E-commerce Hosting
 WestHost is a complete e-commerce hosting provider. We've included all the services and tools required to set up your online storefront, accept secure payments and process them.
Read below to learn more about the technologies required on e-commerce Web sites, or sign up for our Business or Semi-Dedicated Hosting Plans and get started selling your products and services today!
| Shopping Cart |
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 The first component for e-commerce is a shopping cart. This is essentially what allows you to have "Buy", "Order Now", or "Add to Cart" buttons instead of requiring your visitors to contact by phone or e-mail to purchase. However, a more sophisticated e-commerce hosting solution like ZenCart, osCommerce, or Magento incorporates the entire product or service catalog and ordering process. All shopping cart solutions have powerful administrative interfaces for managing every aspect of your online storefront.
There may be many other e-commerce applications that can be installed besides those listed depending on the hosting plan.
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osCommerce is a powerful and popular Open Source online shop e-commerce solution which allows store owners to set up, run, and maintain their online stores with minimum effort. |
Zen Cart is an open source shopping cart solution developed by shop owners, programmers, and designers that think e-commerce should be done differently. |
Magento is a state of the art open source e-commerce platform that allows running multiple stores on the same backend, and has full theming capabilities. |
| Open Source (Free) |
Open Source (Free) |
Open Source (Free) |
| One-click install on Business and Semi-Dedicated Plans |
One-click install on Business and Semi-Dedicated Plans |
One-click install on Business and Semi-Dedicated Plans |
| Out-of-the-box Ready |
Out-of-the-box Ready |
Out-of-the-box Ready |
| Single Administrative Option |
Single Administrative Option |
Single Administrative Option |
| Manual Entry/Exit of Data |
Manual Entry/Exit of Data |
Import/Export Tool |
| Manual Updates |
Manual Updates |
Automatic Updates |
| Free Modules |
Free Modules |
Free Modules |
| PHP/MySQL |
PHP/MySQL |
PHP/MySQL |
| Supports most Merchant Accounts |
Supports most Merchant Accounts |
Supports most Merchant Accounts |
| Feature Rich |
Feature Rich |
Feature Rich |
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| Merchant Account |
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 Once the shopping cart has captured payment information for an order, a merchant account is required for you to process the information. The shopping cart sends the credit card and order information to your merchant account for automatic and real-time verification. The funds are then held and ultimately transfered from your customers' bank accounts to yours.
We have partnered with two different payment processing services that we have found to be most affordable, reliable, and completely compatible with many popular shopping carts, including ZenCart and osCommerce (which we include with our hosting plans).
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 payQuake
Highly recommended for startup and small businesses
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 e-onlinedata
Recommended for established businesses
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| High Approval Rate and Fast Setup |
High Approval Rate and Fast Setup |
| No Setup Fee |
No Setup Fee |
| No Cancellation Fee |
No Cancellation Fee |
| No Monthly Service Fee |
$10 Monthly Service Fee |
| Low Monthly Minimum |
$25 Monthly Minimum |
| No Annual Membership Fee |
No Annual Membership Fee |
| Transaction Fee From $0.25 |
$0.30 Transaction Fee |
| Discount Rate From 2.29% |
2.29% Discount Rate |
| Free Authorize.Net Gateway Included |
$15.00 Monthly Gateway Fee (Authorize.Net) |
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 PayPal
Recommended for businesses that either do not wish to have an online merchant account, or would prefer to offer multiple payment methods to their customers.
| Not a Merchant Account |
| Transactions are Completed on PayPal's Web Site (rather than your own) |
| Virtually 100% Approval Rate and Fast Setup |
| No Setup Fee |
| No Monthly Service Fee |
| No Cancellation Fee |
| No Monthly Minimum |
| No Annual Membership Fee |
| $0.30 Transaction Fee |
| 2.29% Discount Rate |
| No Monthly Gateway Fee |
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| SSL Security |
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 SSL (Secure Socket Layer) is a protocol that enables a Web browser and a Web server to communicate securely. If you've been to a Web page, and  noticed a padlock at the bottom of the browser, or the Web address change from "http" to "https", you are seeing examples of a Web site that is utilizing SSL security. Having SSL Security ensures that your customers' entire ordering process is completely secure and their sensitive information protected.
Get it For Free
WestHost offers 128bit SSL security across all servers with FREE shared SSL certificates included with our hosting plans. This means our clients and their customers are given encryption protection for highly sensitive information at no additional cost with our hosting plans.
Pay for your Own Private Certificate
For those that would prefer to have their own Private SSL certificate, we offer help in purchasing and installing a private certificate.
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Comodo Positive SSL
$32.95 - Inexpensive SSL certificate great for low volume or low value transactions. Please visit our Comodo SSL details page for more information. This certificate comes with free installation on your WestHost hosting service, and a discount for purchasing directly with WestHost.
QuickSSL Premium
$249.95 - Recommended for users whose volume or value warrants an SSL certificate from a known brand, or that require advanced site seal technology. Please visit our QuickSSL Premium details page for more information. This certificate comes with free installation on your WestHost hosting service, and a discount for purchasing directly with WestHost.
RapidSSL Wildcard
$189.95 - Wildcard certificates allow you the ability to secure multiple sub domains on a single domain name. Please visit our RapidSSL WildCard details page for more information. This certificate comes with free installation on your WestHost hosting service, and a discount for purchasing directly with WestHost.
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