E-Commerce Solution/ Online Shopping Site Development
If you have a wide range
of products and services you can sell them on the internet through your own
website. For that you need an e-commerce or online selling site. The e-commerce
site, also known as online selling/shopping site, allows your customers to see,
feel, order and purchase your products and services online.
If you are selling products or services through your website, you will
need a way to accept payments from customers for goods/services. The most
convenient way on the internet today for both the merchant and the customer is
to accept credit card payments. There are other payment methods which are also
acceptable, such as cheque, post office cheque, Internet banking, and direct
bank deposit.
Which Payment Method should I Choose?
The payment methods you
choose to use on your website will probably be determined by your budget and
volume of sales.
1. Cheque, Internet banking, & direct bank deposit.
2. Credit card payments using:
- PayPal or equivalent
system such as Pay Mate; OR
- Manual credit card
processing.
Higher budget and/or high volume sales Recommended payment methods:
1. Cheque, Internet banking, & direct bank deposit.
2. Manual credit card payments; OR
3. Real Time credit card payments
NOTE: To process credit cards you will require a Merchant Bank Account OR if
you're on a tight budget you may want to consider an alternative credit card
system such as PayPal or PayMate.
What is a merchant account?
A merchant account is a
special bank account that enables your business to accept payments by credit
card either manually or in real time.
Manual vs Real Time Credit Card
Payments
1. Manual Credit Card Payments (suitable for low volume sales)
Allows you to accept credit card payments "Manually", ie. when a
customer on your website makes an order with their credit card, the order would
be sent to you via email and your customers credit card information will be
stored securely on the hosting server. You would log in with a user name and
password to retrieve the credit card details, then you would process the
payment yourself by contacting your bank.
2. Real Time Credit Card Payments (recommended for high volume sales)
Allows you to accept credit card payments in "Real Time", ie. When a
customer on your website makes an order with their credit card, the order would
be sent via a "Payment Gateway" to your merchant bank account, hence
the payment is processed automatically live in real time.
If you choose to use Real Time Credit Card Processing, you may also require a
Payment Gateway Solution. Some banks offer this as part of their solution.
Payment Gateway
A payment gateway is a software program that integrates to a merchant's website
and allows real time credit card processing (authorizing and settlement) of
payments securely on the Internet to the merchant's bank account.
NOTE: Please contact your bank for merchant account and payment gateway set up
fees and ongoing fees.
(SSL) Secure Server & Secure
Certificate
If you use Manual Credit Card processing the credit card data will transfer via
your web server (rather than a payment gateway) so you will also require a
Secure Server and Secure Certificate.
E-Commerce
