# Good prices, easy website with store



## HRClothes (Jan 19, 2009)

Ok guys.... I hate godaddy.com, they should be called We are a rip off.com.... I am mad... I payed not too much money but I want a good website for my clothing line, something inexpensive, easy to setup, professional and with a webstore!!!


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## Robert H (Mar 27, 2007)

Dump godaddy and use big cartel if your low on funds.


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## SoloStampede (Aug 4, 2007)

yea You can try bigcartel.com , shopify.com, or indiemerchandising.com


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## HRClothes (Jan 19, 2009)

SoloStampede said:


> yea You can try bigcartel.com , shopify.com, or indiemerchandising.com


 
How about an acctual website aswell? any ideas there? something simple and affordable, aswell as professional!


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## SoloStampede (Aug 4, 2007)

if you're talking about a script, there's oscommerce.com (free, and I plan to use it) , zencart.com (free), and cubecart.com. and for hosting, Im with http://www.polurnet.com/ and I love it.


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

nevermind/


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## theprintshop (Oct 8, 2008)

SoloStampede said:


> if you're talking about a script, there's oscommerce.com (free, and I plan to use it) , zencart.com (free), and cubecart.com. and for hosting, Im with PolurNET Communications > Avoid the Freeze, Enjoy the Breeze! and I love it.


zencart is the best and the easiest to use. Best of all so many people are making modules for common problems so most of the work has been done for you


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## chan (Sep 5, 2008)

HRClothes said:


> Ok guys.... I hate godaddy.com, they should be called We are a rip off.com.... I am mad... I payed not too much money but I want a good website for my clothing line, something inexpensive, easy to setup, professional and with a webstore!!!


forget those free hosting companies...

there's no free lunch ..at least ....no tasteful free lunch


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## Austin300 (May 24, 2009)

Why do you hate Go Daddy?


I use them and for just the domain name alone
I have found them worth the money. 

Sure they try to upsell you with add-ons 
but you can forward your domain name to
any site online. That is a very powerful tool
when it comes to controling your internet
presence.

I have heard both sides of Go Daddy but I am
in the club that says free sites aren't worth 
the time or energy in the long run.


.


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## Rags (Apr 21, 2007)

I hate to sound negative but you get what you pay for. If it is cheap you want, it is cheap you'll get and as a result you'll be marketing your business less effectively than if you'd made the investment in the tools that will work for you. If your business and goals are important to you, I suggest finding the tools that work for you and that will make your online efforts successful regardless of the cost.

Just speaking from experience, I've seen many people fail with their online businesses due to investing in a Pinto rather than a Corvette and there are plenty of vehicles in between that are affordable and can drive you to achieving your goals.


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

I also want to say that I too agree that GoDaddy is horrible for someone who is new and learning.. HOWEVER i can not stress enough that if you do not want to spend about a year developing your website yourself a nd learning what is needed to fully customize your shopping cart, then you HAVE to hire a web developer/designer.. That is that.. It took me about 1 year to learn php and the oscommerce shopping cart software.. it was another year until i could really get in there and customize the shopping cart the way I wanted.. but it is SOOO worth it because I have a professional looking website and I learned a skill that is useful in my line of business... 

The point is, if you do not want to learn and spend all of that time and frustration, your ONLY option is to hire a developer.


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## Austin300 (May 24, 2009)

My suggestion to the first poster would then be the following.


KEEP your domain name with Go Daddy. You can drop the web page
without dropping your domain name. The two are separate. You can
go back with them or find another host for your site later. Changing
your domain to a different provider is also an option but until you are
ready to really move it's fine for the price where it is.

It's 10 bucks a year for just the domain name.

A domain name is very powerful and if you aren't taking advantage of the
free email address you should be. 

You have to think of a domain as a telephone number. You don't want
to keep changing it on your customers and then paying for the change in
your advertising/business cards etc.

Next step.

FORWARD your domain name to one of the more user friendly sites like http://www.bigcartel.com/signup

If you wish to have
a larger professionally made site created then
you can forward your site to that later on.



If you need help finding the forwarding section at Go Daddy just yell. I can walk you through it.


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## mariuszb79 (Mar 3, 2009)

Hey guys we started using godaddy to register our website name but to host it we use mediatemple, we share a gridserver, its a pretty good deal its only $20 a month for hosting,were thinking of switching our domain name to them also, the customer service is A+++ . Give them a try.


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## HMD10 (Feb 17, 2008)

What are you looking to pay a month?


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## mariuszb79 (Mar 3, 2009)

JMclothing said:


> What are you looking to pay a month?


We pay $20.00 a month at mediatemple.com


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

$20 a MONTH?!?!?!! that is NUTS. I do web design as a business and I make sure that ALL of my clients pay no more than $7 a month.. usually $5 a month!! And yes, that includes a shared server, UNLIMITED SPACE AND BANDWIDTH and about 100 email address and up to 10 databases..

People who are paying any more than $10 a month for a SHARED host and $10 a year for ANY domain is CRAZY.. the best hosts are there are on or close to $10


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## mariuszb79 (Mar 3, 2009)

lindsayanng said:


> $20 a MONTH?!?!?!! that is NUTS. I do web design as a business and I make sure that ALL of my clients pay no more than $7 a month.. usually $5 a month!! And yes, that includes a shared server, UNLIMITED SPACE AND BANDWIDTH and about 100 email address and up to 10 databases..
> 
> People who are paying any more than $10 a month for a SHARED host and $10 a year for ANY domain is CRAZY.. the best hosts are there are on or close to $10


Sorry bud there's no way in hell you can beat the mediatemple servers, nice try, we like to have nice and fast site not something from 1980's, call us crazy.


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

hmm.. first off.. BUD?

Second off.. You can get AWESOME speed and service from Bluehost, Voda, or Hostmonster that are shared.. SAME THING as the "grid" that they tout as some super duper proprietary function (which it isn't) 

So your host has shiny pictures of new machines on their site.. I looked at it.. they do not offer anything more than the average $10 hosting account.. The only thing that should EVER cost more than $10 is if you have your own dedicated server..

As far as shared servers go.. the ones I named are considered top in their brackets.. So i'm sorry.. you're paying too much for hosting. 

Like i said.. I have a BUNCH of sites on that host and NONE of them have had a "speed issue"


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## mariuszb79 (Mar 3, 2009)

lindsayanng said:


> hmm.. first off.. BUD?
> 
> Second off.. You can get AWESOME speed and service from Bluehost, Voda, or Hostmonster that are shared.. SAME THING as the "grid" that they tout as some super duper proprietary function (which it isn't)
> 
> ...


ok cool, thanks for the info no farther rebuttal from us here since the only one we know is mediatemple which has been great. So we will stick with whats good for us but we will take a note of the ones you mentioned.

thanks.


Mariusz


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## HRClothes (Jan 19, 2009)

I think I am going to stick with Godaddy.com.... for my domain name and just do bicartel I am liking them alot!


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## Austin300 (May 24, 2009)

Good move HR.


There are reasons that you want to use one site for
your domain and another for the web page. That is
a long story but it is about control and security.

Go Daddy tends to confuse some people and I 
admit they do have confusing navigation for some.

They are first and foremost a web DOMAIN
company. They aren't going anywhere and 
no matter how many people bash them they
are at the top of their game with this.

If you take the time to see the free options
when you purchase a domain with them you
may find that the price is much better than
the competition.


The problem most have with them is that
they expect more from them for what they
are paying. You get a domain for 10 bucks
a year. Great deal considering the free add-ons.




The real problems come in when people
realize that they aren't offering a web
design GURU to help them build a web page.


People charge BU KU bucks to do this and
Go Daddy is not in the business of making
web pages for free. They are a Domain and
HOST site. Not a web page creator.
Many forget this and expect more.


I will keep my domains with them and
forward them to the best places I can find
to host the website. I use their Website Tonight
for simple pages and the price is right
and the template is easy to use in my book.

Just want to add that I in NO way am affiliated
with them but am satisfied with the
service that they provide.

Interesting reading everyone's comments
and thanks to everyone.


Take care and good luck!

Ed


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## HRClothes (Jan 19, 2009)

Austin300 said:


> Good move HR.
> 
> 
> Go Daddy tends to confuse some people and I
> ...


Yea Bigcartel is really good... I could always HTML stuff in extra pages... were not a big company right now anyway! I see alot of desgins they have on there and it takes creativity to make it good and do we have that!


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

mariuszb79 said:


> ok cool, thanks for the info no farther rebuttal from us here since the only one we know is mediatemple which has been great. So we will stick with whats good for us but we will take a note of the ones you mentioned.
> 
> thanks.
> 
> ...


I didnt mean to sound like I am "bashing" your host, but it makes me furious when companies make up these "great new features" that arent really a feature at all.. its just standards

Its your choice if you want to spend more money on something that you feel is worth more, but I can tell you.. Its probably equal.. I am a big believer in paying MORE for customer service, but the thing is, places like hostmonster have customer service DOWN.. i have never met a hosting company that has 24 hour phone service and real people on the other not.. not people reading out of a help manual. 

ALl I am saying is.. ALWAYS research your host.. Always know what you are getting, where your servers are located, and how secure they are... Anything that is considered a "good host" will be the same.. some poeple just tout their technology to make it LOOK like its worth more. 

If you can save $10 a month (thats $120 a year) why not? 

As for godaddy.. they are HORRIBLE for newbies.. but about the same for people who know what upcharges to decline AND how to navigate their control panel.. their control panel had me utterly confused for the first week of working with them.. 

For domains, you HAVE to be careful.. Sometimes, if you go to godaddy just to see if the name has been purchased, and it shows as available.. but you wait to buy. Then you go back a few days later, all of a sudden GODADDY OWNS IT because they bought it out from under you and not it costs $50 instead of $10 THAT if anything should be a reason to avoid them.. even if their domain registry is great..

I also dont understand what makes one domain register better than another.. if you are not buying, selling, and trading domains, and you only have a few domains to be concerned with.. ANY registrar can do it for you..


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## Austin300 (May 24, 2009)

""I also dont understand what makes one 
domain register better than another.
if you are not buying, selling, and trading
domains, and you only have a few domains to 
be concerned with.. ANY registrar can do it for you""


Actually, There is a BIG difference in domain providers.

Do they provide the ability to forward your domain at no charge ? 
Can the domain be forwarded easily by the owner?

This is CRUCIAL for a start up business because
they can keep the company name (domain) and
simply forward the $10 per year domain to 
another site like Big Cartel and be up and running 
for business in a day without the headaches of building
that first web page or the $500 plus to pay someone
to make a web page for them.

You can always keep your domain name and
move it to a larger site as you grow and you
NEVER have to change your company domain
name on advertising etc.



Do they offer a free start up web page? 

Do they offer free emails with the domain?

Do they offer a free coming soon page?




There are several other things that must be considered 
when purchasing a domain and I have only listed a few
of them.


It may only be $10 dollars a year for a domain
name but you can get $50 dollars worth of
options if you do your homework.


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## stuffnthingz (Oct 1, 2007)

I am a web developer and I love Go Daddy. I do however know what I am doing and when I call them with a specific need they have always been helpful. I know they are not for everyone, I just want to be sure that new folks don't get the wrong impression about them. I write my own code and do not use much prepackaged software. 

I also use Easy ASP hosting for my original domain.


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

All of the stuff you suggest as what makes a GOOD domain registrar... as far as i know are again more standards.. I mean, i dont know ONE registrar that will allow you to register the domain but NOT allow you to forward it!! That is craziness because you OWN the domain and pointing the domain to ANY name server is your right as the owner of the domain.. The registrar CAN NOT restrict that.

So yea, a customized "coming soon" page would be nice.. HOWEVER as a registrar, they are not really required to do this and to me is somewhat of a useless feature if you are using your domain FOR your company.. meaning, MOST people who are buying one domain for one website are going to register the domain AND buy hosting at the same time.. they will then use the hosting account to put up their "coming soon page" 

Again... this is all for those BASIC website owners.. NOT the domain farmers.. Again.. a lot of that stuff that you suggest is basic and par for the course with domain registrars.. They are all the same

to me, GODADDY for domains is the best when you are hoarding domains for resale or are working as a developer of a website that uses many MANY domains that all should be pointed to various different directories or different name servers..

It still does not make sense to me..

FOr $7 a month and $10 a year for the domain I get the ability to easily forward domains, control sub domains and which directories they point to, I can forward domains to ANY name server I wish or purchase domains and just point it to a little html page that says COMMING SOON or I can use their web builder and host an complete basic website under that domain as a start up.. AND get a ridiculous amount of emails and storage for those emails

Either way.. ALL of those are basic when you pair a registrar with a host.. OR make your host also your registrar.. which is what I prefer to do so I know that it is all within one place.. It makes everything VERY easy.

There are always a bunch of "bad apples" that are out there to scam you by selling you things you dont need.. I recently got a letter from a company saying i needed to renew my domain and its going to cost $70.00 a year to reregister the domain.. they never said it was an option thing, and never said that they arent the CURRENT registrars (which they are not) they just said "TIME TO RE-REGISTER - fill out this form so you dont loose your domain!"

IF wasnt knowledgbale or didnt realize that it was NOT the company who I am currently registered with, then I would have paid.. SCAMMERS!!!

That is what to me, signing with a host and using them as the registrar FOR BEGINNERS is the best option.. especially if that host has quality customer service which you can call at any time of the day and ask a question and get a REAL person with a REAL answer


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> I mean, i dont know ONE registrar that will allow you to register the domain but NOT allow you to forward it!! That is craziness because you OWN the domain and pointing the domain to ANY name server is your right as the owner of the domain.. The registrar CAN NOT restrict that.


Forwarding and pointing to nameservers for hosting are 2 different things. 

Some registrars have gone from offering free "forwarding" to charging for that.

All registrars allow you to change the nameservers to point to whatever web host you want.

Also, some registrars make it hard to transfer your name to a different registrar, which can be a problem if you decide to move or pick a different domain registration place.



> Its your choice if you want to spend more money on something that you feel is worth more, but I can tell you.. Its probably equal.. I am a big believer in paying MORE for customer service, but the thing is, places like hostmonster have customer service DOWN.. i have never met a hosting company that has 24 hour phone service and real people on the other not.. not people reading out of a help manual.
> 
> ALl I am saying is.. ALWAYS research your host.. Always know what you are getting, where your servers are located, and how secure they are... Anything that is considered a "good host" will be the same.. some poeple just tout their technology to make it LOOK like its worth more.
> 
> If you can save $10 a month (thats $120 a year) why not?


Please keep in mind that what seems like a perfect choice for you may not be the best choice for someone else and their business.

Although you may not understand the reasons why they pick who they pick, it doesn't make their choice any less valid.


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

I wasn't saying that the choice was valid.. i was just trying to make a point that fancy websites that tout these wonderful proprietary structures arent what they say they are.. It might be perfect, but I looked.. there is NOTHING all that special about that company.. now i have not visited the facility, and that would be the ONLY thing that would change my mind.. but there is NOT much to hosting when you are working with the basics of space, speed,and security.. 

as for registrars.. I guess maybe I have been lucky, but then again i always register with the company i host with.. I have NEVER had issues moving a domain or forwarding in any way.


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

lindsayanng said:


> I looked.. there is NOTHING all that special about that company..


Nothing except their unusually good reputation, and the fact that they've had endorsements from many respectable design companies over the years. For one thing, Threadless use(d) MT (not sure if they still do or not).

The cost difference between a $120 host and a $240 host is insignificant. It's really not worth getting so worked up over spending $120 on peace of mind.


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

wow.. what kind words from a MODERATOR!! I wasn't ACTING like I knew everything.. I was simply stating the fact that people CAN save money on hosting and get equal quality and equal features.. That was my point. 

I dont know why the hostility from you? A little uncalled for.. 

I said in the begining that the one thing that I would pay for is good quality customer service and that is the only thing that makes one webhost better than another when you get into that aspect.. NOw, just because threadless uses them doesnt make them the best choice.. Would you not agree the best choice for ANYONE who is somewhat new to the web world that owns one or two online stores would be the following:

Live 24 hour customer service that is NOT outsources
Easy to use control panel
secure servers
Multiple email addresses with security and space
storage space
bandwidth
reliability
PRICE..

Now my point here is.. why WOULD you pay so much more for something that is equally useful that is half? Personally.. I'm not entirely sure why anyone would choose that way..

now, when you go the route of dedicated servers, then you have a world of different options, and it is VERY possible that threadless has a dedicated or virtual private server.. I dont know how their private servers are set up.. maybe its worth it.

But really.. if you were driving down the street and Sunoco had gas at $4.80 and Mobil had gas for $3.00 and they were both on your way and easy to stop at.. why wouldn't you stop at the cheaper one?? Because the guy in the corvette got the Sunoco so obviously it must be better? That doesnt make too much sense? 

and no.. threadless is NOT hosted by that company anymore. I wonder why.. I could be a million reasons, but point being.. there was something better for them so they left. they are now on their own dedicated server.. probably for the best because that company mentioned is just a shared server, and they are all pretty close to the same.. Over $10 is a waste of money..


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## Brian-R (Apr 21, 2008)

lindsayanng said:


> HOWEVER i can not stress enough that if you do not want to spend about a year developing your website yourself a nd learning what is needed to fully customize your shopping cart, then you HAVE to hire a web developer/designer.. That is that.. It took me about 1 year to learn php and the oscommerce shopping cart software.. it was another year until i could really get in there and customize the shopping cart the way I wanted.. but it is SOOO worth it because I have a professional looking website and I learned a skill that is useful in my line of business...
> 
> The point is, if you do not want to learn and spend all of that time and frustration, your ONLY option is to hire a developer.


I agree. I would rather hire a web developer and have them to the SEO also. That leaves me free for production. I would not want my equipment sitting getting rusty while I tried to learn web design and SEO. I hired it out.
I must confess that I got a killer family discount though... But I would have hired it out even without the discount. The faster your site is up and running the faster you are making money.
And money is what it is all about unless you are a hobbiest.

Brian


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