[plug] eCommerce apps, where to begin

[Gregory Orange]

Hi all,

Someone in my family would like a website to sell stuff and I'd love to 
help them out. I said I'd investigate, but to be honest I've had 
practically nothing to do with webapps, beyond a little Apache config 
and Tomcat app migration.

I won't go into full details, but here's a gist of what I have in mind: 
There will be lists of things that a customer can buy. Combo boxes to 
select region and some other broad categorisation. Then one tick box 
will select a predetermined list of items, alternately one could 
individually tick items in the list, and further there would be a 'more' 
button to see items not on their list.

The rest would be as per a pretty straightforward online store.


Can anyone tell me where to begin learning and what might be involved? 
At my level of knowledge, am I totally the wrong person to be doing 
this, and should hire someone, or at least hire someone to teach me? I'm 
willing to put in the time (and some money, this is for a small business 
after all), and I don't think it's highly urgent.

Thanks,
Greg.