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Accepting Payments Online:
An ECommerce Web Site Overview
by Bobette Kyle
© 2004
http://www.WebSiteMarketingPlan.com
There
are a seemingly infinite number of choices and configurations to accepting
payments online. Choices range from
almost total "do it yourself" programming
to turnkey packages.
You can accept online payments from an ECommerce Web
site in two general ways:
1) Through your own online merchant account
and/or
2) Through a third party online payment processor.
Accepting
Payments Online through your own Internet Merchant Account
Accepting
payments online via a merchant account puts you in
control and limits your
reliability on outside payment acceptance
services. This approach can also
seem like a jigsaw puzzle.
Besides an Internet merchant account, you will
need shopping cart software, a store or site host, a processor, and a secure
payment gateway.
You may fit these pieces together in several
different ways. On
one end of the spectrum, you can choose the provider for
each
piece individually. On the other end, you may choose a
turnkey
solution, where a single provider has completed the puzzle
for
you.
There is no single best solution. Your choice will depend on
your particular needs and experience. Among other considerations,
you should factor in your own comfort with the technologies,
customer convenience, providers' service levels, available
technical support, reliability, costs, and time commitment
involved.
Fees
There are a myriad of potential costs and fees
involved in
accepting payments online, making it difficult to
compare
different options.
Potentially, you could be charged fees by
each provider involved in helping you accept payments online - application
fees, set-up fees, yearly memberships, monthly statement charges,
monthly minimums, gateway access fees, statement fees, fixed
transaction fees, variable transaction discount rates (processing fee
for each transaction), and cancellation penalties are all
common.
Often, it is easy to misinterpret the fees you will owe.
Rarely
are all costs revealed in one place. If you are reading about
a
merchant account, for example, the quoted costs may not include gateway
access, hosting, and/or shopping cart. Because you may be comparing "apples
to oranges", options that at first appear low-cost can - upon implementation
- turn out to be pricey. Similarly, expensive-sounding solutions may actually
be
reasonably priced.
Accepting Payments Online through a Third Party
Online Payment Processor
If you are not ready to set up your own
online merchant account
and/or you want to offer additional online payment
options, you
can turn to a variety of third party online payment
processors.
Third party online payment processors provide a way to
accept
payments online without the extra cost and obligation of a
merchant
account. To compensate, transaction fees and/or discount rates are
significantly higher than for merchant accounts.
Each program is a little
different and no single third party
payment processor is right for all
situations. Clickbank, for
example, helps you sell digital products online.
At last check,
CCNow processes payment for tangible items
only.
Deciding What's Best for You
Whether you accept payments
online through an Internet merchant account, through a third party payment
processor, or both, read all agreements carefully before committing. Do not
hesitate to ask the providers questions if information is unclear
or incomplete.
There is more information about accepting payments
online -
including explanations of merchant account fees, finding
the
right ecommerce providers, and third party payment processor
overview
- on the ecommerce information site
Take-Payments-Online.com, http://www.Take-Payments-Online.com
.
Put together the "puzzle pieces" for accepting payments online
and
your ecommerce Web sales will flourish!
About the Author
Bobette
Kyle is publisher of the ecommerce information site http://www.Take-Payments-Online.com
. She is also proprietor of The WebSiteMarketingPlan.com Network,
subject-specific Web sites designed to help you find the right information
for writing and implementing your marketing plan. Visit here:
http://www.WebSiteMarketingPlan.com
Copyright
2004 Bobette Kyle. All rights reserved.
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