-=ONLINE STORE=-

ok reason for this post is to get a feel for what people usually look when buyin games online.

reason being is that i would like to open a store online to sell xbox 360 and ps3 games,but i want to sell them at a lower price,cus i know as a consumer myself the prices are a bit high on newgen games.

so i intent to sell my games online cheaper than one if not the biggest store for games there is in the us,ebgames.

what i was looking for is feedback on:

1) prices:how much lower and or what porcentage less than ebgames?

2) web design:should i go with a newtral color or just mix both game systems colors in?

3) customers:would anyone here buy any from said store if made?

4) security:how could i gain the trust of people to buy on my site?

i know i probably missing a few,feel free to add any to it...
reason for newgen only is cus their library aint so big and hence i would be able ta have stock for all their games,last gen systems,theres to many games for them and you can find them at a decent price.but newgen games are to expensive and thats what i hope to do is lower the prices while still making a profit and gaining customers...


thanks
alex

I don't know the first thing about ebgames, so I'll just skip question number 1. I can be brief about number 3: I don't plan on buying either system, so no.


I do have some thoughts regarding the other questions, though. If you ever expect your store to be something, get your own colour scheme. You want people to remember your store, not just the product they bought there. Moreover, I'd recommend that you avoid the Xbox' black and green, because brighter colours tend to win visitors' trust and acceptance much easier than dark, aggressive ones.

Which brings us to question number 4. As a brand new online store, you may assume that your visitors know nothing about you, your site or your reputation. The first thing you need to do to convince them that you are a serious, professional and reliable party, is by presenting them with a serious, professional and user-friendly design.

It's ok to try to make yourself look "big" by showing different products and internal links on the main page, but don't allow it to get too cluttered.

Use a limited set of colours and other design elements to guide the visitor's attention to the links that are important to them, and to help them find what they seek. Good example: Lik-Sang. Bad example: GOAT Store (sorry Dan).

Avoid misspellings like "porcentage" and "newtral".

Make sure the ordering procedure is easy and clear, and allow users to view the status of their order online, as well as a history of their previous orders. Using https can help your ordering system look secure, but beware: if your server uses an older security scheme, it's better to avoid https altogether or your visitors will be deterred by warning messages.

Make sure your images are the right size, both in bytes and in pixels (I'm saying this because the logo image on www.borgeneration.com is too big both ways).



You might not think my advice is worth much, considering what little effort went into the "Senile Shop" on this site, but that's just because I don't want to spend much time on it when I should be concentrating on finishing AotB. As a web designer, I've made several successful online shops for clients, so I do know what I'm talking about.