A Newbie in Need of Advice - Thinking of Switching from Prostores

[LisaI]

I'm thinking about ditching Prostores. I hate it. But, I'm no developer/programmer. I'm above average I would say but have no interest in too much of that side of the operation if I can possibly avoid it. My store has been online for 2 years.

Is it a big deal to start over by tranfering my domain to my own hosting account (I have an account at Hostgator where I already host my own blogs) then installing Prestashop and having at it? My prostore has been online for 2 years. Traffic stinks - I get none. Their platform is so hard to customize it's ridiculous and the primary reason I am using it in the first place, integration with an eBay store, doesn't perform well at all leaving no real incentive for me to stick with it. I've learned all sorts of things about SEO but can't translate it over to their platform and actually use it. Over my head.

I use First Data as a payment gateway but would like to drop that too in favor of a less expensive method for accepting credit cards. I also believe moving to a self-hosted option on Hostgator would also allow me to install my blog on the subdomain of the store if I want to is that right? Prostores also doesn't make this option possible either.

Thoughts anyone? Is this a dumb idea?

Thanks,
Lisa I.

[iturri.cf]

Hi Lisa, actually, I think it's a good idea. Prestashop it's a very flexible software that enables you to extend it and customize it at your needs.
If you're thinking of drop FD, you can take one payment gateways of hundreds like Authorize.net, FastCharge, RBS World Pay, PayPal, Secure Pay, depending on where you live.
I have experience in web development, internet and all that stuff, so I can give you a hand with the transfer of your domain if you want, it's not hard to set up a subdomain like blog.yourdomain.com.

[LisaI]

Thanks for the reply and offer of help. I may play around with this software when I can get a little time.

I am trying out the Shopp plugin for Wordpress for the time being - I did go ahead and close the Prostore. I was afraid Prestashop might be biting off more than I can chew right now. I have several domains running that I have plans for down the line so I have several opportunities to try it out. I will dive into this around May - I figure that's enough time to get the store with Shopp on fully developed with all the inventory I want it to have and can then turn my attention to the others.

I would love to talk to you more about it when I get to that point.

Thanks again for the reply. :-)

Lisa

[iturri.cf]

;-) You're welcome.
Sure, we can keep in touch, I'll send you mi e-mail in a PM so you can write directly to me anytime you want

[LisaI]

Got it, thanks.

My poor brain is overloaded. :-)