Articles

How Do I Receive Orders?

Posted 4/05/2008

The survival and success of any business is based on its ability to adapt to current market changes and to be prepared for the future. Currently the shopping trends show that more and more dollars are being spent online. Thus it is critical for businesses to be able to accommodate that customer need and reap the benefits.

The easiest way to make sure that you are not missing out on online revenue is to ensure that your business is set up with a proper payment processor. There are a few things that you need to consider when choosing an online payment processing system so that you and your customers are satisfied.

One of the most important factors is security, which applies to both you and your customers. You obviously don't want a payment processor that lacks the ability to spot fraudulent payments. Conversely you want to ensure your customers that their credit card or bank information is completely protected and will not fall into the wrong hands. This crucial step can be the breaking point of any business if neglected.

Another important aspect of any payment processor is that it abides by all laws of the country in which you are doing business and all international laws. These include the international money transfer laws, all money laundering protection acts, and so forth. It's easy to be seduced by a lesser known company who may promise you low rates but if you don't make sure that they abide by all laws you will end up paying the ultimate price not them.

The next necessities for a quality payment processor are fairly self explanatory. Remember to keep in mind the need to abide by all laws you should look for a company that will deliver the most convenience and options for the lowest price. This includes transaction fees which should be as minimal as possible without sacrificing features like batch payments and quick processing.

If you don't have much time to research independent companies it's always a safe bet to go with one of the most established third party payment processors like Pay Pal or Pay Mate. These services save you the time and hassle of trying to get your own merchant account set up. These services are trusted and definitely proven with first class customer service teams.

The only thing that you should note about using these payment processors over your own merchant account is that on your customers' bill your business name will not show up. The transaction will show up only under Pay Pal. This can be easily remedied by simply letting your customers know that this will happen so that they will not get confused about their bill.

Overall there are many options that you can consider when setting up an online payment processing system for your internet business. As with everything just make sure that you do the proper legwork and research the company you will be trusting to handle important financial transactions for you and your customers.

Accepting electronic payments is essential to an ebusiness. The UK is Europe's largest ecommerce economy with 27.7 million UK having shopped online- and it is growing fast.

For many smaller businesses setting up shop online and finding the best way to accept payments is a confusing and frustrating task. How can you join in by accepting payments online? What do you have to do?

Online payment systems can be challenging to implement and understand, but overcoming the 'barrier to entry'; created by this can give you a competitive edge. There are three major ways to accept online payments:

Separate services

Shops accept cash, cheques, credit and debit cards using the traditional 'swipe' systems. Internet procedures are very similar; however, there are added steps to provide secure transactions.

To trade online you need a merchant account and payment gateway. Internet merchants need a "card not present merchant account." The card not present merchant account allows you to accept and hold payments from credit card transactions.

Most high street banks in the UK offer internet merchant accounts, but they can be 'selective', preferring businesses to have a record of at least two years trading. Even so, it can take up to 8 weeks to gain bank 'approval'. Lloyds Cardnet and EPDQ are examples of merchant account providers.

A payment gateway is a separate service that acts an intermediary between your shopping cart and all the financial networks involved with the transaction, including the customer's credit card issuer and your merchant account. Some merchant account providers also offer payment gateway solutions as part of an overall package, so it can pay to do your research.

Bureau service

A payment bureau like Worldpay or Netbanx is a one-stop solution collecting and processing card details on behalf of the business without requiring an internet merchant account with an or a separate payment gateway. This makes bureau services a popular choice for SMEs first steps into e-commerce.

There are advantages in bureaux as they will accept most types of business and their track record will not usually be an issue, but there are also disadvantages as there are set up charges, funds can be held for 30 - 60 days and transaction charges are generally higher at 4 - 8%.

Third party service

PayPal is the best known. It is an account-based system that lets anyone with an email address securely send and receive online payments using their credit card or bank account. It is a cheap way for merchants to accept credit cards online instead of using a traditional payment gateway. PayPal has 63.8 million member accounts.

However, PayPal is not a bank and does not provide a merchant account but a PayPal account, which PayPal fully controls. There has been some debate about this as merchants can find themselves on the wrong end of a frozen PayPal account without the 'normal' protection enjoyed when working with a bank.

Google Checkout has just been launched. To use it you firts of all have to have a Google Account. Then you can open a Google Checkout account too. Presently the service is restricted to the USA, if you are a merchant but soon... Of course, you can use it for payments.

Naturally Google, being just about 'everyone's favourite' will push this hard and undoubtedly make headway - but at the moment they need about 64 million accounts to catch up with PayPal.