I have been asked to build an ecommerce website for a client here in Taiwan. This is my first local job as most of my clients are in North America. So, I have a few questions to those who do web development here in Taiwan or have their own websites.
Who is the preferred domain name registrar in Taiwan? I know all domains are handled by TWNIC Taiwan Network Information Center in Taipei, and they list several registrars on their website but I am more interested in hearing about your success stories and any problems I should be aware of in registering a new domain name.
Which companies in Taiwan are preferred for web hosting. I plan to install ZenCart ecommerce backend unless a hosting company has a bundled ecommerce application that compares or is just less work. I like Miva but, have not found a web host in Taiwan that supports it. I know I can get cheap hosting from the USA but connection speeds are a problem and my client prefers to pay a domestic company.
Key Services Required from Hosting Provider:
PHP support
MySQL database
Apache Web Server, version 1 or 2
Email Server (Webmail or similar)
SSL Certificate or Wild Cart Cert
Preferred but not required Services:
SSH access
Taiwan Post Office ‘Pay Card and Reader’? In my research it seems that in addition to credit cards, post office deposits seem to be the simplest payment method. I have seen on TV a new post office ‘pay card and reader’ that allows visitors to pay for products and services from their home computer. I don’t really know anything about this, but I would more information on
this service.
What is the equivalent if any to paypal in Taiwan?
Who are the preferred Payment Gateways to handle real time payment processing?
Who is offering online merchant accounts? I am new to this in Taiwan and have just started researching the requirements for a business to register for a merchant account through their local bank.
Lastly, if anyone is in web design and development and is looking for a partnership or subcontractor, I am interested in discussing this further. Please PM me.
Who is the preferred domain name registrar in Taiwan? I know all domains are handled by TWNIC Taiwan Network Information Center in Taipei, and they list several registrars on their website but I am more interested in hearing about your success stories and any problems I should be aware of in registering a new domain name.[/quote]
If you need a registrar that handles *.tw level domain names, you could try Asia DNS I recently used them and it’s pretty simple going through them, although not cheap for those kinds of domain names from them.
You might want to check into Free Pay Services. Otherwise, My suggestion would be to find a local hosting provider, ask your client to put their own box or rent from them. Here’s a list of Taiwan hosting companies. This list isn’t exhaustive-there are others posted in the Technology forum. Depends on what your client’s budget and comfort level is. As for requiring hosting in Taiwan, I would say, not necessarily so, but it does depend on where/who their e-commerce clients are. If mostly in Taiwan, yes, if mixed, then hosting in Taiwan may not be the best strategic solution.
[quote=“ahelis”]
Key Services Required from Hosting Provider:
PHP support
MySQL database
Apache Web Server, version 1 or 2
Email Server (Webmail or similar)
SSL Certificate or Wild Cart Cert[/quote]
I haven’t found any Taiwan hosting companies that pre-package LAMP. For SSL Certificates, you normally buy that elsewhere and then self-install it onto your web server. Not necessary to buy from your hosting company.
[quote=“ahelis”]
3. Taiwan Post Office ‘Pay Card and Reader’? In my research it seems that in addition to credit cards, post office deposits seem to be the simplest payment method. I have seen on TV a new post office ‘pay card and reader’ that allows visitors to pay for products and services from their home computer. I don’t really know anything about this, but I would more information on
this service.
What is the equivalent if any to paypal in Taiwan?
Who are the preferred Payment Gateways to handle real time payment processing?
Who is offering online merchant accounts? I am new to this in Taiwan and have just started researching the requirements for a business to register for a merchant account through their local bank.[/quote]
I think you might want to check out Freepay again and look at Greenworld to handle some of your payment gateway needs or other e-commerce payment transactional services.
Other suggestion is contact a couple of Forumosans - Brendan, Big Fluffy Matthew - on this site. They’re quite knowledgeable. The other suggestion is chat with Francis at Ask Morris Consulting and Elias at Enspyre for leads and other ideas in this area.
Thank you for your very informative post. I have already spent some time looking at the reference websites and there is an abundance of information for both web developers and prospective customers looking for web designers/developers.