| Introduction
Accepting credit card transactions online, 24hrs a day is
a significant step towards ecommerce enabling a business.
To do this safely, securely and to ensure that customers will
trust your website enough to enter credit card details online
is very important. With the collection of credit card details
comes a responsibility to handle them in a secure and professional
manner; ensuring the reputation of your business and your
online presence.
Beyond simple enquiry forms
You may be familiar with the use of simple feedback or enquiry
forms on a website to collect information. These are excellent
tools for generating qualified sales leads however there are
inherent insecurities in using such simple email forms to
transmit credit card details.
Currently many merchants accept customer orders through their
website and follow-up with a fax or phone confirmation with
the customer. This is the simplest means of using your website
to accept orders whereby the credit card details are taken
offline. The rest of this briefing aims to explain what exists
beyond that process of order form and manual card transactions
and how it can be advantageous for your business.
Online security and customer expectations
Surveys covering online shopping trends always find concerns
about credit card fraud and identify theft to be the major
factor slowing the growth of online shopping. People who may
be comfortable with phone and mail orders may not necessarily
trust a website transaction. It is for this reason that you
must take extra steps to reassure visitors to your website
that their details will be handled safely, securely and by
industry leading, payment processing, financial institutions.
What is required?
VeriSign's Payment Processing services simplify e-commerce
by providing payment connectivity over the Internet between
buyers, sellers, and the banks that move money between them.
The EWAY payment gateway works in a similar way. The combination of your website, the VeriSign payment and
order processing and an internet merchant account with a bank
can be setup to provide a consistent revenue source through
your website without the hassle of manual transaction processing.
The VeriSign payment management tools can also be used in
such a way that allows for you (the merchant) to raise transaction
charges via a secure website and potentially replace a physical
EFTPOS terminal in your office. Note: only possible for credit
card transactions, not debit cards.
Merchant Bank Facilities
The banks have quite high fees for internet merchant accounts so you might like to start with paypal or paymate first.
You do not require an account with that particular bank as
the funds can be deposited into any Australian bank account.
Average Fee Structure
Bank Fees
Bank fee for setup of internet merchant account: $55 (CBA)
or $68 (NAB)
The banks generally charge a small percentage fee for each
transaction, this is negotiated by the bank at the time you
setup the account and will depend on your business.
Web Design
Depending on how many products are required to be setup, shopping
cart software may be applicable but for a small number of
products a simpler catalog and ordering system is best. The
time required to setup an ecommcer enabled website depends
mostly on the number of poducts to be sold and the details
required to be listed etc.
The bottom line for bank merchant accounts is about $500 setup fee, $50 per month plus
the banks small percentage transaction fee on each sale. Web
designs costs are separate and negotiable according to the
work and expertise involved.
To order your ecommerce enabled website click
here
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