The answer is most definately 'Yes'. Although the majority of our clients are existing businesses, the osCommerce4u service is an ideal way to start your own online business at a relatively low cost. However, there are points to consider. To trade online (i.e. to take card payments) you will need either a merchant account enabled for online trading or an account with specialist online payment provider such as WorldPay, PayPal or NOCHEX. The good news is that our shops are fully compatible with all of these payment methods. It is important to note that these providers will charge an additional fee for their services and that these accounts are arranged independently.

Absolutely! Although each ISP has it's own policy for releasing domains and some may charge you a release fee. In the unlikely event that you wish to host your site elsewhere, we do not charge a release fee of any kind.

If you are the legal registrant of the domain then you own it and have the freedom to host it wherever you like.

All you have to do, once you have ordered your osCommerce4u Hosting Package, is contact your existing domain registrar and request that the "nameservers" are changed to:

ns0.oscommerce4u.com

ns1.oscommerce4u.com

Some providers enable you to do this online via a control panel. In any case contact the existing registrar (where you bought the domain) and they will be able to advise you.

Once the nameservers have been changed on your domain record it can take a while for the change to propagate throughout the internet. Please allow 48 - 72 hours for this change to become effective. After that time your osCommerce4u web space should be accessible on your domain.

IMPORTANT
The instructions above are only for pointing your domain at our servers which is all that is required for us to host your site. However if you wish to also change the registrar so that all future renewals are made through osCommerce4u you will need to tell us this when placing your order. We will then initiate a full transfer. Please note that in order for such a transfer to succeed the current administrative contact must be aware that a transfer is taking place as they will be required to authorise it. Ask your current registrar who the admin contact is if you are unsure.

Unfortunately not. Our servers run RedHat Linux and we create our programming solutions in PHP.

If your website is essentially a support to your main business, providing marketing and information services for your customers,  a basic off-the-shelf hosting solution will usually be right for you. If your website handles all or most of your business, rather than supporting business activities elsewhere, you probably need a more feature rich hosting solution.

One way to look at hosting requirements is in terms of the 'problem tolerance' of your business. How much downtime, slowdown or data loss can you tolerate before it affects your business? If you feel your site could be down for a couple of hours with no ill effects, you may be better off with an off-the-shelf solution. If two minutes' downtime means two lost customers, you need our feature rich hosting.

Remember, you can get in touch with us any time to discuss your needs without obligation. Our reputation is important to us and we will not 'upsell' you to an expensive solution that you don't really need.

Firstly, read the small print. Many 'cheap' hosting packages are short on features and flexibility, adding banner advertising to your site or locking you into a particular configuration for years.

Secondly, consider what infrastructure can be provided by a company that receives so little revenue from each of its customers. Lower prices mean lower investment, perhaps even insecurity in the business itself. What assurances do you have about the level of service, or the health of the company?

Now apply the same reasoning to customer service. The fee you pay somehow has to cover the people you deal with, as well as the service itself. Are you likely to get phone and email support, proactive troubleshooting and friendly advice whenever you need it? What is actually guaranteed?

If you still feel that rock-bottom hosting is right for your business, there are plenty of economy packages out there. Of course you could choose a professional service that's carefully designed around your actual business needs, not squeezed into an eye-catching price point. It's your decision.

There's a big difference between hiring infrastructure and subscribing to a service. One means taking on new worries, the other means forgetting them. When you move to a new house, you can rent a van or use a removal service. It depends how much effort you want to put in. Where do you want your business's efforts to go?

Professionals know that to get professional results, you engage a professional. Business people understand that real value for money is long-term and big-picture. Managing hosting effectively requires a wide range of technical skills and it rarely makes sense to have those skills in-house (or do without them).

People who work with competent, experienced, customer-focused hosting companies sometimes form the impression that hosting is easy or requires no effort. This is because good hosting companies shield their clients from day-to-day problems, just as good couriers or accountants do.