If you buying and not going down the open source route with applications such as ‘Oscommerce‘ and you do not know how to edit code….
Make sure you brand spanking new e-commerce store:
1. Is hosted on your own servers (so you can bulk FTP images, and have control over uptime and not held to ransom)
2. Has a bulk upload,UPDATE and export facility for inventory
3. Has drop down options for products with associated inventory quantity
4. Has space for meta keywords and descriptions
5. Uses SEF URLs (Text Based URLs)
6. Is Integrated with the payment processor YOU use, or want to use. (Google Checkout, Paypal Payments Pro etc)
7. Does not require your customers to create an account to buy an item
8. Has an export function for your customer data and sales.
9. Has efficient searching and sorting functionality for the back end.
10. Enables you to set stages for your order processing and fire emails off at each or one stage to your customer.
11. Does not use frames.
12. Confirms the sale to your buyer, in an email invoice or confirmation page
13. Has the option to print out packing invoices or any kind of invoice really.
OK, there are more, but this is just a list I found lacking on one such e-commerce set up that will remain nameless. I will add to the list once I have found more e-commerce store must haves!
