Shopping online, e-commerce and online security...

If you have a website, chances are you will want to do business online. ie Take orders and/or payments by credit card over the internet.

This may take the form of a full e-commerce site, complete with shopping trolley and online payment facility or it could be as simple as creating a secure environment for people to make payments to you over the net or you may even decide to use a third party payment gateway to process your payments.

Here is a brief description of some of the more popular methods of taking payments online:

The full e-commerce solution
The best and easiest way to do business over the internet is with a full e-commerce solution. This usually consists of a shopping cart where people place their orders for merchandise and a check out where they go to pay their money. Payment in this case, is processed through your bank and the credit card is checked and approved (or denied) online in real time, usually with a delay of only a few seconds. The money is banked into your account and you receive a notification by email with details of the goods ordered and where to ship them.

This is a perfect situation for doing business online however, there are some drawbacks.

Firstly, it is generally expensive to set up (typically around $2000 or more) and you will need to be a credit card merchant and have a good track record with your bank.

Your bank will also generally charge you for the privilege of using this system with a set up fee and a monthly fee (as well as a transaction fee on every sale). This monthly minimum charge is usually payable whether you use the system or not. ie If you don't make many sales (or any sales) in the month, you still have to pay the monthly fee!

Simple secure payment method
If you are just starting out and sales are light, you may choose to opt for a partial solution.

As an alternative to the full e-commerce system, we offer our clients a secure payment method, which allows people to take payments securely over the web and then process the credit card payments manually, as they would for a telephone or mail order. Of course, with this system you still need to be an authorised credit card merchant.

With this system, the details of the order are sent to you by a normal email however, the sensitive information, such as the credit card details, are removed. These are sent to a secure encrypted webpage on your website. You then access the credit card details via a secure password and process the payment manually.

This is a much simpler and cheaper solution, however if you are making lots of sales, it can be very time consuming. Note: A lot of our clients start off using this system and then graduate to a full e-commerce solution when sales start to grow to a reasonable level.

Third party payment gateways
Yet another way of handling e-commerce transactions online, is to use the services of a third party payment provider like PayPal. With PayPal, you can accept online payments by credit card, in a secure environment, without even being a credit card merchant.

The purchaser makes payment through PayPal using their normal credit card. They do not have to be a member of PayPal. Naturally, PayPal takes a fee for processing the payment, however in some cases this fee is less than banks charge for credit card transactions.

Founded in 1998, PayPal, is now owned by eBay. PayPal has quickly become a global leader in online payment solutions with 78 million account members worldwide. PayPal is available in 56 countries, including Australia, and sellers can accept payment in multiple currencies. This makes PayPal very attractive for businesses that plan to tackle global markets.

If you would like to learn more about how PayPal works, visit their website at: www.paypal.com or www.paypal.com.au

Tip: If you would some advice on the best payment system for your online business, contact us. We will be happy to provide you with further information and a free quote, if required.