James H. Zisch - Computer Services

Support : Guides

 

Ecommerce Considerations

  1. Establish SSL (Secured Socket Layer) support to the website. This can be optionally provided from the ISP Web Hosting Service at the time of setup of the Website. Cost can range from $20 to $1,000 per month based on anticipated amount of bandwidth in the SSL environment and whether or not the domain space is maintained within a shared or dedicated environment.

  2. A "site certificate" is required to provide the same URL location to be reflected for all secure website pages; i.e., "http://www.yourdomain.net/" for the non-secured pages and "https://www.yourdomain.net/" for the secure pages; only the protocol designation "https" is different. Cost is approximately $200 from Verisign; check for specific requirements as these change frequently.

  3. If the site will be requesting sensitive user information (such as credit card information) to transact online credit card sales, an order processing facility is required for customers the ability enter their information and server-side programs/scripts that will receive the information, then prepare it for subsequent transaction verification, authorization, fulfillment and settlement processing.

  4. A Merchant Bank Account for processing Credit Card transactions. Typically available are VISA and Mastercard directly through your merchant bank. American Express and Discover Merchant Accounts are established directly with those companies. Typically, there is a setup fee and per transaction fee, plus other fees. Check with your merchant bank for details.

  5. A third party clearing service may be an option to consider. Depending upon the Bank where a Merchant Account is established, the processing of transactions can be performed via a terminal, via a secure web interface terminal, by hand using hard copy transaction slips, or directly from the online checkout. Some banks require online transactions to ONLY be processed within their secured environment and that the customer credit card information never becomes available to the merchant; other banks do not require this. If using the Banks checkout processing, the SSL environment may not be required at the website as the customer information entry is performed within their server space.

Due to a high level of Internet fraud, online order processing requires extensive qualification of sales to assure a low percentage of "charge backs" (sales that fail to process for any number of reason). Charge backs include unauthorized purchases where the user falsely represents themselves or claims not to have made the purchase. As with telephone and mail orders, since the merchant does not obtain the credit card imprint and a customerís signature the merchant is at risk of loosing:

  1. Revenue from the sale,
  2. Product provided,
  3. Charge Back Fees when contested.

An excessive number of charge backs may result in termination of a merchant account and may prevent a future merchant account from being established. It is important to perform due diligence to protect your merchant rating and avoid considerable loss.

And finally, you must rely solely on the written agreements you enter into with the various merchant service providers. DO NOT rely on any verbal information with respect to terms and conditions of your obligations under the various agreements required to establish your online order processing capabilities. If an issue does arise, the written agreement specifies explicitly what the merchant service organization and your organization can expect and are obligated to. A little bit of caution and prudence can go a very long way toward assuring your Ecommerce enterprise success. Neglect or reliance on a kind voice of a commissioned sales person on the other end of a telephone can result in ultimate failure and unwarranted expense. Use common sense.