Buying a domain name.

[Arch]

Stuff made from recycled materials - with a heavy leaning towards bike related parts.

So far, I have bike tyre belts, bike tyre keyrings, and woven inner tube handbags (lined with old umbrella fabric). There will be jewellery too, some bike related, some made from other found items or recycled material.

Once the website is more than blank pages, I'll post it up in my sig, and will welcome feedback!

It's a great excuse to indulge my squirrelling genes - all sorts of stuff suddenly becomes potentially useful!

 

[Linford]

Sounds good Arch

My own website has had about six incarnations since I started it, and I'm now working towards a seventh (my own fault creating a problem with the back end of it)

Anyway, I would suggest that you start with a piece of shop software as that is what you are ultimately aiming towards, turn all of the function off to give you a simple front end, and then you can work on the back end to populate its contents in your own time - so you don't have to double up.
I use open source shop software called http://www.prestashop.com which comes pre configured to give you the gist, and then it is up to you to do your own thing.

My earlier shop had hard coded html pages which I did myself and it was just a nightmare everytime I wanted to add anything - it also looked a bit naff.

 

[Arch]

Thanks for that, I'll have a look at it.

I'm in a catch22 situation in my head. I'm loathe to spend money on a shop site (the one I was recommended would be £150 odd p/a, with hosting and website creator package), until I've made some money from selling. But without a shop, my selling is limited. I have a couple of potential physical outlets within the York Green/Bike Mafia, but that will involve them taking commission - which I don't mind, because they've been instrumental in encouraging me and providing materials, and they are good charitable causes. But still, I'm not in total control of them. I suppose everyone goes through this sort of stuff at the start - you[ve got to invest up front at some stage!

I'm just making up some temporary business cards now!

 

[lulubel]

I don't know if these are suitable, but my OH uses Etsy and Dawanda to sell craft items. It takes a while to get your shops built up, and they do take fees (which you have to take into account with your pricing), but she makes a good full time income from it.

I also know plenty of people who use Wordpress (the software that you run on your own site rather than the hosted blog software) for online shops. It's free, easy to use (or can be as complex as you want it to be, if that's your thing) and very customisable.

 

[darthpaul]

I run a web hosting business www.hostfantastic.co.uk if you have any questions I would be happy to help you

 

[Arch]

Etsy is something I'm looking at registering with - lots of people have mentioned it to me!

 

[alecstilleyedye]

have you thought about ebay to shift a few items to help pay for a website? once you're up and running on that you can stop selling on ebay if you prefer not to…

 

[Arch]

Yes, that is another option.

Fortunately, someone has offered me some free space on their server, so I should be able to set up a shop site for nothing, at least to start with.

 

[goo_mason]

Stuff made from recycled materials - with a heavy leaning towards bike related parts.

So far, I have bike tyre belts, bike tyre keyrings, and woven inner tube handbags (lined with old umbrella fabric). There will be jewellery too, some bike related, some made from other found items or recycled material.

Once the website is more than blank pages, I'll post it up in my sig, and will welcome feedback!

It's a great excuse to indulge my squirrelling genes - all sorts of stuff suddenly becomes potentially useful!

That's great, Arch!

I've been eyeing up bike-tyre belts for years but have never bought one. I'd certainly place an order your way once you're up and running

 

[Arch]

That's great, Arch!

I've been eyeing up bike-tyre belts for years but have never bought one. I'd certainly place an order your way once you're up and running

You have PM...

 

[Acyclo]

Vote #2 for Hostroute. No complaints from me.

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

Just don't get ripped off for the registration of the domain name itself, that's £80+vat every 2 years. Registrars may add a bit more to that if they're giving you other services.

nominet.org.uk is the body controlling all .uk domains, they're the people that do the registration in the end. They've got a registrar list as long as your trunk and lots of heavy reading

 

[accountantpete]

And beware if you ever stop using any registered names - renewals can go through automatically unless you stop them.

 

[Manonabike]

There are a few good companies out there but the company I would not recommend is http://www.uk-cheapest.co.uk/ - they are really bad..... as for buying a domain from them, they are the only host that I know of that will charge you for transferring your domain to another host. £5 + VAT is the current rate although I paid £10 + VAT when I transferred my domains from them. In the end it was worthy just to get out - I can't complain about my new hosts now.

 

[MichaelM]

If only someone had mentioned that you get a backhander for referrals from Hostroute before I'd made my purchase... you'd be a rich man (or woman)!