E-commerce

What is E-commerce?

E-commerce, simply put, is taking payments for merchandise or services over the internet.

How does e-commerce work?

In order to take payments over the internet you need several things:

1. A Merchant Account
2. A Store Front
3. A Secure Server
4. A method of accepting credit cards.

1.  Merchant Account

Call your bank and let them know what your plans are.  If your business already accepts credit cards, then you probably just need to make sure that it is the right category of merchant account.  If it is , then you need only tell the bank that you will be accepting credit cards online and they should be able to assist you with the process.

2. Store Front

This goes without explanation.  In order to accept payment through a web site you must have one.  E-commerce pages are often referred to as "Store Fronts."   If you need help creating a "Store Front,"  IWLink can assist you in this area. If you are going to be selling from a catalogue of items or services, you may need some complicated programming support such as SQL, shopping carts, cyber cash, etc... This is best left to the professionals.

Although you can throw a rock out of a window and hit  a web designer  (probably), these are special areas that not many "web designers" are proficient in.  You truly need talent on your side to achieve the functionality and design of a good store front.

3. Secure Server

A secure server is simple a way to insure customers that the information that they input on your site will not be hacked.  Additionally, when you have a secure site, and in the event a hacker does break through and steal information, more often than not, you will be insured against losses.  To make a web site secure, you must obtain a secure certificate from a third party authentication service. This can be cumbersome at best.

Once you obtain the certificate key,  it must be installed on a server and have it pointed to your website.  You can tell if a site is secure by a little padlock icon on the bottom of the browser window.  Next time you see this, click on the padlock to see what a secure certificate looks like.

4.  Method

What do we mean by method?  There are several things that happen when a payment is taken online.  First the customer inputs the sales and payment information and hits a submit button.  Next, a programming script is called to validate the credit card number.  Next, the requested is sent to the bank and approved.  Here is where the method comes in, in clearing house logs the transaction and then funds the bank in batches.

For example, we use a popular method called Cyber Cash.  What they do is log all of the transactions in a day and fund the bank account at night.  Think of it as a credit card swipe terminal that accepts all forms of credit cards.  All of the money does not go to the same place, right?  Somebody has to divided it up to the right institutions.  This is the role of Cyber Cash.