what esle do you need when you use osCommerce?

[fromSharon]

Hello
I am new to this forum and very happy that I found it. So many smart people here!

Well, I have been running my own website, www.littleboychic.com for a few months now. I just know Dreamweaver well enough to design the site and use Yahoo merchant solution for the database, shopping cart, and payment gateway.

Now that my biz. seems like it's here to stay (whew!), I'd like my site to use some sort of ASP technology. From reading other postings here and checking out osCommerce, I am quite impressed with the program and the price (free). It seems like I can get away with min. language skills.

So my question is, if I were to redo my website using osCommerce,

1. I need a web hosting company (who's more secure?)
2. Payment gateway?
3. What else do I need?

I already have a merchant account.

Are there companies that work better with osCommerce, in your experience?

How much time do you think it'll take to redo my site that already has an excel file for all its product items and all graphics?

Another important aspect is, does it work with QuickBooks?

p.s. Right now we are paying Yahoo $100/mo to host our site and use their database program, payment gateway, shopping cart (+1% sales)

Thanks for much. :)

[Salesagent]

First, I'd advice you to use Zen Cart as it's also free, based on Oscommerce, but better.

To accept credit cards you need a merchant account and a payment gateway, or 3pp ( third party processor)
What do you sell and where are you based?
What is your volume?