Help with starting an online shop - Germany

Hi!
I'm new to this forum.. and the country for that matter.. and I'm hoping someone may be able to help me!
I'm in the process of setting up an online shop, but although I've added pages to a website before, in a previous job, I've realised I know very very little about the process and terms used in web design, hosting and development! I'm not really sure what I need to look FOR nor what to AVOID.
I want to offer online secure payment, I also need to be able to change and update products regularly - and quite a lot of products/categories. I don't know if every website can offer a choice of language versions - or is this something I have to consider when looking for a web host / the software for making/designing the website? I'm fast realising that I'm a bit clueless when it comes to the web start up process!
If you can give me any advice I'd be very grateful! Obviously I haven't mentioned everything above, but thought it'd give you an idea of what's needed.
Also, would anyone recommend certain web hosts / web design software... I've looked through loads of sites - including some of the ones recommended on other threads in this forum, but I'm not really sure what to look out for, and don't want to get stuck into it and then realise it doesn't actually allow me to do something quite integral to my business / to what I want.
Thanks in advance!

Hi! Lots of questions there!

I'm looking into expanding my Dutch webshop into Germany as well. I'll just go over a few things that recently came to my path and might be of use to you.

• The shop runs on Magento, which is open source eCommerce software. Magento is, in my opinion, rather excellent.
  
• I will offer credit card, Giro Pay and PayPal payment methods through Ogone, an itnernational payment gateway provider.
  
• I've been running pre-launch tests of market potential on eBay.de, been checking competition there as well.
  
• I've noticed that the Google Content Network in my sector still offers chances for affordable PPC advertising.
  

Hope this will help, let me know if you need more information on these topics maybe I can help out.

tllmn: About Magento

I have looked in to this too but it costs lots of money? Or did I looked at the wrong part? Do you use this at the moment? How much did it cost you? You can send a mail if you wish not to discuss money here

Gembalina: Aslo found www.xt-commerce.com

And if you need any help with actually writing your website, English Prois a good bet. Quick written copy with SEO...Of course it IS an outlay but having your website written to your target audience is really useful.

We're setting up our own business online too. I'll as my other half, who did all the programming to answer as many of the problems you're having as possible.

Good luck

www.jshop.co.uk

£200 for a single licence. Can handle whatever you want basically - I have been using for about 6 years.

OsCommerce is the other "cheaper" option but Jshop offers proper support and proper out-the-box functions.

p.s. On the basis that clearly your plan is to fully publicise your website - why not tell us what you are gonna sell 'cos I will be able to tell you the pitfalls in most product sectors. I have sold clothing, software, computers, medical kit, ink cartridges etc online.

Magento is open source, and therefore you can download and use for free. In addition, you can pay for support (not worth it in my opinion) or the enterprise edition (which is really only for multi-million euro companies).

Everyone will have different opinions on which shop platform to use. The only thing to do is download them (if it isn't open source then just the free trial editions) and give each one a go. I did this, and ended up with magento, which I am very happy with and would recommend as long as you have a reasonable understanding of computer stuff (I don't know anything about programming or code etc, but managed to work it out).

If you are a total beginner and don't want to spend time learning, then maybe the way to go is a pre-built store with hosting, such as from 1and1.de. It may look crap, but is easy to set up and get going.

Finally, it is all great to have a online store. Even better if you can (a) get people to visit ( actually get them to buy something! Easier said than done.