This does not ensure that person you are speaking to on phone did not lift card from someone in a store or on street. You MUST do step #3 to ensure your safety.

5. Call toll free number they gave you over phone. Explain to bank that you are a merchant with an Internet store, and you need to verify that order you received was a valid one. You can give address that customer gave you as a billing address to allow bank to verify that this is correct address.

You're STILL NOT FINISHED YET.

6. Make a copy of order from your online store. Make a copy of verification printout that you get or write down authorization number received when you verified that credit card had enough on it to make sale. Make a copy of invoice. File these away in a safe place. You would not believe how many times we've received letters from our merchant account provider that ask us for these things because customer is trying to do a chargeback against us, claiming they never made transaction in first place. YOU EAT THESE and sometimes lose your merchant account if there are too many of them. And there are more than make me comfortable! If you don't save copies of this documentation, you lose!

7. Another method of verification that will protect you: For orders over a certain dollar amount (the amount is wherever your level of UNcomfort is), we fax our customers a copy of credit card slip and have them sign it, then fax it back. We sometimes also have them put their card under a blank piece of paper, scratch over it with a pencil so that an impression of card number, expiration, and name on card show up, then have them sign this piece of paper and fax it to us.

Another note:

If customer has sent you a check, MAKE A COPY OF THE CHECK. Attach this to invoice and file in a safe place.

Now, I know that Internet online stores seem to be an easy place to make a quick, lazy buck, but as you can see, not talking to who orders from you and not using services of Visa, Discover, Mastercard, and American Express can hurt you.

When I return, I’ll provide you with some resources to protect your online store even further.

Set people at ease by putting your smiling photo on your site. Nancy has hers right next to pictures of chocolate and cash you can earn working with her. You can see that Nancy looks like a nice person you feel you've met somewhere before. That's not a bad impression to give customers.

4. Write some exciting, interesting, informative descriptions for your products and services. The more expensive product, longer your description must be. Rather than just droning on down page, make your longer text include deeper details. Customers love copy that tells them everything they need to know. AND gets them excited about buying.

5. Describe problems your product or service solves. Give real life examples that visitors can identify with. Show how your customers use what you sell. Then describe what visitor's life will be like after he buys from you and uses your product.

6. If you can, let people search through your products and services by subject and by price. Some people want to see all Compaq computers you sell. Others just want to know what you have in under-$1000 range. Let people shop both ways.

7. Make it EASY to order. On longer pages of copy, put a BIG order link near top, in middle, and toward end of page.

Give people a button they can click and have item put directly into their shopping cart. Tell customers how long it will take to receive product or service they are about to order.

These simple 7 suggestions can quickly turn your site into a money-maker. More visitors will discover reasons to come back to stay on your site longer, come back again and again, and to buy.