cancel orders from the wrong states?

That would definitely not be the most customer-friendly approach. Whatever you build the site in it would not be too difficult to trigger a rule on the shipping address if you have a database of the zipcodes and restrictions.

 

[RussellOrtego]

Thank you Mark, would that be something I could do myself on a website builder without a crazy amount of trouble? Or do I need to hire somebody to do this for me? Ideally looking for the least expensive most professional look and functionality.

 

[beginner99]

Thank you Mark, would that be something I could do myself on a website builder without a crazy amount of trouble? Or do I need to hire somebody to do this for me? Ideally looking for the least expensive most professional look and functionality.

Do you have programming experience? If not, forget it. Programmers are payed a lot because it isn't easy and takes time to learn. The important thing here is also that you are handling sensitive customer data. This means security must be top notch and you can forget that if you have no clue about it.

Forget least expensive. You get what you pay for. If it's cheap chances are very high it will suck. (the reverse sadly is not true).

But for a good site with good design and an online shop except to pay 5 digit amount. It's not cheap because it is not easy.

 

[RussellOrtego]

Ouch, 5 digits huh? Was hoping to spend under 4 haha, I guess my estimates were a bit off. I really appreciate the help everyone, and if anyone else has any other suggestions/info please feel free to add them.

 

[purbeast0]

my suggestion is to listen to beginner99 he makes some good points.

chances are also that it won't be put together as quick as you are hoping it will too. good websites take a while to design and implement.

and you have to remember - your website is the face of your company. and first impressions are everything.

how does the saying go? it's something like "pick 2 of the 3 - cheap, fast, reliable"

 

[clamum]

I don't know if any website builders, or shopping cart builders, allow for granular controls such as you're after (limiting orders to specific zipcodes and states). Perhaps someone here with more knowledge of them can chime in; otherwise Google is your friend.

Otherwise, yeah, you'd need a custom website and like the others have said it's not a quick thing. Your goal isn't difficult really, and not complicated at all, but it takes time to implement everything and ensure security is covered properly. Maybe the best bet would be a custom website that uses a pre-built shopping cart, that way the programmer don't have to reinvent the wheel.

 

[beginner99]

Ouch, 5 digits huh? Was hoping to spend under 4 haha, I guess my estimates were a bit off. I really appreciate the help everyone, and if anyone else has any other suggestions/info please feel free to add them.

With 3 digits you get crap. That's only possible if you let some offshore guy in India or China do it. And then communicating with them will be problematic and getting what you really want will for certainty not happen.

The thing is most people greatly underestimate the complexity behind a modern web page. If you go cheap you will get some configured off-the-shelves crap that you will not really like.

Note: If you still want to explore go to

https://www.elance.com/q/find-freelancers

you can search for developers or post your own project. Rates vary greatly. But assume you get a cheap offshore developer for $20/h don't get too optimistic. that includes everything including discussing with you what you actually want. That will be only 50 hours if you want to stay at $1000, eg. little more 1 week worth of work. I don't think it's possible to get a good site in such a time frame but you can try.

 

[purbeast0]

if you are paying anything less than like $50 or $60 an hour for someone to do your site, you aren't going to be getting very good quality imo.

 

[Ken g6]

Gentlemen,

I'm starting to have trouble telling this thread and a [thread=60552]price check[/thread] thread apart. Please continue discussing strategies, but please, let's try to avoid specific numbers.

-- Programming Moderator Ken g6

 

[RussellOrtego]

No problem Ken, and thank you everyone. So there aren't any website building platforms where I can put in my own shipping restrictions as far as zipcodes are there? I want to keep this low cost if possible. Also, I can use labor in India as I am half Indian and lived there for 9 years. I know people with bachelors in programming/etc. Any idea how many hours it would take a programmer to do it? Thank you.