shopping cart help

[DrTeapot]

I realized today that i really dont know how to set up a shopping cart. I know there are 3 parties involved right? web hosting, shopping cart, and payment gateway? like visa right? can anybody tell me how it works? Do most use databases or something to keep track of how many products, and quantities and what-not? are there better ones out there that you can install on any server? or use monthly for a fee or something? What do you all use?

[bonwalcpm]

Try using stormpay.com - The sign up is FREE - They take and process your order - notify you of the purchase so you can ship hard goods or direct to a download page - They have the codes in their client service area - There is no monthly charge and they only take a small processing fee from each order.