What is Ecommerce?
What do I need
to put my business online?
What are my
options for handling transactions?
What are third-party online credit card processors?
What do I need to handle "real time" online credit card transactions
myself?
What is a
merchant account? How do I get one?
How can I assure my customers that their transactions are secure?
What is SSL?
What is an
SSL Certificate? How do I get one?
I already have a Web site. Can I integrate an online store into it?
What
software do I need to set up an online store?
How many
products can I sell in my online store?
How much
will my Online Store cost to develop?
How long
will it take to develop my online store?
What is Ecommerce?
Ecommerce is the term used to describe the selling of goods and
services over the Internet. In the most general sense, simply
creating a web site that advertises and promotes your products can
be considered “ecommerce.” In recent years, however, ecommerce has
become much more sophisticated.
Ecommerce businesses now offer elaborate online stores where
customers can browse thousands of products, place an order, select
the desired shipping method and pay for their purchases using their
credit cards.
What do I need
to put my business online?
The 4 most important things are:
• Domain- example: www.yourbusiness.com
• Host - a company to host your online store (this is where all the
software and web pages for your online store will reside)
• A method for handling transactions - example: merchant account or
pay pal account
• Shopping Cart Software - A program that will hold all of the items
you wish to sell and be able to enable people to securely purchase
these items online.
Tekno MicroSystems can provide this as well as
everything else you need to run your online store.
What are my
options for handling transactions?
You have a number of options for handling transactions. The most
basic approach is to handle all of your transactions offline. For
example, you could publish your address and have your customers send
their orders along with a check or money order directly to you. You
could also collect your customers’ credit card information via email
or phone and then process the credit card transactions offline using
your retail merchant account.
These are probably not the best approaches, though, because one the
main reasons customers shop at an online store is for the speed and
convenience it provides.
To increase the chances that customers will want to shop at your
online store, it should be able to accept and process credit card
transactions online and in “real time.” You can handle your own
online transactions or outsource them to a third-party credit card
processor.
What
are third-party online credit card processors?
If you want to be able to accept credit cards but do not want to
handle these yourself, you can use a third-party online credit card
processor. When your customers want to purchase a product, they
click a link that takes them to the third-party’s Web site. There,
they will submit their order and credit card information, which is
then processed by the third-party processor. Essentially, these
processors act as resellers. They may charge you a variety of fees
for this service, including an initial set up fee, monthly fees
and/or per-transaction fees.
While outsourcing your online transactions may seem appealing, you
should consider the fact that it will be obvious to your customers
that their transactions are being handled not by your company but by
a third-party.
What do I need to handle "real time" online credit card transactions
myself?
If you want to handle online credit card transactions yourself, you
will need an Internet-ready merchant account, a payment gateway
service and an SSL certificate.
What is a
merchant account? How do I get one?
A merchant account enables you to accept credit cards as payment for
the purchase of goods and services. There are different types of
merchant accounts. For example, if you have a traditional “brick and
mortar” store, you can get a retail merchant account. If you want to
accept credit cards on your Web site, however, you need a
specialized type of merchant account known as an “Internet-ready”
merchant account.
Internet-ready merchant accounts enable you to handle Internet
transactions in "real time" without any human intervention. Because
the risk of credit card fraud is greater when you are accepting
credit cards over the Internet, these specialized merchant accounts
also provide additional checks that can significantly reduce the
chance of credit card fraud. Once the transactions are processed,
the merchant account provider transfers the funds received from the
credit card transactions from your merchant account to your bank
account.
A number of companies offer Internet-ready merchant accounts. Tekno
MicroSystems online stores support the following any merchant account providers:
• CyberSource
• Authorize.Net
• LinkPoint/Cardservice
• Paymentech
• Plug-n-Pay
• USAePay
• QuickBook Merchant Services
Alternative sources are:
• Google Checkout
• Pay Pal
How can I assure my customers that their transactions are secure?
Obviously, if your customers will be submitting their credit card
information to you online they will want to know that this
information is safe. If they are not comfortable with the security
your site offers, they will probably not buy products from you.
The best way to alleviate your customers’ concerns is to secure your
site using SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). When a site is secured with
SSL—the standard form of encryption currently used on the
Web—visitors will see a special symbol in their browser window that
indicates the site is secure. Visitors can also tell that a page is
secured by looking at the URL. A secure page’s URL begins with the
letters “HTTPS” instead of the standard “HTTP.”
What is SSL?
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a method of ensuring that information
submitted through your Web site is secure and cannot be accessed by
unauthorized users. When a site offers an SSL-secured form, the
information submitted via that form (typically credit card
information) is encrypted using a special “certificate key” and then
decrypted with another key after it has been transmitted. When users
access a site secured with SSL using either Netscape or Internet
Explorer, a symbol displays in their browser windows indicating that
the site is secure.
What is an SSL
Certificate? How do I get one?
An SSL Certificate, or a digital certificate, is an electronic
document that contains the information necessary to establish a
secure SSL connection. When used in credit card transactions, the
Web site collecting the credit card information and the site to
which the information is being transmitted must both have an SSL
Certificate.
Tekno MicroSystems can provide both the secure server and secure
server certificate needed to support SSL.
I already have a Web site. Can I integrate an online store into it?
Yes, we can move your current site over to our Network Solutions
servers so that both your standard site and online store will reside
on your original domain.
What
software do I need to set up an online store?
We create the initial design (look and feel) for your store, then
all you need to set up your online store is the browser you are
using to view this page. If you know how to point and click, you're
ready to start. Of course if you elect to, Tekno MicroSystems can
set up your entire store (from start to finish) inserting all your
product photos, information, credit card options etc.
How many
products can I sell in my online store?
You can sell any number of products on your site, from just a few
items to thousands.
How much
will my Online Store cost to develop?
This will depend on several factors, such as on the number of
products you wish to sell online and other features such as placing
FLASH presentations on your site. We will be happy to talk to you
about this and supply you with a quote. Please feel free to
contact us and a representative
will get back to you promptly.
How long
will it take to develop my online store?
The average time is 3 to 6 weeks, depending on how much content you
will require and the addition of customized graphics and FLASH.
