What is an e-commerce website and what do I need to sell online in India?
An e-commerce website allows customers to browse products, add to cart, and pay online. To sell legally and effectively in India: 1) Business registration: GST registration (mandatory if annual turnover exceeds Rs 20 lakh for services, Rs 40 lakh for goods). 2) Bank account: current account for receiving business payments. 3) Payment gateway: Razorpay, PayU, or Cashfree (accept UPI, cards, net banking, COD) — requires business PAN and bank details. 4) Hosting: Connect Quest cloud or VPS for reliable performance (not shared for production stores). 5) E-commerce platform: WooCommerce on WordPress (most popular in India, excellent Razorpay integration) or Shopify (hosted, higher cost). 6) GST compliance: WooCommerce GST plugin for automatic CGST/SGST/IGST calculation based on customer state. 7) Shipping: Shiprocket or Delhivery integration for multi-courier management. 8) Legal pages: Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, Refund Policy (legally required under Consumer Protection Act). Start at connectquest.co.in.