Forum Moderators: buckworks
I am totally yellow in the subject of e-commerce and affiliation. Being a web designer and developer, i understand this side.
I am researching affiliate programs for online calendar sale. Parties like Amazon.com Calendar.com or AllPosters.com offer different rates and inventory level.
I want to design and develop my site from scratch, but what are the details of shopping cart integration?
Is the final transaction page provided by a third party?
Can I style it with my own CSS?
I collect commission when the "buy" button is clicked; but whose shopping cart? Provider's?
What about page ranking if i am using third's party payment process?
Thanks for all the replies. Spread the knowledge. Peace.
If you are in the United States, you have hundreds of processors to choose from and scores of electronic payment gateways.
Most of these gateways (LinkPoint / YourPay / First Data Global Gateway, Authorize.net / Cybersource, Payflow, Quantum, Yahoo!®, etc) that will connect to a transaction processor (First Data, Nova (Elavon), etc). Some of the transaction processors that have a relationship with the issuing bank and acquiring bank can complete the transaction instead of sending it to the card associations (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, etc). You might even remember the lawsuit that Visa was suing First Data because Visa was getting cut out of a lot of the transactions because First Data was completing the transaction. Fortunately, that was settled [financial-insights.com].
The transaction can be broken down into about seven steps
If you are in the United States, you have a number of options. Getting a merchant account is pretty good if you are doing more than $1,000 a month. One of the bigger reasons is getting your money. Some think this is not important but I have to object. Getting your money is usually the best thing, right? And with a merchant account, your money is deposited into your bank account within 48-72 hours usually after the batch is completed. If you do the math and look at what you might earn if the money if in your interest bearing account you might make money with your money.
The IPSP (Internet Payment Service Provider) like (some versions of) PayPal are relying on your money to earn interest. Some of them will send your money weekly or twice a month, while some will send it only when you request it.
The electronic payment gateways will also offer you an API to process the transaction on your website. This helps with the flow of the checkout process. The user is never directed to another website. You can get a test store from most of the electronic payment gateways but some of the skilled developers think this is unnecessary. And others think it is a great option to have. Now, even some members of Paypal can get this as well.
Now, if you are in the United States, there are some very important pieces of information must be on an ISO / MSP / Agent's website. Let's take a look at CDG Commerce's web site and look at their footer:
CDGcommerce is a registered ISO/MSP for First National Bank of Omaha, 1620 Dodge St., Omaha, NE
and Merrick Bank, Salt Lake City, UT - Members FDIC.
If you are a member of Sam's Club or Costco, you might check their programs to see if they are suitable. Just make sure to read the fine print and all the legalease.
The electronic payment gateways might charge you a transaction fee - some based on a fixed fee and some a percentage. Some gateways will give you #*$! number of transactions free per month and then charge you. And some gateways will just charge a flat fee (similar to AOL giving away their software so you will use service). It is the gateway that is really important. When the gateway is down - your ecommerce site is basically shut down. Although some gateways offer a way for you to still send the transaction and once the gateway is back up, the transaction will be processed.
