I want a simple guided step by step process(of what to do) of how to create a web app like ebay (a website that alllows users to sell) and which languages are preferable to use in the backend, frontend and also database, and what are the several options of cloud hosting and what is the fastest way to deploy my website online running (like is i better if I code it myself) vs is it better to outsource it, and if I want to outsource what is the best option that i have and to whom will I? And finally what is the estimated cost if I do it alone vs if I outsource it?
Hey there,
You might want to read this: How We Built eBay's First Node.js Application
Their prime concern was obviously scalability, which you shouldn’t really take into account when getting started with your project (you can worry about this later, if your project takes off).
Do you already know one or several languages? If yes, I’d go with those. They started with Java and then revamped the app to use JavaScript. Either of those could work for you. But so would Python, Ruby, PHP, C#… any one of these could do the job. I’d personally use PHP because that’s what I know best, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily the best option, but it would work. As would any of the others.
For the frontend, HTML/CSS/JavaScript.
For cloud hosting, I’d look at DigitalOcean, AWS, Vultr… something like that.
As regards outsourcing or not, it really depends on your resources. This kind of job wouldn’t come cheap. You’d learn a great deal developing this yourself, but it’ll probably take you more time. Since you’re considering outsourcing, I can assume that your main goal is to make this a business, rather than a project for learning purposes. You could either try to find yourself a partner (CTO) to build this business with you, or outsource the job to a freelancer (UpWork, Freelancer, PeoplePerHour, Toptal).
Before spending considerable amounts, consider your value prop, as your competitors would be eBay, Amazon, Etsy, eBid, etc. That’s no small feat, competing in this market.
Best of luck!
You’re not going to get the answers you’re looking for here. Why? Because a project of this magnitude requires a lot of planning as well as a good project manager, especially when you’re asking about doing things fast. The desire or need to have something done fast is the biggest downfall of any project. We don’t know what you’re after, we don’t know your skills, it could be simple or it could be very complex.
No one can tell you how much it’s going to cost unless you have a detailed project outlined, even then things always change and you need to account for a variance.
The answers you want require a lot of discussion with an experienced project manager, it takes time and most likely won’t be free.
If you want it fast, and you want it now… I would:
- Make sure you have you Employer Identification Number (EIN) and bank account info ready.
- Create a Squarespace site
- Sign up for Shopify
- Set up Shopify Payments
- Integrate Shopify in your Squarespace site (like this)
Good luck!
PS: like others above said, ecommerce is no joke. My steps are to just have a place to take payments from customers. If you want to set up a broad marketplace for users to buy and sell like Ebay, then you are way out of scope, sorry (unless you are the founder of a startup and have others with you? Maybe then)
thank you very much for replying, I am comfortable with mern stack, so what do you think if I go with that . And about cloud hosting how about Heroku, do you think it is good for big project? I wanna start this project slow with little functionality and then upgrade as time goes. And my main goal is business for sure. And what is CTO?
Regarding competition from ebay, amazon I don’t think there will be that much competition because my country’s payment system, delivery system and so many things are complicated and backward so I dont think they will be interested in the moment at least. Thats the reason i thought about this project. I just wanted a general guide and what to expect. Well that was quite a lot of helpful information. I want to thank you Again for spending your precious time to review and answer my question in a very good way, it was so helpful, .
If this is what you know best, use that besides, it’ll do the job
It doesn’t really matter right now IMO. You can always adapt/change later, depending on what the project needs. The most important thing, for now, is for you to come up with an MVP (Minimum Viable Product), that will act as proof-of-concept. The environment the project lives on might change completely, someday. The stack, the hosting… don’t bother yourself too much with those, simply focus on making your vision a reality. But this is just my humble opinion. The idea is just to get started.
Chief Technology/Technical Officer. Usually the guy in charge of determining the tech infrastructure of the company, and how it should evolve for future business needs. For now this would be you.
That’s usually how great things start. You wanna fix something that’s broken. I can only support this 100%.
Glad I could help and again, best of luck with your project!
Thank you, your answer that is more than enough, best of luck for you too.