Electronic commerce on the
internet is a very interesting subject when you actually
come to set up your own. I spent a great deal of time
investigating all the options. This was especially so here
in Australia because of the banking laws.
The solutions we are
looking at are mainly based in the USA but work globally.
For solutions in your area you will have to do some
personal research however what we have here will work in
most places around the world.
Some companies only deal in
digital products. Others only deal in tangible products like CD's
books etc. The only advise I can give is that you do your
own homework and really search one out that you feel meets
your requirements. Ok I know you want some advise so I
will tell you what I use.
As this section is about
business I noticed as I was doing my research that most
successful businesses whether online or off utilized some
sort of system. This meant that what ever products
were added they simply plugged them into the system. You can
either get a full blown merchant facility or use third
party ones which I discuss below. These are great if you
are just starting and many of the top marketers still use these
type of programs over a personal merchant facility.
I link 2checkout,
and Paypal.
accounts
together with a system called DLGuard
and this handles all my day to day work. Its
my virtual secretary.
Free shopping
cart service
No Internet
business will work very well if you cannot collect and
process credit cards. I have been amazed at how many
people have joined our businesses over the years and will
not use their credit card. Security is not in the
processing but what happens to the card at the other end
and this is why we use 2Checkout, Clickbank or Paypal for
your security and ours.
If you have
your own merchant account or just want a free cart using
one of the many 3rd party merchant facilities then you can
use Mals
free e-commerce service. It is an excellent service
used by literally thousands of people around the world.
For a basic introduction to
credit cards and the internet and also to get a free
shopping cart go
here.
The
standard shopping cart is free and Mal designed it to be
the right solution for the vast majority of merchants.
It offers all the features you need to start selling
goods and services from your website including
calculating tax, shipping and handling your discounts
and vouchers. Included with it is his free mTracker
affiliate program to help you promote your site.
Premium is an upgrade
which adds features which are designed primarily for
busy merchants, for example: automated card processing
batch download of orders, direct access to UPS and USPS
rates calculators plus a little bit more influence over
the look of the cart. You can switch the status of your
account between free and Premium any time you wish and
without making any changes to your website.
Your cart is completely
advertisement free except from my own small logo in the
footer of every page in the cart. If you have a Premium
account you can even get rid of that too!
How it works
All you have to do is add
simple "Buy Now" links or buttons on any page on your
website. These can be made from a form button, a text
hyperlink or even your own image:
When one of your
customers clicks on one of these links they are
presented with a page showing their current cart with
that item added. They can choose to change any of the
quantities, delete items or move on to the payments
section. Credit card and check details are collected
using an SSL secured server. Have a look at the
demo store.
Once a customer completes
an order you will be notified immediately by e-mail. The
e-mail contains what they ordered but to collect the
payment details you will need to login Admin unless you
are using mOrders, my dedicated order manager.
Payment
processing options
I don't process credit
cards. The standard free account saves credit card
data (encrypted) for you to pick up from Admin and
process how you like. The free account also supports
card payments by:
- Paypal standard (not
Pro)
- Nochex - United
Kingdom
- Paymate - Australia
and New Zealand
- Moneybookers -
Europe
Note: you need a Premium
account to use PayPal's new Payments Pro
package...
If you want to have
credit cards processed in real time using your own
merchant account then you need to use a third-party
Payment Gateway. I support all the major gateways,
click
here for a list, but you will need a
Premium
account which costs $8.00 per month. The choice is
yours.
Join up now!
Click
here...
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I use one other processor
called Clickbank
which is great if you are just starting out selling digital products and
lets you also have a built in affiliate program.
For a complete overview of
Clickbank here is a great eBook by my friend Tom Hua.
Open PDf Here.
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There is also a free
management system available which I discuss below.
The Q
& A below should help you determine your requirements.
Don't let it scare you to much as we all use the
different e-commerce systems. It is just necessary to be
aware that you are dealing with other peoples money so you
need to be very particular in doing what you are told when
you sing up for any account.
Of course once you get
going there are more detailed e-commerce systems you may
want to use.
What is an Internet
merchant account? Do I need one?
A merchant account is a relationship between a retailer
and a merchant bank that enables retailers to accept
credit card payments from their customers. To qualify for
a merchant account, retailers must meet the bank's
often-stringent bank requirements. Internet merchant
accounts, used to enable web-based credit card payments,
have even more stringent requirements. Most small
companies find it too expensive and cumbersome to acquire
their own merchant accounts, yet credit cards are the most
efficient way of doing business on the Internet.
How long does it take to
establish service?
Merchants can begin accepting payment in as little as 24
hours. Some banks may take longer.
What are the risks of
fraud online?
Consumers who fall victim to online fraud suffer
inconveniences that range from a simple call to the credit
card bank to more serious hassles such as straightening
out credit reports. In the case of fraud, consumers are
typically not responsible for the fraudulent charges.
Merchants suffer financial losses including the cost of
goods sold, as well as charge back fees from their
merchant bank.
What is the right
service for my business?
The important thing to consider is what you want to
achieve and how much your willing to pay for that service.
Services range from about 7% to a whopping 15%. Do your
homework and work out your costings very carefully because
once you commit you need to hang in there.
How can I control the
costs of charge backs?
Charge backs primarily occur when the customer calls the
credit bank's customer service and contests a given
charge.
Valid
customers are dissatisfied with their purchases.
Cardholder's discover their credit cards have been used
fraudulently. When the charge back amount exceeds a
given percentage (often two percent) of the merchant's
total billing's, merchants must pay steep fees or handling
charges to the bank.
There are a number of banks
and third party companies that can handle your online
billing and it is really up to you to investigate and
associate yourself with the one your happy with.
The one suggestion I would
like to make is ask lots of questions. If they don't get
back to you in a reasonable amount of time while there is
no pressure the probability is when you really need them
you will find they are not there for you either.
My suggestion is to try
Mals free ecommerce system first so you can get used to
setting up a cart and the whole system. Once you get the
nack of it you can branch out into one of the many great
systems available or just stay with Mals..
"All of life's great lessons present themselves again and again
until mastered." -- David Ashley Brewer
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