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Q: I'm in the early stages of a new company that sells auction-bought furniture and white goods to the public via eBay and local adverts. I now have a small storage unit and the next step is to go online with a functional website that will list my items for sale and where customers can securely pay for items. I want it be available on all the main search engines especially Google and I want to be able to "manage " the site alone; adding items / descriptions / pictures etc. Do you have any suggestions where I should look and what sort of average monthly costs I should anticipate?

By on October 06 2006

Answered by Mark Cornell of BT Business
You can begin with a site that is nothing more than an online company brochure, adding catalogues and then making the site transactional so that people can actually buy through the site. The cost of developing a professional looking web site needn’t be high, as there are a range of options and tools available to suit every budget.

It sounds like it could be complicated, but the most cost-effective option is to start with a site that you develop yourself. This can be done with tools that are available off-the-shelf or as part of a broadband package from an Internet Service Provider (ISP), BT offer the Internet Trader Pack.

These start from as little as £25 per month and allow users to build simple websites that include text, photography and click-through links, even if they have little IT or design knowledge. Some even have a direct connection to eBay, which allows you to monitor sales and update entries on both your own site and the auction site.

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