Thanks guys
Skill level with databases, hosting and scripting is fairly high, but I’m terrible at the graphic design side.
Will take note of the suggestions for shipping calculators and upfront prices. I agree totally on that.
Currently looking at Shopify, which runs as SaaS.... previously worked with Zen Cart which is a free package and you BYO hosting and setup. The templates and security in Shopify seem a lot better but you also have less control over customisations because you don't own all the code. A number of the really handy customisations in Shopify are fully supported but you have to rent them at $10/month for example. Whereas in Zen Cart and similar packages (osCommerce etc) the customisation are almost always free and unsupported.
The background here is that I’m looking to move out of Sydney and thus need a job in the NSW country. I've only ever done enterprise IT (nearly 20 years) so finding a job is a daunting prospect and the IT field I specialise in doesn't have jobs outside of the CBD of the big capital cities and its gradually offshoring and/or consolidating into major cloud players anyway.
For the move I'm looking at towns like Wagga, Albury or Mittagong (basically towns with a population range 10,000 to 50,000 and within 5 hours of a capital city) and sure there might be the odd IT job with the local uni, local council or a local law firm, but you have to wait way too long for them to come up and i think i would feel a bit underutilised in them.
As such, i'm currently leaning towards starting a few online stores at home in Sydney and then moving the stores with the family to the new town. When there i'll run the stores and offer local small business IT support (via local newspaper) until i find my feet outside of IT, or if the online stores and IT support go well i will stick with that long term. I have no idea what to sell in the online stores yet and that is the next challenge.
