I am trying to help a relative to get create an online store for a small business. This is new to me and I am having difficulty with all the various materials I have been reading. Is thre a good primer on how to do it? I do not need an enterprise solution but one that works seamlessly. I have also seen there are eCommerce hosts that offer services such as BigCommerce and the rest. What is a good way to do it? Any help?
Admin: Please move this post to eCommerce topics.
Like Tin said, use a hosting provider that includes one-click install eCommerce applications and apply for a Merchant Account or use Paypal.
Most eCommerce applications have pre-installed payment modules for every popular payment gateway.
You can pick many hosting providers, but important to understand your business and how you will sell the product. This will help you select right shopping cart application.
Many free (open source) shopping cart applications offer free demos with admins that you can try before you select the cart.
For hosting, you can try siteground.com they include many shopping carts hosting
I’ve called the MOD team, and if appropriate they’ll move this post and good luck. 
There are a number of web hosting providers that provide eCommerce applications that are included. Usually, they are available as one-click installations, so that you do not have to get your hands dirty in terms of setting up a database and uploading the software to the hosting account.
Depending on the application you decide to go with, usually there are communities for these programs that allow you to ask questions about the functionality of the software.
It’s good to ask the web hosting providers you’re interested in to see what eCommerce options are available.
Do you need eCommerce hosting or you need just ecommerce software?
What are your requirements to the software and store?
There are several factors you’ll want to consider
when making this decision.
One big one is how they will accept payments
as the security issues come into play.
Do they want to sell on line as a focused activity
or are they simply using their website as
a brochure that happens to also sell something?
You might want to consider putting up your Ecommerce site on WordPress.org. This means getting a hosting account like Hostgator or Blue Host. Then you will need to pick an ecommerce theme. Look at these two.
http://www.csstemplateheaven.com/demo/easycart-demo/index.html
They both integrate with Paypal. I like Paypal because most people are familiar with it and the Merchant account is easy to set up. Their customer service has a lot to be desired, so be patient.
I like using WordPress because it is easy to set up and change out.
For a quick introduction, I’d recommend a starter guide from Practical eCommerce:
And the best guide to solutions is probably shopping-cart-reviews.com
Please, let us know if you’d like to hear anything more specific, we’ll be glad to help 