What is an e-commerce site?
Do I need a shopping cart?
How may items can I list?
Can I maintain my shopping cart myself?
What is a gateway?
Who processes my Credit Card Orders?
What is a database, and what kind will I need?
How do I get pictures of my products?
Do my customers get a confirmation e-mail?
Can I e-mail all my customers at once?
I want to build a site just like Amazon.com, can you do it?

What is an e-commerce site?

An e-commerce site is a website that sells either products or services over the internet. This definition is broad, and could mean that ALL sites are e-commerce sites. We feel that an e-commerce site is not necessarily a site in which there are isles and thousands of products and services. An e-commerce site could be as simple as a showcase site that displays your products and or services and gives a phone number to call. As long as you are conducting business on the web, you qualify as an e-commerce site. There are many different ways to show or sell your products and or services, not all of them have to include a budget that will surely bankrupt you. Examples of simple showcase sites can be found in our Web Design Portfolio Page.

Do I need a shopping cart?

A shopping cart site is a more complex type of site. It utilizes a database to operate, and can be very intimidating and challenging to design. dashark's designers are database experts and can maximize all the features that database interactivity can offer. Whether it's a simple e-mail list or a full service retail operation with thousands of products, dashark can help. Since many shopping cart-database sites require extensive coding which can take several weeks to months before a final product is produced, a consultation with a dashark representative should be your first step. Not all shopping cart sites are the same and the cost varies depending on features. You can view some successful shopping cart sites in our Portfolio Page.

How many items can I list or display?

There is no limit to the amount of products you can list. Every shopping cart site that dashark builds can accept an unlimited amount of products.

Can I maintain my shopping cart myself?

Yes. dashark designs our shopping carts with you in mind. We make it easy to update pricing, add products, delete products, edit products, upload pictures and even view all your orders in a searchable format from your own computer. Not only does this make all your storefront editing easy, it also enables you to keep design and input costs down by allowing you to do some of the work.

What is a gateway?

A gateway is a service that a shopping cart can send customer information to for processing of credit card and payment. dashark has already designed shopping cart sites that integrate with major gateways such as Authorize.Net, Cybercash and more.

Who processes my E-commerce website's credit card orders?

You can process your credit card orders in house with your present form of transaction service or you can access a gateway and they will do it for you. Details of each service vary and will be discussed by a dashark representative during a consultation.

>What is a database, and what kind will I need?

A database will allow your site to access information from a remote location and display the results onto a web page when asked by the viewer. In simpler words, it means that a user of your site can ask for information and get it customized to what they want to see. Database sites are usually easy to navigate through and makes the time spent on your site more productive for the end user.

How do I get pictures of my products for my website?

You can either take pictures of your products, scan in the products or have dashark take the pictures. We can do it all for you, effortlessly and affordably. You tell us what services you need and let dashark do the rest.

Do my E-commerce customers get a confirmation e-mail?

Yes. All shopping cart sites are designed for you. What this means, is that, we try to automate everything in the sales or purchases of your products. We understand that your time is better spent running your business, rather than answering countless e-mails with the same questions over and over. There is no substitute for a well designed site that does almost everything for you. Just ask our customers that are selling more products than ever before without all the headaches.

Can I e-mail all my customers at once?

Yes. If you ask dashark to integrate a e-mail database. It's simple, one click and thousands of e-mails go to there respected recipients.

I want to build an E-commerce site just like Amazon.com, can you do it?

Sure, but realize that sites like Amazon.com took the cooperation of thousands of people and years to build. If you have the time, energy and resources, dashark can do it (we just have to clear our schedule for a while).