TO SELL A PRODUCT OR
SERVICE
ON-LINE YOU NEED THE CAPACITY TO PROCESS PAYMENTS WITH CREDIT CARDS.
You
can choose three methods, the first requires a Merchant Account issued by
a Credit card processor. The second two do
not.
To get a Merchant Account for processing credit card sales:
National Card
Systems: " If you own a business that is "New
or Established" you need to accept credit cards for the convenience of
today's consumer and buying public. Accepting credit cards will increase your Sales and
your Business Profits. If you are already accepting credit cards, we can reprogram
your system and lower your discount rate. If you have had credit problems, or have been
previously turned down in the past, we can get you approved."
MerchantNow:
"A complete solution designed to meet the needs of small and medium businesses,
MerchantNow is more than just a SSL secure server. Incorporating all of the services
required to accept and process credit cards on the web, and completely run an online
business."
Superior Bankcard United:
"We make obtaining a merchant account a very simple process. Superior
Bankcard Service of United, is an ISO of Superior Bankcard Service formed to market credit
card services, software, terminal and electronic commerce solutions. Superior Bankcard
United markets, and sells Authorize.Net, a line of products and services that provide
comprehensive solutions for authorizing, processing, and managing credit card and
electronic check transactions over the Internet. Superior Bankcard United products offer
highly competitive rates, and an unparalleled level of support (24) hours per day 7 days
per week from our Corporate Office."
On-Line Orders: maintains a database of free and paid
Merchant Account providers, e-commerce and shopping cart providers.
By the way, if you have a merchant account
for your brick and mortar storefront, you may be able to convert it for use on the Internet. Contact your bank
or card processor for
details.
IF YOU
ARE SELLING LESS THAN
$100 PER MONTH, A MERCHANT ACCOUNT MAY NOT BE THE BEST ANSWER FOR YOU.
To process credit card sales without a Merchant Account check out
the following:
2Checkout.com:
PaySystems:
CC NOW: "You don't need to spend the time and money to set
up your own retail business, merchant accounts, and customer-service staff.
In fact,
you don't even need to install any software or hardware. As your online retailer, CCNow handles
all of the technical work for you. There are absolutely no startup costs
and no monthly fees." But, they do take a
percentage of each sale. Visa and Mastercard only.
PayPal: Handles
all of the technical work of processing credit cards, checks etc. on line. They
also take a
percentage of each sale. Visa and Mastercard only.
SEE Virtual
Merchant Account, Direct
Merchant Account or Instant
Merchant Account.
FINALLY,
THEN, YOU NEED TO PROCESS YOUR SALES USING A CART ON A SECURE SSL SERVER.
There are basically three ways to accomplish
this. One is by choosing a server to host your site that incorporates secure credit card
processing in their business accounts. There are many excellent companies offering this
service. Here are links to companies we have used (*) or that receive high marks from
their clients:
ChristianWebHost
*
Virtualis *
The second method is open a storefront
account. Here are links to storefront servers we have used (*) or that receive high marks
from their clients:
GTA
Technologies (free and paid services)
Free Merchant (free secure web order form)
Yahoo
Store (paid)
Americart* (Real Time Credit Card
processing gateway with a built in shopping
cart)
The third method is to download a shopping
cart script and tinker with it yourself, pay someone to create a
custom script for you or find a site with custom scripts built into
their hosting or other services. Here
are links to free script resources:
Free
Code (CGI)
CGI
Resources
Dev
Head (CGI, JavaScript, Perl etc.) *
WebMonkey
Bravenet (has tons of free scripts built into its services)
Matt's Script Archive
