shared vs. dedicated

[Stoddard]

If I want to sell things online, should I get a dedicated server rather than a shared server, or doesn't it matter?

[rich]

It really depends on the traffic/success of your website. I think the solution for a small-medium sized business would be VPS hosting (between a shared hosting plan and a dedicated server).

A dedicated server is probably overkill for a starting e-commerce business. So when your business is booming and the time comes where a VPS server isn't enough, you can easily upgrade to a dedicated server in the future.