New to eCommerce

Newbie needing direction/advice/mentor?

[fuller]

Hello! I am very new to the ecommerce scene. I've been the customer many times but now I'm the merchant or rather I'm the merchant's webmistress.(The site is my son's - he's not website savvy and I'm no pro but I have done a few sites).

I've got a couple of questions:

1. What is the difference between a merchant account and an internet merchant account?

2. Would the shopping cart format work for magazine subscriptions? (I looked at PayPal but I didn't see where a customer could order multiple selections on one transaction.)

Thanks in advance for your help and time.

Sincerely
Pamela

[philbish]

A merchant account can be set up with swipe terminal - that lets you physically swipe a credit card.

Or it can be setup with a virtual gateway - that lets you pass credit card info to a secure server - and they return back a response whether it is declined or approved.

The rates for the virtual gateways - for internet - are a bit higher than a swipe terminal rate.

Shopping cart format should work fine for magazines.

[fuller]

Thanks, philbish! I appreciate your help.

[Shippi]

So for further clarification. . .
A swipe terminal can only be used if you physically have the card in hand or will the numbers do?

[jsinger]

We have a swipe terminal for in-store customers and we key online sales into it, too.

[philbish]

A swipe terminal *can* be used for your web/telephone orders, but I don't think you are supposed to.

I am pretty sure it is not allowed by mc/visa, or at least merchant account providers.

[jsinger]

"I am pretty sure it is not allowed by mc/visa, or at least merchant account providers."
---
Brick/Mortar stores have taken a few telephone orders for decades before the web. It's allowed. Now, your TOS agreement may prohibit swiping web orders. Ours doesn't seem to and I've asked our bank.

For many conventional type retailers, web sales really aren't very risky if you take a few precautions (no $5,000 orders from Nigeria)

Our online fraud rate is about as low as our store rate. Nearly Zero! Note that we don't export.

[Mall23]

Do the mag subscriptions require a re-occurring charge?

If so, you'd better make sure your gateway and store software both support that.

[Pepperoni]

The answer to your questions is how the merchant account is underwritten when your rep is completing the application.

Is all your business going to be Internet/Mail Order/Telephone?

What monthly volume of business are you anticipating? How quickly is the product shipped. Do you ship the product, or are you having the product dropped shipped?

All of these factors go into the equation when securing a merchant account.

[Corey Bryant]

Check with your MAP (merchant account provider) about keying in transactions. Usually you have to get at least 70% or more swiped on a swiped account. Plus they might charge you more because you are keying in the credit card numbers.

Also how are you going to get the credit card numbers? You cannot send it via email because that would be very unsecure.

Magazine subscriptions also are usually high risk because chargebacks are high on them.

-Corey