Hi everyone,

I'm hoping for some feedback/advice on the following: I'm looking to set up an e-commerce solution for which I am going to invest approximately $10,000.- of my own money. However, I am not a programmer/have very little understanding of programming and, given that it's my own hard-earned cash, I'm very nervous about making a wrong decision.

Some stuff that's going through my head:

   1. am I better off building a functioning prototype (ie. an alpha site) with something like Drupal or Magento (though some of the site's features would require some expertise to expand the available functionality of either of these two solutions) or
   2. approaching a reputable firm to build the site from scratch or
   3. finding a freelance programmer to build the site from scratch.
   4. Obvious concerns with finding someone to carry out the work is whether or not they are capable of completing the work - I am not qualified to assess potential programmers' qualifications.
   5. How/where can I find someone to program the site for me (I am based in Melbourne, Australia)?

There are a large number of other questions going through my head but the above are the major concerns.

Any kind of pointers would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks