E-commerce Cheat Sheet (part 1)

One of the more commonly asked questions on both mailing lists and fora is related to e-commerce, or more specifically accepting payments on your website.

I’ve put together this brief guide in order to help webmasters, or at least point them in the right direction.
If anybody has any additions or corrections please let me know.

First off you need to ask yourself a very obvious question:

 Is your product or service suitable for sale online?

This may seem like a really silly question, but if you look back at some of the disasters during the dotcom boom it is still a valid one.

The next question is a natural followon from the first…

How are you going to deliver the goods or services?

If you are delivering a service or digital download this shouldn’t be a big issue, but if you are selling a tangible product you will need to sort out the logistics side of things.

What is your target market?

Although some goods and services may have a “universal” appeal most are aimed at a particular segment and possibly a particular geographical area.

The answers to the above questions may help with your overall business plan, but more importantly, they will also help determine the most suitable method of payment collection.

So what are your options?

 If you are an established business you probably already have a business account with your bank. If that is the case you may be in a position to enquire about getting an online merchant account. Bear in mind that an online merchant account is not the same as a standard merchant account.
Depending on the bank that you are dealing with you will be asked a variety of questions related to the type of transactions you will be conducting and the processes you will have in place to ensure security.
The simplest way to deal with the processes is to use a 3rd party gateway solution, such as that provided by Realex.
Depending on your technical abilities you can choose how much of the process you wish to outsource to them.
Other options that you will come across include companies such as Worldpay.
Worldpay is not a gateway – it’s owned by Bank of Scotland and can actually organise a form of merchant account for you. Although it is popular in some circles it comes with quite a few restrictions and hidden charges which render it highly unattractive in many instances.
If your volume (or predicted volume) of online sales is low it may be hard to justify the expense of setting up a merchant account. However there are other ways to handle transactions.
2Checkout.com is a very mature system which you can setup for a very low fee. It offers several options including multiple currencies and a shopping cart system that you can use.
While the cost of setting up with them is not particularly high you do pay higher rates. It’s very good until your sales volumes grow to a high enough figure to allow you to consider a full merchant account
Paypal is now fully functional in the Irish market, so you can send and receive money easily and withdraw to your Irish bank account without any issues.
Paypal fully integrates with hundreds of shopping cart systems and is a globally recognised brand. In terms of usage it is probably the easiest method of taking money online, while it also offers some of the most advanced functions via its API and developer network.
The costs per transaction are ideal for low to medium value items, although for higher ticket sales the commission / rates can be crippling.

First off you need to ask yourself a very obvious question:
Is your product or service suitable for sale online?
This may seem like a really silly question, but if you look back at some of the disasters during the dotcom boom it is still a valid one.
The next question is a natural followon from the first…
How are you going to deliver the goods or services?
If you are delivering a service or digital download this shouldn’t be a big issue, but if you are selling a tangible product you will need to sort out the logistics side of things.
What is your target market?
Although some goods and services may have a “universal” appeal most are aimed at a particular segment and possibly a particular geographical area.
The answers to the above questions may help with your overall business plan, but more importantly, they will also help determine the most suitable method of payment collection.
So what are your options?
If you are an established business you probably already have a business account with your bank. If that is the case you may be in a position to enquire about getting an online merchant account. Bear in mind that an online merchant account is not the same as a standard merchant account.
Depending on the bank that you are dealing with you will be asked a variety of questions related to the type of transactions you will be conducting and the processes you will have in place to ensure security.
The simplest way to deal with the processes is to use a 3rd party gateway solution, such as that provided by Realex.
Depending on your technical abilities you can choose how much of the process you wish to outsource to them.
Other options that you will come across include companies such as Worldpay.
Worldpay is not a gateway – it’s owned by Bank of Scotland and can actually organise a form of merchant account for you. Although it is popular in some circles it comes with quite a few restrictions and hidden charges which render it highly unattractive in many instances.
If your volume (or predicted volume) of online sales is low it may be hard to justify the expense of setting up a merchant account. However there are other ways to handle transactions.
2Checkout.com is a very mature system which you can setup for a very low fee. It offers several options including multiple currencies and a shopping cart system that you can use.
While the cost of setting up with them is not particularly high you do pay higher rates. It’s very good until your sales volumes grow to a high enough figure to allow you to consider a full merchant account
Paypal is now fully functional in the Irish market, so you can send and receive money easily and withdraw to your Irish bank account without any issues.
Paypal fully integrates with hundreds of shopping cart systems and is a globally recognised brand. In terms of usage it is probably the easiest method of taking money online, while it also offers some of the most advanced functions via its API and developer network.
The costs per transaction are ideal for low to medium value items, although for higher ticket sales the commission / rates can be crippling.