Need guidance for website and payment

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Emil

Forerunner
I intend to start a home based business with customers from potentially anywhere in the world. I will be offering a service and not a physical product.
I believe I will need a website to advertise my services and a way of receiving payment. I have no great experience of web development but have setup a couple of free websites on weebley and other similar free hosts using their built-in tools, templates and a little bit of my own feeble HTML ability. However this one will need to have my own domain name since it is a professional service. I might hire someone to design the website or just might use wordpress and do it myself if I can spare the time.
All I will have on my website is information about my services and probably some samples. I will need to have a contact me page where the visitor can fill a form and I will receive an email. Just one email box which I will use to correspond with customers/prospects.
I will not be too dependent on random visitors to my site but will use targeted emailing with a link to my website.
Since it is a start up I need to keep the costs down.
I suppose it would be best to have a .com domain or does it not matter?
Would the primary domain name matter as far as price is concerned?
Who should I get my domain name registered from? Is it a one time cost or an annual charge or both and how much would it be?
Who should I go to for hosting and would it matter in price and performance whether the hosting is in India or elsewhere?
Can I open a paypal account to receive payments from customers from outside India? The payment need not be directly in the website.
Does the paypal account have to be Indian or international?
I look forward to advice and suggestions from fellow members here regarding the website and the paypal account.
 
Emil Answers in bold green within the quote. ALso, you can create your own website using wordpress. It is simple and easy to maintain too.

I suppose it would be best to have a .com domain or does it not matter?
A .com would be better.

Would the primary domain name matter as far as price is concerned?
All .coms are charged the same (unless it is a premium name). Not sure what exactly is your doubt.

Who should I get my domain name registered from? Is it a one time cost or an annual charge or both and how much would it be?
You can get it registered from either name.com or namecheap.com. Both are reliable registrars. You can do a registration for the period of time you desire. Dot com domains usually cost about 10$ per annum. It is not a one time registration. You need to renew every year.

Who should I go to for hosting and would it matter in price and performance whether the hosting is in India or elsewhere?
There are several different hosting plans that each web host offers. You need to select a plan based on how much disk space your site would occupy, and how much of bandwidth would be needed (which in turn depends on the number of visitors expected). Choose a reliable web host with minimum downtimes. It would be better if you choose a non-Indian host. I have very good experience with stablehost.com. Others swear by hostgator.com. You might need to shell out around 2.5k to 3k INR every year for a decent hosting account.

Can I open a paypal account to receive payments from customers from outside India? The payment need not be directly in the website.
Not really sure. I think it is possible. Paypal does not accept domestic transfers though. So, you can use it only for international customers.

Does the paypal account have to be Indian or international?
Not sure.. :(
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Thanks logistopath.
My second question was whether a domain name costs the same regardless of whether it is .com or .net or .in or .biz etc.
Further clarifications: I do not expect heavy traffic. It will be just those whom I email telling them about what I can do for them.
The paypal account is only to accept payment from abroad. For local payment there is always fundtransfer through netbanking and cheque for local city.
 
Costs vary according to the extension. Also remember, some of the extensions cost less for the first year only, and cost much more from the 2nd year onwards. Check this page for pricing info: Product Pricing - Name.com

For a site with not much traffic, the basic plan offered by stablehost is very much sufficient. StableHost - Shared Hosting Plans
You can try using one of the discount codes available here: http://www.retailmenot.com/view/stablehost.com
I have a stable plan from stablehost and it is with 50% lifetime discount..

For paypal related queries, wait for some other member to confirm and clarify. I have only used paypal to make payments, never to receive one.
 
Can I open a paypal account to receive payments from customers from outside India? The payment need not be directly in the website.
Yes just create buy now button from your paypal account and embed it in your website.

Does the paypal account have to be Indian or international?
PayPal account need to be Indian only .
 
Yes you can receive payments from all over the world using Indian paypal account.Only it cannot be used to get payments from other indian paypal accounts due to RBI policies :\
 
If you're buying a domain name you may be interested in this deal.

Use the code FLOWERS at GoDaddy and get a domain (.com/.net/.org) for $1.49 + a free .info domain. Including ICAAN fees it comes to Rs. 102 for both domains.

Turn auto-renewals off when you're buying so that you can avail of renewal discounts, and don't choose any extras, unless you really want to.
 
Thanks [URL="http://www.techenclave.../users/logistopath-11661/"]logistopath, teper[/URL], d@rK nEmEsIs, ch@ts. All your responses have been really helpful.
My son-in-law in Canada has informed me that he already uses a hosting service and I can have my domain hosted on his service for free. However they do not host .in. So if I go for a .com (and it looks like .com would be best for me) then he can even do the domain registration for $10.
Now I am wondering can I go for the domain registration with GoDaddy and then have it hosted as mentioned above?
The $1.49 charge would cover registration and 1st year fees?
After the first year I can renew the domain name with anyone else other than GoDaddy also? and will GoDaddy charge for it?

Once again the question: Would .com really have an advantage? What advantage would it be? I am asking because my preferred names are available with .in and not .com. If I insist on .com I will have to take a less desirable name.

Now I will go and read up about paypal.
 
You could choose a name with a few letters missing and then create a sub-domain to add them.
eg -
licious.com ---> de.licious.com
nter.com ---> i.nter.com

AFAIK - .com's are better because they'll be more likely to show up in global searches, whereas .in's will show up mainly in searches originating in India.

You can buy the $1.49 domain name, and then transfer it out after 60 days if you want, or renew it/transfer it out at the end of the year. There's no charge for transferring the domain.

You can host it anywhere, that's not a problem. Just update the nameservers.

If you want a free .in domain, and free hosting, you can get it from google.
Home

There doesn't seem to be a downside to the deal. You can transfer your domain anywhere else after 60 days, and change your webhost whenever you want.

---------- Post added at 12:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:17 PM ----------

Frequently Asked Questions
 
I was doing some reading up on the paypal site. It appears they have a personal and a business account. I guess I will have to sign up for a business account if I want to accept payments into that account right?
 
^ In India, it doesn't really matter as personal payments are not available. So its better you open a business account.
 
Thanks varkey. All of you have been most helpful. If any other members have any more info to add, I welcome it.
 
Emil said:
I was doing some reading up on the paypal site. It appears they have a personal and a business account. I guess I will have to sign up for a business account if I want to accept payments into that account right?
Click to expand...
Personal - Receiving Limits, but low transaction fees
Business - High Receiving limits, High Transaction Fees, You need documents (in whose name the account is) if your account is locked by Paypal for some lame reason.

---------- Post added at 12:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:09 PM ----------
varkey said:
^ In India, it doesn't really matter as personal payments are not available. So its better you open a business account.
Click to expand...
With the new paypal polices, you cannot send money from an Indian PayPal to an Indian Paypal, they clearly say its against the terms now.

---------- Post added at 12:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:10 PM ----------

Also, you can always upgrade your account later if the need be.

---------- Post added at 12:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:11 PM ----------
Emil said:
Thanks varkey. All of you have been most helpful. If any other members have any more info to add, I welcome it.
Click to expand...
I am a web developer and have been in the niche for approx 5 years, you can PM me if you need discreet advise on anything :)
 
^ You will need the documentation whether its a personal account or a premier account. They can lock your account citing security reasons at any time, but if you have the correct documentation, there is nothing to worry. You can just open a Premier account

“Premier Account” means an Account used for business purposes or for personal, family, or household purposes.
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Business accounts needs to be in the name of a business and I don't think it can be in your name.
@montsa007 : Where does it say that business accounts are charged higher fees? If the total transaction volume is high you get lower rates, not higher.
 
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varkey said:
^ You will need the documentation whether its a personal account or a premier account. They can lock your account citing security reasons at any time, but if you have the correct documentation, there is nothing to worry. You can just open a Premier account
Yep you do need documents no matter what account you open, PP is stern now :D

Business accounts needs to be in the name of a business and I don't think it can be in your name.
They can, I know many international guys who have a biz account
montsa007 : Where does it say that business accounts are charged higher fees? If the total transaction volume is high you get lower rates, not higher.
Lol, I'm rolling the dough for 5+ years, Business accounts are charged the highest transaction fees and have highest volume limits.
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OP, you may want to open a personal account initially and then upgrade it as necessary.
From what I remember, a personal account can receive a maximum of $500 in a calendar month (Sorry, I have a premier and its verified etc., can transfer upto $2500 in a month into my bank account)

---------- Post added at 12:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:38 PM ----------

Whatever you do, make sure you have full documentation for the name you have in PayPal account, else if PayPal blocks the account for some reason, you'll be in neck deep trouble.
 
Lol, I'm rolling the dough for 5+ years, Business accounts are charged the highest transaction fees and have highest volume limits.
Click to expand...

Can you show actual proof anywhere saying that Business accounts are charged a higher fee? Even I've been in this area for more than 5+ years. :P
AFAIK, a business account and premier account is almost the same, except for

Business Accounts and Premier Accounts both offer the same basic features.
The only distinction between the two is:

  • Business Accounts allow members to conduct business under a company or group name
  • Premier Accounts allow members to use their individual name
  • The Multi-User (Secondary Users feature is available only to Business Accounts)
Click to expand...

They can, I know many international guys who have a biz account
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They maybe able to, but it is supposed to be used with an actual registered Business Name. As I said other than using a business name there isn't much of a difference, so there is no point opening a business account and using a personal name when you can do the same with a Premier account (except if you need multi user access)
 
Update: I did put up a webpage but haven't done any active marketing nor started a paypal a/c yet. Plans are kind of shelved for the time being.
 
Emil said:
Update: I did put up a webpage but haven't done any active marketing nor started a paypal a/c yet. Plans are kind of shelved for the time being.
Click to expand...
Opening a PayPal account, creating a buy it now button and adding it on your webpage won't take more than 15 minutes :)
Go ahead ;)
Btw what sort of stuff you sell?
 
Nothing at the moment. I have a lot of experience in writing user documentation like user guides, troubleshooting guides and help CHMs. Was planning to freelance on the side.
 
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