Stay away from 123-reg. Nothing personal, and you could say I've got a conflicting interest, as I also sell hosting.
But the price is way high, for starters. That's not the main reason I say don't go there, however.
As a newbie, you will go there and buy your domain name through them and also your hosting and they could have you in a situation you may come to regret. Should you want to move your site, they can make it hard on you, since they also are the registrar for your domain name. I'm not saying they WILL, but they CAN. And there are many tales around the net of such things happening.
For you own benefit do this -
Buy your domain name on your own, in your own name. Don't accept a "free" domain name from a hosting provider or anyone else. Buy it yourself, in your name. Use 123-reg, godaddy, whoever. BUT don;t buy anything else from them, just the name.
Also, don't go to them and "try out" domain names to see which are available. You may find one you like, but if you do not buy it that instant when you come back, it will be gone. Then you'll find that someone snatched it out from under you but will be willing to let you have it back - for a price. So, go direct to whois and do your availability searching.
Then, why not support the folks here on the forum who are willing to help you. It's called reciprocity - you help me, I'll help you. There are a number of us here who offer hosting and also contribute regularly to threads such as this. If you are going to spend some money, why not with fellow forum members?
I'm not posting this as an ad. While I do have several dozen forum members hosting with me, I do not do design. I can install skins that you find elsewhere, or help you do it, but I am not a designer. My philosopy is to sort of hold the hands of new clients and get them started towards being totally independent on the net. Cost-wise you can have a cart with me, along with emails and such for as low as $ 4.49 per month.
There are others here, as well. Some others -
LewisSellers does design and hosting, and possibly more. Not as inexpensive as some, but well thought of and does good designs.
Consultant is also into this sort of thing. I have an idea it's a sideline, but always willing to chip in with advice.
JGClifton is fairly new and seems to be using price as a "foot in the door." I'm not familiar with his work.
There are also a few others, I'm sure. None that are really "in the business", but probably do a little sideline selling or maybe they're affiliates of a hosting company.
As far as design, one final thought. And I've been backed up on this a number of times in a number of threads - Get started on your shopping cart first. Get your payment arrangements staright, get your shipping set up and get your images and products inserted. Open for business, even. Then take some time and find a look that suits you. You can even have several.
At one time I had a cart which had over a dozen "looks". I had a Christmas theme, a Valentine's Day theme, a Mother's Day theme, a St. Paddy's theme, etc. I speack mainly of CubeCart, since it is the easiest to set up and I usually recommend it to newbies.
With CubeCart, changing a skin is about half a dozen clicks and you're done. Once it's uploaded to your server, you can choose and un-choose a skin with one click. Just not a big deal, So get your cart up first and then worry about the looks.
If you go back to the first page you can see where I have lined to a number of examples and the admin "work areas" of the three free carts. Check them out and get with one of us here on the forum, you'll get more help and advice than you ever will from 123 or any of the biggies.
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