Doe's anyone have expiriance using no-ip.com?

I'm looking for a cheap way to get up and running, doe's anyone know how good is this service?

E-commerce involves commercial transactions over the internet. It is a sophisticated and sensitive activity, vulnerable to abuse and fraud - if not conducted on systems and technologies that are configured to minimize risk.

"Cheap" often turns out to be "expensive" when you take short-cuts and try to penny-pinch.

Remeber also that servers need to be properly configure to run e-commerce systems (including zencart), with many server settings configured to meet the software's requirements.

Hosting companies that support e-commerce properly, have set up their systems to accommodate these complicated programs, and go to a lot of expense and cost to maintain server integrity and security.

This forum is full of posts from frustrated people who have selected "cheap hosting", and then found that it does not properly support their e-commerce set-ups.

You can get good hosting these days - with all the required anciliary services for e-commerce - at under $200 per annum. This is very good value.

If you host on a "cheap and nasty" system, expect to spend hundreds of hours searching for solutions to problems... and that's more costly in the long run.

I know, you are 100% right, in the long run that is exactly what I will do, but for now, I just want to get the web store up and running and I want to first see a buck or two before I spend $200 for an annual plan on a store that might sell nothing.

This service is not a hosting service, it's a free reffural service for people who have dynamic IP addresses and want a static IP address without the having to pay the extra cost for the internet provider.

Since I'm hosting the web server on my own computer, this kind of service could be a good solution for people like me who have dynamic IP addresses and still want to test and learn about eCommerce and purhaps streching it to the first year of business.

So, anyone hear something about this kind of service?

As for no-ip, their free services are fine.

However ... the following raises serious alarm bells ...

dakos:

Since I'm hosting the web server on my own computer, this kind of service could be a good solution for people like me who have dynamic IP addresses and still want to test and learn about eCommerce and purhaps streching it to the first year of business.
As I've said elsewhere, wampserver running on your own home PC is NOT suitable for running a live website, let alone an ecommerce site. It's simply not secure.

Dear DrByte,
I know you are a strong advocate for professional hosting services, but there are other ways to do business as well, not allot of online shops become an overnight success to justify the cost, small private server is the way to go for allot of us out there, this is a good way to try the whole eCommerce business cheaply and once you have a good enough store running, move it to a professional hosting service.

Why can't I secure my server to the same level as they do?

Don't take this the wrong way since I really appreciate your help but, after all if this sort of solution wasn't available, it would mean that the dream of business ownership, once again, is not for anyone!!! and maybe ZC should change their slogan back to "It takes money to make money"..., I know 200 bucks for a year is not much but for some people it really is.

Bottom line is, it's a matter of personal opinion, and mine is a little different then yours.

One more thing, I'm moving my install to xampp 1.4.16 to get more compatibility with ZC and a mail server.

Well ... if you want to put on another hat, and spend countless hours studying all the ins and outs of securing a webserver properly, have at it!
I would suggest that your time and money will be way better spent running your business than dealing with hacked sites and trying to figure out the security holes in your server and email server.
But, if that's a skill you want to learn, head on over to webhostingtalk.com and start on your journey of learning.

As to switching to xampp ... well ... out of the frying pan and into the fire. If you read the docs on the xampp site, they specifically tell you not to use xampp for hosting live websites. It's intended for offline testing and development of content for your websites, not for actually running the live site. Same with wamp IMO.

Hosting a website from your home is problematic for several reasons:
a) security of the webserver -- most people running a webserver for the first time have no clue about all the intricacies of securing a webserver properly
b) speed of connection -- visitors will not experience the speedy response time they're used to with professionally-run servers, both due to the (almost always) poorly (or not at all) tuned nature of the home-based webserver, as well as the slower speed of the internet connection used to get to it
c) ISP TOS violation -- most ISPs prohibit commercial operations from using their residential internet connection services. You should check with them to be sure they won't shut you down if they discover you're running your own webserver. You can be sure they will shut you down if your server gets hacked and starts getting used to spam emails or to spoof rogue websites selling pirated software or performance/body enhancing pharmaceuticals etc. They'll also shut you down if your site gets used to send spam email and then gets you or the ISP blacklisted on email watchdog lists.
d) reliability of connection -- it's not uncommon for people in other countries to have difficulty connecting to home-hosted servers just because of how dns addressing works in relation to home ip addresses
e) and then there's the whole matter of PCI DSS compliance. A self-hosted webserver will almost never pass PCI certification because it just isn't secure enough and not adequately maintained. If you are planning to collect payments with your website, it's highly likely that the payment processing service you use will require you to be PCI compliant with regular (usually monthly) certification tests.

Sorry, I don't mean to be always raining on your parade. I do understand your desire to get something started at low cost.
Do what you like -- but it's wise to go into it with eyes wide open if you're hoping to take shortcuts.

They are also some great hosting sites out there that don't charge the earth for hosting. I know of a couple hosting sites that have full hosting packages from $24.00 a year and they have heaps of features. In fact I have put a couple of business's on them in the past and they have had no issues what so ever with their service.

Not to sure if I am allowed to advertise them on the forum, so if your interested send me a PM and I will give you the address.

Atleast going this way you will avoid all the hassles and problems that DrByte has mentioned and it will only cost you $24.00 for a whole year! It will be faster, safer and less problems for you too.

I'll add again (sorry to always be sounding negative) that a $24/yr host probably isn't PCI compliant. If that's important, you might consider an alternative.
Essentially, you get what you pay for. (I'm not dissing your recommendation ... just putting a reminder out there for those who might read this discussion after us.)

And, you're right ... advertising is not permitted on the forum.

I think one needs to establish the difference between "price" and "cost". While the price of "cheap" hosting can be low, the cost can (and almost always is) much higher. Self-hosting (as Dr Byte has indicated) is challenging and potentially dangerous, and the effort in getting things set up is not worth the cost (in time, effort, skill, expertise, etc).

Setting up any commercial business carries a cost, and if you intend to do business seriously then this investment must be made and a proper business plan/strategy should be constructed. If budgets are so tight that you can't afford $200 per annum to host a site, then consider what you're spending $200 on (less than $1 a day) during the year. Cut expenses in other areas - don't eat out so often, stop drinking beer, quit smoking - or cut down, don't go to movies, take a shorter vacation... Lots of ways to save a dollar a day which you can then invest in your business.

And having the nice warm feeling that your site is safer, operates better and is more reliable will allow you to focus on what matters most in your business - MARKETING and SELLING your products/services. For every hour you are spending tinkering around with the technology, it's an hour you're NOT spending on growing your business... What's more important?

DrByte:

I'll add again (sorry to always be sounding negative) that a $24/yr host probably isn't PCI compliant. If that's important, you might consider an alternative.
Essentially, you get what you pay for. (I'm not dissing your recommendation ... just putting a reminder out there for those who might read this discussion after us.)

And, you're right ... advertising is not permitted on the forum.

Thanks for the heads up about being PCI compliant. But from what I have read if I am using or someone was to use e-path as a payment gateway then there is no need for the website to be PCI compliant. Well thats what it says on their website.

So is that information correct? Because if it is then that would mean people could choose to use cheaper hosting to save some money if they wanted to, without the need to worry about their hosting being PCI compliant.

Either way I will check with my hosting provider if they are indeed PCI compliant. As this is something that I was not aware of until reading this thread. So I appreciate what you have said here.

Thanks.

PCI compliance is extremely imortant - there can be costly fines involved - when there are fines involved the trickle down affect goes into play everyone doing the processing of a transaction may get hit- so I would also check with the company that does your processing - paypal or if it is individual - I just went thru that and will again when we are up and running.

I don think I am out of line to say - check out the certified host on this site you will find that some of them are within a budget and if there was any problem with them I am sure that they would not be supported by this forum.