Intro to ecommerce

eCommerce 101

[austinwang]

Hi all,

I've been doing a bunch of research on ecommerce for the last couple days getting ready to launch actually a couple ecommerce sites for different startups and such that I am involved with.

Few quick questions, much obliged in advanced for your help:

1. If running osCommerce on a local machine (maybe with some sort of addon like zen, or loaded or whatever)- I will have to register with some sort of payment gateway? Is there any point in having more than one? is there a recommended one? What kind of fees do they charge? I have to sign up with some special bank that accepts online payments? Do i have to buy a SSL certificate? How hard is that to install/implement, and is it really necesary?

2. If paying for some monthly ecommerce package like monster commerce or volusion or something like that that is completely outsourced, does that mean I really dont have to worry about any of the payment gateway/ssl stuff like that? Is there a recommended one?

3. If setting up something completely on my own in terms of eCommerce i will need the following:

-ecommerce/webpage (os commerce or something)
-payment gateway (like authorize or paypal?)
-SSL certificate (does it matter who i get one from?)

What other elements am i missing? Like if i set up those things and a customer came and tried to shop, would it really work or is there a piece missing?

Thanks a lot everyeone, i know my #1 and 2 are really a bunch of questions but I'm really open to hearing everything i can about this topic. Please educate! I'll keep researching and stuff too!

Thanks

[sniffer]

If i were you I would go with an 'off site' payment gateway whilst you get things moving. The main reason is becasue they're free to set up, and you pay on a 'per sale' basis. So the risk is much less without losing any ecommerce functionality. Paypal is a good option; people can pay with their credit card even if they dont have a Paypal account, and you dont need to buy an SSL cert. When you've got a history of sales, you will be in a better poistion to assess how much you can afford to pay for an 'on site' solution

[austinwang]

Thanks Sniffer,

So onsite and off site differences are amount they charge per trans? I've had some experience with paypal charging way too much it seems...

[sniffer]

Yeah, the paypal fees are high but thats the price for free connection and the ability to leave it at the drop of a hat. Going to a gateway like Verisign is easier when you know what sort of numbers your website is doing. Of course if you're really confident your sales will be strong from the start then you can skip the Paypal step

[Kymation]

First of all, are you talking about running a site from a PC on a DSL/cable modem? If so, are you certain of your abilities to set up and run a webserver? Securely? And does your provider allow you to run a server on your type of connection? If the answer to all of these is yes, then you can do this for a small site. By "small" I mean that you will be able to count your daily visitors on your fingers without running out of fingers. If you have a problem with any of this, I would advise finding a hosting service for your site. Some will even provide an ecommerce package, although these are of dubious benefit.

osCommerce, Zen, and CRE_loaded (among others) come with interface modules to many different payment services. Check with your bank (You have a business account, don't you?) to see which one they provide. Ecommerce carts also support Paypal, but Paypal is risky given the amount of fraud. If you are in a business that doesn't attract a lot of fraud then this may be a reasonable risk. You may also accept echecks or payment by mail, if this would be attractive to your customers.

If you are running your own server then you will need to buy a SSL cert. If you use a hosting service then they will usually provide you with a shared cert at a reduced cost, or you can still buy your own. I've never tried to run a store without one, so I don't know how necessary that is.

You can always outsource everything. For a price. Part of the price is lack of control -- you get what they give you. If you want some feature that is not available in their cart, tough luck. Unless it's available as an option, usually at increased cost. If you want to be able to add features and tweak your store, stick with running your own software. If you decide to outsource all of it, ask the provider if they support your bank's payment gateway.

To summarize, you will need:
1. Webserver to run on (in-house or hosting service)
2. Ecommerce software of your choice
3. Payment service from a bank or Paypal
4. Payment module for your software that matches #3
5. SSL cert (may be optional)
6. Hundreds of little details that we haven't covered yet

[austinwang]

Thanks alot again sniffer for the comments. I understand better now.

Any input for the other stuff?

Thanks a lot!

[austinwang]

Kymation,

I thank you sincerely for the explainations. Based off of what you guys have said, I am most likely going to go for some sort of outside hosting but running some open source eCommerce solution. All of my questions above have pretty much been answered except for one more thing...

What exactly does Authorize.net do then? Are they a similar company/competitor to paypal in terms of their business payment acceptance program?

and

Does it matter to have say both paypal and authorize.net or any other payment gateway on my estore?

Again, thanks so much for the help.

Austin

[Kymation]

Authorize.net acts as an on-line payment gateway for your bank. Paypal acts as a gateway and a bank combined, although they claim they are not a bank. From the viewpoint of a store owner they are very similar in function. There are differences in the details only.

Having both would be an advantage if your customers are likely to have qualms about either one. There are a number of us who distrust Paypal and would be less likely to buy from you if you offered only Paypal. There are others who are used to using Paypal and would like to continue. I would consider using both providers only if you have a substantial number of customers in both groups. It would probably be better to pick just one.