Still, feel confused about the hosting provider for oscommerce

[Guest]

I'm aiming at set up an online site as my virtue store. As I do not grow the store largely and only sell the items to my acquaintances, what I want ultimately is Safe and Cost-Effective. Therefore, what hosting company can meet my requirements fully? I have checked http://www.oscommerce.com/Services&hosting and https://phpmatters.com/best-oscommerce-hosting/, but still feel confused to choose among the top options. Here, could any one only introduce ONE web host based on the personal experiences.

[Jack_mcs]

Many hosts will be able to meet your needs. Just be sure they place you on a Linux server, not a Windows one. The real challenge will be in finding one that you can deal with when there are problems. But there's really no way to know that beforehand. It is against forum rules to post recommendations like that here, though people do it. So you can use google to search the forums for hosting and you should see many recommendations. But for any positive one, there will be a negative one. Most times, it is a case of just trying one.

 

But when you are interviewing the host, be sure to ask them if they actually support oscommerce. Most will say no. There are many posts here where people are told by their hosts to try posting here to fix some problem. Those hosts, in my opinion, should be avoided.

[MrPhil]

If you know other people who have websites, try asking them for recommendations. If not, you can use the whois tool to find who hosts various websites that seem to be of similar size and function to what you plan to do, and seem to be "up" all the time and to run smoothly. It's no guarantee that you will have such good luck, but it's certainly no worse than throwing darts at a dartboard, blindfolded. Try signing up for a year at a time (avoid multiyear deals) until you've got a good feeling for your hosting service. You can always pick up your website and move elsewhere if you don't like the service -- it's not like you're making a decision that must last you a lifetime. Be sure to register your domain name separately from your hosting service (not through your hosting service) -- you don't want to be held hostage by your hosting service (especially if you let them own your domain name!). That will give you the freedom to move your hosting at any time.

 

One other thing... make sure you have complete control over your site, and can download the files and database backup by yourself. I've heard horror stories about hosts who make it impossible to transfer to another host, by refusing to provide database backups upon demand.