Several beginner ecommerce questions

[Kernig]

I've been developing websites and programming for years, but haven't dealt much with ecommerce. Now I have several pending projects that require payment processing, and some prospective clients that want ecommerce sites, and need some information so I can get started. I've searched around a bit but haven't found much straightforward information.

One project is subscription-based, and I need for users to be able to subscribe and manage their subscriptions entirely within the site. I'm really just looking for someone to point me in the direction of some good resources and tutorials, and give me some tips and advice to avoid common pitfalls. What components do I need? What should I be aware of?

Thank you.

[rcain]

hi
i'd recommend having a look at OSCommerce to start - its not the only one, but it is open source and the progenitor of many other ecommerce platforms out there; plus there are a lot of support groups, forums, etc.
good luck

[Corey Bryant]

If you are using recurring billing - some gateways will offer that at no charge. If you need to store the credit card numbers to to be ran each month via the store, you might want to check out PCI Compliance as well.

-Corey

[rocknbil]

I need for users to be able to subscribe and manage their subscriptions entirely within the site.

You do this via "silent post" to your processor. One way is to use the command line program curl to make the post. If you do this on a secure server, the user never leaves the site. Something like:

- present the signup page
- on submission you do $result = curl -d [parameters you pass to processor][processor post url]

$result will contain the response returned from the processor, such as approved, declined etc., to take appropriate action and return response to browser.

[Kernig]

What should I be looking for in terms of merchant accounts, payment gateways, etc.?

[lorax]

welcome to WebmasterWorld!

You will find some good back grounders here [webmasterworld.com]

[Corey Bryant]

It really depends on your location for the merchant account. Most gateways in the United States are compatible with the providers in the United States as well. You might need to look at what the gateway charges (some charge a percent, some charge a transaction fee, and some don't charge anything).

Depending on your volume, you can probably start around 2.25% and if you are in the United States, doing less than $30,000 a month, and not selling anything high risk - a merchant account is usually approved within 24 hours. It might take about the same time to get onto one of the transaction platforms as well to process the credit cards.

-Corey