Accepting Online Payments

Although this question is not directly related to marketing and promotion, I do find that my new clients have this question burning a hole in their minds. Let me put your fears to rest. Taking money is easier than you think. You simply decide which method you want to use and then implement the necessary tools, services and procedures.

Knowing a few facts upfront about your selling needs will help you make an educated and thoughtful choice. Once you have one procedure in-place it can be a tedious, tiresome and expensive proposition to change to another method.

There are four basic methods for taking money online:

• Mail/Fax - This is the old fashioned way. Your customers print out a form that lists all your products and services and snail mail or fax in a check or money order. If you do not accept credit cards you will turning away the majority of your customers. Also, checks are a risky proposition and trying to track down someone for payment in another city may not be a hassle you want to get into. However, this method is the easiest to implement and the easiest to upgrade. It requires no special coding, real time processing or shopping cart installation. A simple form in PDF format or a static page for printing will suffice. Be sure to include all your contact information including a mailing address and fax number.
• 3rd Party Acceptance - This is the next step up and the number one solution among my newest clients who are individuals creating self-promotional websites. You set-up a free account with a company like PayPal or CCNow and have your web designer install the necessary code. All documentation and graphical buttons are provided at their website for easy implementation. In exchange for such convenience, you will allow this real-time credit card processor to take a commission. Every company is different. Compare their rates, ease of installation, and reporting capabilities. The downside? You get a free shopping cart system but it's not fully customizable so it looks like their website, not yours. Check the next section for a listing of popular 3rd party processors.
• Offline Processessing - For businesses with an existing merchant account this is the most common solution. Using an integrated shopping cart program, your customers place orders which are then sent to you via secure email or fax. Then you process the credit card offline using your terminal. Check with your bank about a change to your plan. If you are processessing credit cards without the card present you will be charged a higher percentage on the sale. You may be able to lower this charge by setting up address verification for mail orders. You will need an experienced web designer to set-up your shopping cart. Installing a shopping cart requires knowledge of the language it's programmed in and how to work with a web server as well as coordinate the coding to the HTML pages. I personally have used Dansie Cart for years and have had no problems or complaints. Many web hosting companies provide a shopping cart, but then charge you monthly for it's use. I'd avoid this unless there's valuable advantages for your customers. In order to receive your orders securely, you will need to apply and install a security certificate to be used in conjunction with your shopping cart and web server. These can be purchased from Thawte and Verisign. Check with your web hosting company and your web designer for their recommendations.
• Real-Time Order Processing - This is the cream here. Although not always cost-effective for individuals and small businesses, for mid- to large-size companies this is the only way to fly. All components are tied together so that once the customer places the order the credit card is processed through a gateway service that accepts or denies and then sends the money to your bank account and the order to your inbox. All of this is done in a secure and ecrypted environment. Nice. Complicated to set-up though so you'll need an experience web designer/programmer.

Helpful Websites
E-Commerce: How to Accept Money by Insider Reports
Merchant Accounts, Gateways & Shopping Carts by the Wannabe Webster

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