how do i even get pricing on AWS i dont see anything on the site.......Im not even sure on what i would need as far as ram, disk space.......whats forge? enoyer? i was told forge only works on laravel 4

@sabeast most people in this forum are likely to be more technical and DYI-ers than the average business owner. If your developer is confident about managing the hosting and site (including security), then go with his suggestions but remember that you have to depend on him for all hosting issues. If you would like more control (and peace of mind), I'd recommend going with Linode because they have affordable managed hosting - https://www.linode.com/managed

Also your monthly bandwidth seems high because you're loading full sized images on each page. They need to be generated as thumbnails - this will save you $$$.

i think the site was done like this so when people would zoom in to the site or adjust the web browser to be bigger the thumbnails would also adjust to size

@bashy You get a fully managed php-as-a-service platform, with MySQL etc. There's just some options like scaling and SSL that you can manage yourself on the dashboard. Fully managed is a lot more expensive and usually you don't have as many options at your fingertips.

@TheNephilim Yes I know what the service is but if someone doesn't know how to manage a server, managed would be best. If the company you choose is good, you will have those options.

If you are going to use an online store, I recommend Shopify. You do not have to handle security issues and the only thing you would have to understand is there markup language. Also, you have the ability to use it under a subdomain if required. Give a look at their services. I used them for a few projects

Many funny answers here :-) I think the answers are mostly talking in another direction than the original poster.

What you need to focus on is not so much the technical solution, either VPS or dedicated would work. You should focus on what your business strategy for this site should be and it sounds like you should get something managed maybe also have a developer company with more than just 1 developer, who might also understand your critical business points better.

Since your developer already mentioned Laravel Forge I would raise concerns towards him doing the hosting part. It's a fine software indeed but it also tells me he lacks of technical skills here since he is relying on a paid software in order to manage the server. This talks against being able to take necessary action in critical situations.

Unfortunately I don't know any American hosting companies I can recommend, Hetzner would be a good choice but in Germany.

I think you should try post your question on a forum for business owners rather than developers, so you get the point of views from your standpoint.

id like to go back to shopify but after someone scammed me in the past for $2000 i closed my account years ago. Shopify is still trying to get the money from me.