[thelist] website help/advice

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Theodore Serbinski
> 
> Right now this is what he has:
> http://www.ambiancespa.com/
> 
> What he wants is a virtual tour of his spa, the ability to buy/print gift
> certificates online and to be able to buy some of the products he sells.
> 
> Immediately 2 concerns come to my mind. 1. Selling gift certificates online,
> can this be done securely? For example, how could I stop the user from
> printing out multiple copies of it? I could stop them from accessing the
> page by setting a cookie to stop them, but that will only work if they don't
> clear all of their cookies/cache. Is this feasible by anymeans? Right now,
> I'm thinking it is not going to work too well.

actually, this issue has been solved already... it's not a tech solution... look at gift certificates 
you get anywhere in the brink-n-mortar world... they're numbered... it's the client's 
responsibility to track gift certificates, just as they would normally... some also require some 
form of ID to make sure it matches the name on the certificate... at least, that's my experience...

and yes, it can be done securely, use SSL...

> 2. Selling his products online. He has various shampoos and related items in
> his shop, but his shop is local only. I figure if he sells online either he
> will get too much business that he can't fill all of the orders (since there
> isn't really more than 4-5 people that work at a time there) or he won't
> really get any orders at all since the people either could get their product
> somewhere else online possibly cheaper with a faster fill order or just
> rather visit his shop instead (second scenario is most likely I'm figuring).

i think selling on-line in his case won't be worth the outlay of $$... but that's also my opinion... 
you can also look at lower-cost solutions (packages that come with ISPs, stuff like that) and let 
him know the costs... have him do the math and decide if it's worth it...