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E-Commerce - Show Me The Money!

So you have your web site, your little space on the web. But
is it making money? Well, you may be receiving e-mail or
'feedback form' requests but are you actually taking hard
cash?
 
E-commerce (Electric Commerce) is not just about getting
responses to your web presence but actually taking payment
transactions from within your web site.
 
Most transactions when we talk about e-commerce relate to
credit card transactions and they are really very easy to
implement. So whether you are taking hotel bookings or
retailing goods, here are your basic requirements to start
processing credit cards online.
 
Firstly you will need a merchant account which, if you
haven't already got, your bank will be able to advise you
about. If you are currently taking credit card transactions
off-line you must inform whoever you have your merchant
account with that you will be taking online transactions.
These are treated the same way as telephone transactions
'Card holder not present'
 
Next you will need some way of getting the credit card
details from the customer this is done using a submission
form - a simple web-form to-email, the type you will often
see on the internet when completing details about yourself.
This is simply configured to your own requirements adding
the additional required fields like card number, expiry date
etc….
 
If you do not know how to set up a web-form to-email get your
web site designer to design one for you. A word of warning
here, you must use a form that is served on your own server.
NEVER use a remotely hosted server. Some sites offer to host
your forms remotely but this also means that the credit card
details you take pass through their server first and the
more servers they pass through the more chances they have of
been intercepted.
 
Thirdly, you will require a secure environment in which to
take the credit card details. The recognised industry
standard (and your merchant account manager will insist on
it) is an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) server using encryption
technology. Your web-form to-email page is accessed through
this certificated server which encrypts the contents of the
page.
 
SSL server access usually comes with full service hosting
accounts and prices usually start at around £85 GBP, ask
your web host about these.
 
Your page will then appear with an 's' after the http like
this: https://www.yourdomain.co.uk and will also be denoted
by the locked padlock in your browser window reassuring the
user that they have entered a secure environment.
 
And that's about it, you have a secure environment. A form
for users to give you their credit card details and a
merchant account to process the order.
 
Now wasn't that easy, all you need now are the customers ;-)
 
Another word of warning here, as already stated you do not
want to use a remotely hosted form processing service, but
also you need to limit the number of servers the credit card
details pass through as this is an ideal place to intercept
them. So preferably you want to also use a POP3 e-mail
account as opposed to an e-mail forwarding account also
NEVER, NEVER have your forms sent to a web based e-mail
account for obvious reasons.
 
The best solution is to use your hosting providers web space
for the web-form to-email, a POP3 account supplied by them
and then the details don't go very far except straight to
your system on the next 'send and receive'.
 
Also check that you have not opted to leave a copy of the
e-mail on the server. Also think about what you are going to
do with those details once you have them. The best option
and the most secure is to print one copy off for your
records and delete the e-mail. A little over cautious but
your customers will be reassured by your diligence.
 
NOW SHOW ME THE MONEY!
 
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