Accepting Payments on your Internet Site |
Regardless of what your online business is, or the volume of sales you have monthly or annually, the following basic steps can make your business a success:
- An excellent product or niche
- Customers
- Payment method
Before you set up a website, you should already have the first two requirements in hand. You then have to make sure that you have an easy and secure method for your customers to buy from your site. The best way is to get an internet merchant account. This will make it very easy for your customers to buy from you, and the easier it is, the more sales you’ll get.
This is how the sales process will take place online:
It takes five simple steps, and if all goes well, you shall have obtained a loyal customer who will return for more shopping at your site. You will further be recommended to family and friends. Ther eis no better way of spreading the word than word-of-mouth.
1.Someone visits your site, and decides to make a purchase.
2.Customer makes the purchase using whatever options you have set up – “buy me”, “add to cart”, etc.
3.Customer then completes their purchase and moves to the checkout area, and completes a secure form with their personal and financial details.
4.Payment is cleared via the payment gateway you have set up, which serves as the conduit to authorize all credit card transactions.
5.Once cleared, the purchase is authorized, the goods are released and the money is transferred to your business account.
A few important steps:
Shopping Cart or Order Page – Let this page show your products and/or services in an easy to navigate and order fashion.
Merchant Account –Choose the merchant account that is right for your business.
Payment Gateway– A payment gateway ensures quick and easy payments. This transfers all the relevant information between a credit card and the banking networks, as well as the merchant account itself.
Security – Fraud is common online and you have to instill confidence in your customers. To do that make sure you that you are using a secure certificate with necessary encryption. Also, use Address Verification System to verify that the customer’s billing address is the same listed on the credit card. Moreover, you can employ a CVV2 code check, asking your customer to input the “control number” next to the signature panel, to ensure that the person ordering actually has the physical credit card in his/her possession.
Last but not the least, you must ensure that your Internet merchant credit card account uses software that is compatible with the shopping cart on your website. If you take care of all these points, there is no reason why you shouldn’t start getting extra business.
For More information visit Credit Card Processing and Merchant Account Services.
