Ecommerce Shopping Carts with Secure Credit Card Gateways.
Ecommerce can be a tricky situation and it is always a custom solution when we implemented it. There are three major parts to doing ecommerce online.
Each of the three parts can be done differently, combined together or used separately. The important thing to know is that all shopping carts are filled with loop holes, pot holes, and unexpected problems. Remember any e-commerce solution should be considered a "Software Package", meaning it needs to be maintained, it can break, and it costs more than regular html websites. It is reasonable to budget 20 to 40 hours just to get the cart live, not including any products. Ecommerce solutions require a large amount of consulting, RedFusion Media starts billing ecommerce consulting and design from the very start of the process, and we require a release of liability.
Carts
The cart is the mechanism that triggers an order. There are pre-made carts, custom carts, forms, buttons, hosted carts; all have their advantages and disadvantages. The cart is really the functionality of the ecommerce experience. We have worked with a number of carts and solutions over the years and will help you work through the process of selecting from the group.
1Shopping Cart
Advantage: It is a cart that holds the products and check out with and SSL on their servers. It is cheap, easy to use, and has a great newsletter/auto responder program. We have used this on more than 15 websites
Disadvantage: Your product images and descriptions are not housed in the cart, but in HTML, so it is not easy for a customer to manage, it requires website design knowledge.
PayPal - How to set up a PayPal Account
Advantage: It can be the whole package, cart, gateway and security. No flat or monthly fees and you can take random values of donations. Provides SSL.
Disadvantage: In all practicality it shouldn't be used for large sites, and the transaction fee can be a higher percentage.
Pinnacle Cart
Advantage: It is an all inclusive shopping cart (all products and descriptions are housed in the system). It is easy to administrate by a sales person or store clerk.
Disadvantage: The software can be hard to set up, costs more, and customer service is only done by email.
osCommerce
Advantage: Highly customizable, open source application with highly aesthetic designs and is free.
Disadvantage: it is open source, which means it can have some security issues and not as much customer service.
Yahoo Shopping Cart
Advantage: It is cheap and your products are included in Yahoo search. Provides SSL.
Disadvantage: Hard to customize, odd to work with, costly to maintain large sites and customer service is in India. RedFusion Media hates to deal with it.
SSL - Secure Socket Layer
SSL is a must for any site that has "mission critical" information which includes any credit cards or social security numbers. SSL is the Internet standard for protection. Bids can range from $150 to $500 per month.
There are two ways to deal with the SSL: one buy it for your site, or two, use a hosted shopping cart solution that provides you with a shopping cart.
Gateway (credit card clearing)
This is your banking relationship to clear credit cards. This is no different than a stores credit card swipe box; it just is online. This can be very complicated and can cost the most money to test and set up. There are hundreds of places you can go to get credit card relationships.
Things to look for
. Costs: monthly fees, transaction fees, percentage fees.
. Do they have the ability to use a "Virtual Gateway", which is a secure browser which you can directly enter transactions?
. Do they work with your cart?
. Credit card companies will validate and underwrite your company.
This relationship should be at the highest levels of the company for security, such as a CFO or Controller. Webmasters often are given separate codes to enable the gateway, but not given any access.
Some major Credit Card Gateways
Authorize.net: To learn more about the Integrated Payment Service and to apply for an account.
Shift4.com: They have great customer service, a strong backend.
PayPal: Easy to use, low fees. Down-side is that it isn't seamless and you need to ask for your money, how to set up a PayPal Account.
Your Bank: Many of our clients have gone directly to there bank and connected a virtual gateway to their website and to their ban account.
RedFusion Media, Inc. does not accept responsibility for any liability of shopping carts, SSL, credit cards, hacking, loss of business, or failure to make money. RedFusion Media, Inc. only consults on and maintains ecommerce solutions; we do not set up or take responsibility for vendor/client relationships.
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