Checkouts & Security: Your Web Host is Key

Checkouts are available as separate applications that simply bolt on to your site's back office. Some of these checkouts are open source, while others cost a few bucks.

osCommerce (http://www.oscommerce.com/) is an open source application that's under constant development by experts from the ecommerce community who volunteer their time to refine this free and fee-free software. It's a great option for start ups - simple interface, straightforward administrator's console and compliant with all site servers - a critical consideration.

MIVA Merchant 5 (http://www.miva.com/) comes in at the other end of the checkout spectrum, providing numerous checkout options, a feature rich administrator console, sales metrics, visitor tracking and many more features.

Most web hosts offer open source checkouts as part of their applications libraries, a real money saver when first starting out. And upgrading to a more sophisticated checkout is easy for the site owner and the hosting service.

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