[web] e-commerce

There are a few standard packes around that do this. Have a look at OS Commerce.

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Original post by u235 ... find out about setting up e-commerce on my website? ...

There are basically three flavors: PayPal, e-commerce portal, and Do It Yourself.

You are probably in the first group.

If you are interested in cheap and easy, then a PayPal button is the best way to go. Their rates are smaller than the other options, until you get to several thousand transactions per year. They take all kinds of currency, verified credit cards, electronic checks, and of course, other PayPal accounts. If you're small and planning on under a hundred thousand dollars in transactions per year, it's a good way to go. Transfer your money out frequently, though, to avoid issues with disputes.

If you really don't like PayPal, or want a big fancy shopping cart system, you can go with third-party e-commerce solutions. There are tons of them. They range from no-cost software that you host yourself (the above link) to fully-hosted external systems that integrate with inventory systems. It is just a matter of shopping around and comparing how their system would best integrate with your site, and comparing their somewhat complex fee schedules. They (should) handle all the back-end details. It's still up to you to make sure they are legit.

For larger organizations, you should handle it yourself. This group would be already taking credit-card orders and have merchant account contacts. You probably don't fall in to this group.

Taking your own credit card orders online requires a half-dozen groups ranging between the card verification companies to your bank's merchant account pepole. They charge more for the base fee but are better overall if you have a lot (=tens of thousands) of transactions. The per-transaction charge is less if you do a lot of business, there are better dispute resolution policies, they have strict government regulations, and are otherwise a good deal in that situation.

Many thanks for the links and suggesstions. I had ruled PayPal out because I thought they would only accept other PayPal accounts. Thanks for the heads-up.

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Original posy by frob ...or want a big fancy shopping cart system...

Could I write my own shopping cart software and still use PayPal's services?

Thanks.

-AJ

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Original post by u235 Could I write my own shopping cart software and still use PayPal's services?

Yes you can. Just be sure to pass the right variables to PayPal when people make the payment.

Cool, thanks. Really helps out alot.

-AJ

Several free and no-cost solutions, such as the OS Commerce link above, will pass the right values to PayPal for you.

It's still a matter of trying different solutions out and finding one for your liking. Obviousy OS Commerce (which wants PHP4 and MySQL) is going to not fit well if you have an IIS/SQLServer setup.