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| | PC Doctor+ Guide 21 Accepting Credit Cards on Your WebsiteWritten by Steve Latimer
Accepting Credit Cards on Your Website If you're running a business producing any kind of product or service then you really should have a website. The reasons for saying this are: At lowest level, web sites allow you to advertise your product or service at costs which compare very well against conventional advertising methods. In addition, merely having your own domain name adds status to you business while a domain based e-mail address adds credibility to your business. I don't wish to be unfair to Freeserve or any other general ISP but if you are using a Freeserve e-mail address for your business then you are hardly conveying impression of a main player business. Which looks better to you? sales@yourcompany.com or jkl501@fsnet.net Once you have a web site you may consider at which level you wish to operate it: A simple site which advertises your product or services. Remember even a simple site, optimised correctly, will allow people searching web to find your business. Even if your site only provides details of your product/service and contact details this is still a significant plus and far more flexible (and cheaper) than placing an advertisement in Yellow Pages A site with ability to accept orders by telephone or e-mail and receive on-line payment. A full e-commerce site where people can order on-line using customary 'shopping basket' and on-line payment. Here we will deal with second level - a fairly simple site but one which has facility to accept on-line payments by credit or debit card. Many people think that this must be a complicated task with many serious considerations - not least of which is security - but not so. If you have a product or service to sell then you can be accepting credit/debit cards on-line in a matter of hours. Merchant Accounts High Street stores which accept credit/debit cards have what is known as full merchant accounts often now known as PDQ accounts because of card swiping machines that are connected by telephone to clearance system.To qualify for a PDQ account a business will generally have had to have been trading for 18 to 24 months and be able to supply signed off accounts for qualifying period. If accepted, service involves a monthly subscription payment - allegedly for use of PDQ machine - and it will also deduct a commission, typically of between 1 and 3%, on each sale. Most if not all of high street banks offer full merchant accounts. For smaller retailers and for SMEs which sell products and services direct or on-line banks have come up with alternative solutions. These involve setting up an on-line account with merchant account providers through which all transactions take place. In this way security issues are handled by provider and with organisations such as The Royal Bank of Scotland and National Westminster Bank potential buyers can feel secure with their transaction. With each, business user visits provider’s website and creates a 'BUY' button which is then copy/pasted onto business users website. When a visitor clicks on button a payment window opens and visitor enters details of their credit card/debit card. Money is then transferred into user's online account. The provider will make a charge on each transaction. The business user can view account status on-line to see when monies have been received but providers generally also e-mail user so that he knows when monies have been cleared and goods can be safely despatched.
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