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(I will never rent, trade, or sell your information) * = required fieldIf you are thinking about using your website to collect payments from your customers, you will be entering the world of e-commerce. There are different ways to accept online payments and set up your “online cash register.” It’s a good idea to think about what you are planning on selling online, and how, before you start signing up with payment processing services.
Depending on what you are selling, there are different options for accepting payments. There is a big difference between sending monthly invoices to consulting clients, recurring billing (subscriptions) for ongoing membership or services, and having a “shopping cart” to sell multiple physical products at one time. There are special options for billing for events registration, or digital products with automatic delivery. Because of all the options, it’s also a good idea to look 6 months out and consider choosing an option now which will also support those future needs, since switching services might be less than ideal.
In order to accept a completed payment online all these pieces need to be in place:
The thing that gets confusing about setting up e-commerce is that there are so many options for implementing each of these pieces, and some services overlap, covering more than one of these items. It is also possible for you to use more than one service to construct your e-commerce process, which can add to the confusion.
In a general article of this nature, it’s impossible for me to make any specific recommendations about how YOU should set up YOUR e-commerce system, but I will give some general information so you will better understand the options you have.
Believe it or not, the best way to think about how you should set up your e-commerce system is to start at the last item and work your way up.
Based on what you are selling, how do you plan to deliver the goods? If it is a service, such as consulting, you will need to immediately be made aware of the sale and get in touch with your new client. If it is a digital product, you should look and how the delivery (via a download link, etc) can be automated so you don’t need to be manually sending out files or emails. If you are selling a physical product, how will it be produced, packaged, and shipped? (You probably don’t want to be the one doing it all yourself!) However you will be handling delivery, the rest of your payment system needs to communicate with the delivery system somehow. Figuring out those requirements will narrow your options a bit.
Managing your business cash-flow and accessing your revenues from online sales is an important consideration. Different payment options will have different methods of getting that money to you, and different timeframes. Some will allow you instant access as soon as a sale has been made, some will be sending you a check or direct deposit on a schedule (weekly, for instance), others might require that your account meet a certain pay-out threshold ($50, for example) before a check is sent. You should be checking on these policies before you sign up to avoid nasty surprises later. You should also be aware of the payment processor’s “refund” policies, since customer refund requests will affect you access to funds as well.
This is tied in closely with #4. You will need to decide how much control you need over the payment account and how much you will be willing to pay for the use of the account. This is generally measured in different types of fees depending on the method. You might pay any combination of: set up fees, monthly fees, per-transaction fees, percentage of transaction amount, etc. When choosing your payment processing system, you will want to add up all the different fees for all the pieces and become clear on your up-front costs and your ongoing costs. Comparing this to the number of sales and amount of revenue you expect to generate is a good idea, since you don’t want to put yourself too far in the red in order to sell something with low ROI.
Frequently, whoever is providing your account will also provide the processing system, since they are closely linked. Just make sure you are clear about any additional fees that might be charged, and any restrictions on what sort of order interface (aka “shopping cart”) is compatible. If you are looking into getting your own Merchant account with a bank, make sure you discuss their support for online payment processing (sometimes called a “gateway” – which might incur an additional monthly fee). Some banks don’t want to allow you to use a standard gateway, and will instead try to sell you additional “development” services to create your shopping cart, whereas you might already have a preferred shopping cart software or service. Another thing to consider is if you will need “offline” or “manual” payment processing – that is you or your staff will need to run credit card transactions from a physical card, or paper order form. Get clear about all of this before you apply for the account, since it could cause you problems or additional expense later.
This is the part your customers will see. Discuss with your web developer the best way to integrate ordering into your current website. How complex your interface needs to be will be determined by what you are selling, and how many products will be available for purchase. Also, if you plan to require “preapproval” for purchase (common if you are selling high-end consulting or other services where you interact with the prospect before agreeing to do business together), you probably don’t want a “public” payment interface on your website, and instead might have custom private order pages, or prefer to send digital “invoices” directly to the customer. Your ordering interface might also be different if you plan to use a long-form sales page as your main marketing tool, as opposed to having a “products” page on your main website.
Accepting payments online can help you manage collections and cash flow for your business, but making the wrong choices about how you set up e-commerce for your business can overly complicate you system or cost you more money than necessary. If you need help finding the right options for your business and implementing e-commerce on your website, contact me today.
