CATEGORY            EXAMPLES                  COST

LOW-COST            QuickSite                 Under $100 plus
OFF-THE-            (quicksite.com);          Web hosting fees,
SHELF               VersaCheck                typically about
SOFTWARE            Web Commerce              $50 a month
                    (mipsdla.com)

HIGHER-END          Maestro Commerce          $2,000 to $5,000
OFF-THE-            Suite (bitsoftware.       plus Web hosting
SHELF               com); Net.Commerce        fees, typically
PRODUCTS            Start (www.software.      about $50 a month 
                    ibm.com\commerce\
                    net.commerce)

ONLINE              Yahoo! Shopping           $100 a month to list
SERVICES            (store.yahoo.com);        up to 100 items;
                    iCat (www.icat.com)       $300 for up to 1,000
                                              No hosting fees


CATEGORY    PROS                      CONS

LOW-COST    Quick and easy setup      Few sophisticated func-
OFF-THE-                              tions such as links to
SHELF                                 inventory database.
SOFTWARE                              You'll outgrow it quickly
                                      if E-sales take off

HIGHER-END  Sophisticated data-       Big up-front expense;
OFF-THE-    base can manage           too complex for rank
SHELF       your inventory, set       beginners
PRODUCTS    up cross-selling,
            run a search engine       

ONLINE      Simple to set up, yet     For finely tuned Web pages,
SERVICES    feature-laden. Pro-       you'll still need to use a
            vides the best reports    Web creation tool such as
            on customer activity      Microsoft FrontPage


CATEGORY         WHO'S IT FOR?

LOW-COST         Computing new-
OFF-THE-         bies and others
SHELF            who want to test
SOFTWARE         E-commerce waters

HIGHER-END       Technologically
OFF-THE-         comfortable
SHELF            users who
PRODUCTS         aren't
                 programmers

ONLINE           One-stop
SERVICES         shoppers