Services - E-Commerce checklist
Before you can start selling, you will need a few things:
Shopping cart
You will need a web site with product pages, some sort of online shopping cart or basket, and a way for customers to check out and pay. Many different systems exist ranging from a simple cart that links to a payment portal and emails you when a transaction goes through, to more complex systems that monitor stock levels and information flow, leaving you to just post the product and manage your inventory.
Merchant account
This can be arranged with your bank so you can receive credit and debit card payments. Or you can use a payment service provider like Worldpay who will pay you directly into your normal bank account for a fee.
Payment service provider
Someone who will accept credit card details securely and in real time. e.g. Protx, SECPay and PayPal. Some charge quite high commissions of up to 4% of your gross sale and others charge a small monthly fee (£10-£20 pm) with a small processing fee of maybe 40p per transaction. We can help you set this up.
Terms and Conditions
You will need some form of agreement between you and your customer detailing conditions of sale, deliveries, warranties, refunds and returns. We can help you with this.
Legal issues
You will have to make sure your site complies with the Data Protection Act 1998 the Consumer Protection Regulations 2000 and the Electronic Commerce Regulations 2002.
