So are shopping carts important or not?
It depends on what business you are in but in short; 
If you have access to lots of products at great prices, (basically you are the manufacturer or you get great prices from a manufacturer), and/or wish to expand your business from a traditional retail store then a shopping cart is probably a good idea.
If you're only selling a few products, you can probably get by with a simple Web page form which takes the customer's name, address, phone, order, and credit information.

How do I pick the right shopping cart system.? 
I'm glad you asked this question, because choosing the right shopping cart system can have a dramatic effect on the success of your online business.

Even if you've got the best-looking site selling the best product at the best prices, you'll lose customers by the truckload if your shopping cart system is difficult to use. In fact, our research has shown that the right shopping cart has the potential to more than double your sales!

That's why it's so important to make the right choice early on. If you set your site up with an ineffective shopping cart, your business will never live up to its full potential. Consider these questions:

What is a good shopping cart?
When visitors come to your website and are interested in purchasing a product or service, you don't want to risk losing their business because the shopping cart program didn't work properly OR because the shopping cart wasn't user friendly enough. It makes good business sense to go with a company, brand, or individual that will stand by their product, that provides good customer service, that won't disappear tomorrow, that provides upgrades as the technology continues to improve....a product you can rely on. That is a good shopping cart!

Click here to see AskMorris good shopping cart solutions as well as other e-commerce solutions [1]

What is a bad shopping cart? 
Basically what makes a bad shopping cart is if it isn't user friendly or if it is too complicated to use. If you really want to know more Click here to see the Top Ten Mistakes of Shopping Cart Design [2]

How should I accept payments on-line? 
There are many different ways to accept payments on-line. One of them is http://PayPal.com [3] When you signup for PayPal, you can start accepting credit card payments instantly. As the world's number one online payment service, PayPal is the fastest way to open your doors to over 40 million member accounts worldwide. However, many people are unhappy with PayPals service. Do some research and form your own opinion but you can learn more here: http://paypalsucks.com [4] . Other ways to accept payment is by working with a 3rd party merchant account.
At AskMorris.org we recommend; http://www.cdgcommerce.com [5]
If you want to have a merchant account in Taiwan you need to talk to different banks but generally it is faster and cheaper to just work with an overseas merchant account provider.

How much should I pay somebody to help me make a shopping cart?  
First understand that the following: 
You can't buy an eBay system for US$1,000 (Not even in India or China....)

A very very  simple web shop, with only a few products in it, shouldn't cost you more than NT$50,000-NT$100,000. Don't expect too much though since you aren't really paying much.

A bigger more professional system is usually around NT$200,000 - 500,000. A system like this should naturally have a built in user friendly admin panel. It should be able to show you logistics, order reports as well as all client information. It should have a membership system and a few interactive services and business tools to help you interact with your customers and bring up sales.Furthermore it should be extremely user friendly for your customers. Usability is very important here! You may also want to consider to speak to the vendor about SEO work so that you have more traffic coming to your web site. They will probably charge extra for that but it is well worth it. Naturally, there are more complicated systems that can cost up to NT$1,000,000 and more but most companies just don't need that.

Do NOT fall in the trap of buying a shopping cart for less than NT$50,000. It is then better to just go with some of the free services that are provided by Yahoo or eBay. Seriously, many vendors will make all sorts of promises just to make a sale but in most cases it's just not going to be worth it. Again, make an assesment of what your eaxact needs are.

Do I really need a shopping cart in the first place? 
Again, first, be aware that you may not even need a shopping cart at all. If your site sells just one or two products, then you'll be much better off just setting up an online order form for those products. Using shopping cart software to sell just a couple of products will make your site--and your life--way more complicated than it needs to be.

Should I use software or a service provider? 
Assuming you've decided your site really does need shopping cart software, I think a service provider --which means the service is hosted and maintained by a third party--is the route that smaller business will want to go. service provider shopping carts are easy to set up at your site, and you don't need advanced programming skills to get them working. Most service providers also offer "package deals" that include a merchant account and a payment gateway, meaning you won't have to go through the hassle of trying to get these things sorted out separately.

Of course, there are also some limitations to using this model. For example, you lose a certain amount of control over the look and feel of your shopping cart system when you go with a service provider. Some people feel constrained by the service provider model when their businesses really start to take off--although by that time, they can generally afford to hire a programmer to customize their shopping cart system for them.

What is the right shopping cart solution for you? 
Think about whether you want to have everything included in one package or want to put the components together yourself. If you want to have more control and a high level of customization, then software might be your best option. If you're not as technically inclined and would prefer that someone else host your cart and take care of compatibility issues, then go for the service provider. In short;