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If you are considering selling your products online, there are a number of issues for you to consider. We hope the points below will give you an idea of what is involved together with the likely costs. Shopping Carts Shopping CartsIf you are selling multiple products then you will almost certainly want to use a shopping cart package which will typically provide these features:
We have developed E-Commerce sites using these shopping carts:
Zen-Cart is free (open source) but does not have the support that you get with commercial software. It is also more time-consuming to customise. Actinic varies in price from £150 (10 product version) to over £1000 (multi-site, limitless products) with various flavours in between. VPASP starts at 245 USD and is also open source which enables more bespoke customisation than is usually possible with carts such as Actinic. Payment Service Providers
The PSP verifies the transaction and sends authorisation to your customer’s bank to make the payment. You will then be notified of success or failure of the transaction. Paypal is a PSP that can be easily integrated with every shopping cart and is a good one to consider if you are new to e-commerce. Other PSPs that we have worked with include Protx, Netbanx, Barclays EPDQ and SecureTrading. PayPal
Payments made using Paypal are transferred to a holding bank and are held until you request a transfer to your own bank. They charge commission on transactions and also charge you for each transfer from the holding bank, if the transfer is less than £50. If you are selling a single product or expect a fairly low turnover then Paypal is for you. Also, Paypal is ideal for selling items on e-bay. However, PayPal can also be integrated into all the major shopping carts. If you are a business that wants to be a serious presence on the internet then you should consider a PSP such as Netbanx or SecureTrading. Also, if you require payments direct into your bank this is not catered for with Paypal. Other Payment Service Providers
You will be able to integrate major shopping cart software, such as Erol and Actinic into the PSP. This will enable you to update your online store more easily and effectively. If you need to interact with a database of sales and customer information this will be much easier to achieve. If you want payments to hit your bank as soon as they are cleared then you must use a PSP such as Netbanx. See below. Integration of Netbanx with a shopping cart costs between £99 and £151, depending on your choice of shopping cart. Payments direct to your bankIf you want payments to reach your bank account as soon as they are cleared, then you must apply for an Internet Merchant Id. In order to qualify you must be a limited company. An administration charge is made by the bank for registration of an Internet Merchant Id. Also, the bank will charge commission on each transaction. However, PSPs such as Netbanx reduce their commission rates if you have a merchant Id, and therefore rates remain the same overall. |
Prices
of shopping carts vary considerably depending on your requirements.
The
payment service provider (PSP) is the secure site where the credit card
transactions take place. 
Paypal
have no setup charges and provide a free, albeit rudimentary, shopping
cart. 
Use
of a PSP such as Netbanx involves a set-up charge but this is compensated
by lower commission rates and a more flexible service.