Ever thought of doing e-commerce without the e-hassles of having a payment gateway for credit card transactions? Well, one such bright idea has occurred to a Kolkata-based firm, Fortune Web Solutions, which has set up an imaginatively named portal, gharoffice.com.

The portal is designed to be the e-hub of all things, related to interiors and architecture which will bring together the designer, the manufacturer and the buyer. It is believed to be the world's first try and buy 3-D interiors' portal.

Speaking to indiamarkets.com, Bijit Sarkar of gharoffice.com said, ''We give an opportunity to manufacturers to showcase their products on the website and charge a one-time fee for it. We do not charge them for every transaction made through the site.''

While working on a project, a designer can visit the site, match up colours and combinations, look up items which he would like to use and place orders. Anything he wishes to order, would be sent by email to the agent of the dealer concerned, who in turn would deliver the article to the designer.

But one-time payment? No, this is not business naivete as one would think. Says Sarkar: ''I am thinking long-term. I am setting a trend. I am generating business for all concerned. I am ensuring that each and every dealer and manufacturer comes to me with his trial rooms, so that in the future, my web site will become a one-stop shop, the first name and last word in interiors and architecture.''

Does that mean additional charges will come later? Well, we have to still work that out, says Sarkar. Exhibitors can dynamically change their exhibits over the years at minimal costs, thus enabling them to redesign their advertisement campaign, because of the powerful search engine database.

The technology has been developed in-house. It has an SQL server to access images stored in the database. Viewers can click on whatever options they want to avail in terms of colours or pieces of furniture.

The site gives designers an opportunity to e-lance. If you are building a house or doing up your home, all you need to do is post your requirements at the website, for which designers will bid for the lowest possible cost of executing the project.and combinations and permutations can be done through images in the database.

The site is not officially launched and this is scheduled by the end of the next month. The portal offers virtual showrooms and trial rooms. Conforming to the Indian psyche of cautious purchase, the portal offers potential buyers the option of getting to see and test the material/item before a decision is taken. The trial rooms will clearly depict the items that can be tested there - right from the colour of the walls, sofas, cushions, lampshades etc.

Any visitor to the site can window shop as much as he wants to. Once the buyer is finished, the wish list is mailed directly to the seller with the buyer's details and a direct sale can be made.

At the moment, there are fifteen showrooms. On the anvil are 200 more trial rooms. The portal also makes provision for free hosting of designers' web sites called the architect's gallery to exhibit their ware, replete with pictures of past projects.

There are some interesting features of the portal. The portal provides for e-lance bids for designers. The site gives designers an opportunity to e-lance. If you are building a house or doing up your home, all you need to do is post your requirements at the website, for which designers will bid for the lowest possible cost of executing the project. Projects can be posted at the portal and put up for bids by the designers. For students of architecture, there is rich content available, tracing the various histories of architecture as well as write-ups on contemporary trends. There is also an art gallery where one can shop for paintings, downward of Rs 50,000.

gharoffice.com was one of the participants at the Interiors—2001, organised by the association of Architects, Builders, Interior Decorators and Allied Business (ABID) between March 15-19, 2001 at the Netaji Indoor Stadium, Kolkata. The exhibition has been held almost every year since 1990. This is a platform which gives manufacturers an opportunity to elaborate on their products to the public. An important aspect of this exhibition is that true-to-life mock rooms are created where the consumer can see different design concepts along with application of various innovative products.