Q For UK Ecom Guys and Girls

Help with the basic concept of accepting CC's

[Nick_W]

Hi all,

My mum is setting up a furniture shop. Obviously I've been drafted in to do the website. My question is pretty simple I guess but I just don't have the first idea.

She can obviously accept credit cards at the shop, and by phone. She has to take the credit card then check her supplier has the item in stock and then order it or reverse the CC.

So, what's the easiest way (and cheapest) for me to enable her customers to order online?

Ideally i'd like to program it myself as I already have the product DB written and just need the ordering process sorted. But, as you can hear, i'm no expert so would appreciate any advice you can offer ;-)

Many thanks...

Nick

[ukgimp]

I have a relative who does a similar thing with actinic. She has to haev two machines though as her bank requires it to separate online payments from offline.

£350 for the shop. She can then make ammendmenst as stock is added in synchronise. Get into the code as I am sure you will and you can develop some very good product pages.

100% static.

I am not affilioated with Act' is it just easy.

[Nick_W]

So you need to have an agreement with the banks to take cc payments online?

Nick

[TallTroll]

Yup, an "Internet Merchant Account", as opposed to a "normal" merchant account. Be aware that different institutions have different requirements though, and some may only require you to have the usual CC merchant account. This will usually be coupled with crippling fee structures though (reflecting the extra risk etc)

Coupla decent threads for ya :

Accepting credit cards [webmasterworld.com]
Credit Card Processing [webmasterworld.com]

You could also use a Payment Service Provider (PSP), especially if your original application for an IMA is rejected

Note that this lot only really applies if you are authorising online. If you are simply using the cart to trap c/c info and pass it over for normal "customer not present" authorisation, then you are in that mail order type space, and a standard merchant account may do. In all cases, check with the bank or other acquiring institution to determine their exact requirements. Be awfully embarrassing to have them pull the facilities because they have discovered that you are accepting orders over the internet, in violation of their ToS

[ytswy]

If there are issues with stock then it might be better to take the cards onto a secure server and then (securly) download them and charge them by hand (and then delete them from the server). This gives time to check stock before charging the card, so you avoid losing money by charging and then doing a refund.

However I think you would need separate merchant accounts.

You might also need to specify in the T&Cs that someone will see the card number, rather than it being a secure transaction where a human is never involved.

[ytswy]

Didn't see TallTroll's post before I posted. I'm not actually sure if you would need separate Merchant Accounts, but I'm sure you would need to check with your bank, and differentiate between the transactions in some way.

[Nick_W]

Thanks alot guys. Great info.

Yes, downloading and processing by hand is the way forward, especially at the beginning...

Nick