We are thinking of opening up a second store, once our first one gets going, that would focus narrowly on our most popular product line.

We would have to pay about $50 for the second hosting, plus the cost of a new domain name. What other costs are associated with having a second store (we already have the warehouse, product, inventory system, etc.)?

Will our merchant account be used on this second store, or do we need yet another account?

Are there any other costs that we should expect to incur?

Thanks!

I have 2 stores with . I believe they give you like 50 percent off of your 2nd store or something like that. You can use the same merchant for both sites as that is what i currently do. As far as hosting it is included with the store price so there is no need for a 2nd host.

Here you go on costs:

134.90 for the setup (includes first month)
49.95 each additional month

Your current site can also be cloned....if you plan to sell the same products.

Captain, I know about the MonsterCommerce costs. I'm wondering if we also incur costs from things like a second merchant account for the second store.

Also, do you have to fill out a ficticious business name for every website you launch?

Robert,

good questions. You can use 1 merchant account for many stores. You can come up with one name for your merchant account... and then develop new stores as (DBA's)... Doing business as... under the merchant account name.

Hope this helps.

Captain, what appears on the customer's credit card statement? Can I have "Bali Kingdom" appear on the www.balikingdom.com site and a different dba appear on the second site? If a customer buys something on Buddhas.com (or whatever) but see "bali kingdom" on their card statement, they may think there was an error and challenge the charge.

Robert,
I don't believe your merchant will allow you to have two companies on the same merchant account (use two different names).
I have asked my merchant account (humboldt bank) in the past about that and they told me that I would have to start a new merchant account for the second company.
But, what your merchant account doesn't know won't hurt them.
If you wanted to use one merchant account for two companies than both will show up as the same business name ("Bali Kingdom"). Something you can look into is a generic name for your multiple companies.
I currently use "Douglas Foster Enterprises" for my multiple companies so I can use my one merchant account. I may soon switch to "oxx enterprises" and I just let customers know at checkout and on their invoices that they will be charged by "Douglas Foster Enterprises" and before they finish the checkout they must agree that they know (checkout question).
I wish you good luck, I would say one merchant is a much better way to go.
P.S. You must always remember that with multiple companies on one merchant account means more money being charged. So, make sure that your merchant account limit is set high enough. I just received a call from our merchant account two days ago complaining because we charged $5,000 more than our limit already this month. They don't like the extra liability but in most cases are willing to up your limit.

Luckily for us we're just creating a wholesale version of our store. Our existing store and merchant (dba) is Ultimate Keychains. Our new store 'The Keychain Store' shouldn't have an issue with 'Ultimate Keychains' as the name appearing on credit cards. However, we do have plans to drop a little graphic indicating 'a subsidiary of Ultimate Keychains' and thanks to advice by Strapworks I will also be sure to post it during checkout. "Charges will appear as 'Ultimate Keychains' on your credit card statement." Thx Strap!

My experience is that it is worth the extra to have a your name in line throughout the process. Before I switched to Commerce, I did not have these in line, I had a lot of challenges because people didn't recoginize the charge on the card. While i was always paid I just had to go through the whole process of wriitng the card company.

Time is money. Remember that.

Djangle,

You make a very good point there. I agree.

Well hopefully people will realize the charge for Ultimate Keychains is for the purchase at The Keychain Store. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Worse cast senerio we'll just get a generic name and use it for all the stores and just make sure its posted all over the place that "that name" will appear on your credit card statement.

you guys sound like you need to do what Im trying to do. Creat a store within your main store. IE....www.mainstore.com and your second store is www.mainstore.com/2store. That way you can create as many stores as you need but keep it all connected to one shopping cart and one web site but offering 2 or more complete stores. I know there is a way just have to figure it out.