best free hosting for small store

eria · #1 (**permalink**) 08-10-2006, 03:45 AM

Hi
can i host my small store on free host with my own domain name? is it safe and secure and reliable?

monaghan · #2 (**permalink**) 08-10-2006, 08:18 AM

If you intend to make money from your site, then it seems very short sighted to go with a free host, after all, your accountant will soon recover the web hosting fees against your tax liability.

brian · #3 (**permalink**) 08-10-2006, 12:36 PM

Indeed - if you plan to make money, you need to plan to invest, and $5-£5/month for a basic hosting package shouldn't be breaking the bank at all.

In fact, if your store grows you may find you lose money from it - server moves and downtime issues, and all that.

TWD_Tony · #4 (**permalink**) 09-10-2006, 03:16 PM

I agree - the increased support and uptime that a paid plan gives you is worth the money, you may also find that a free hosting account is packed onto a server with lots and lots of other website's, your estore will no doubt be using a database backend and would be painfully slooooow on such an overcrowded box

Hoosierhunter · #5 (**permalink**) 24-10-2006, 12:28 AM

I believe you can pay a very small amount at Power Sellers Unite hosting for your ecommerce store. That is if you want to have your own URL. Otherwise, ecrater and blujay both offer ecommerce storefronts for free. Hibidder also offers ecommerce shop space, but sales cost something like ten cents each.

Hoosierhunter · #6 (**permalink**) 14-11-2006, 04:53 AM

You definitely want one on a place that uploads to froogle IMHO. I heard froogle will no longer be supported soon, but I'm hoping that is merely a nasty rumor as a lot of people use froogle to comparison shop against eBay auctions.