Thursday 12 May 2011

How To Take Orders over the Internet

In this day and age, people mostly rely on the Internet for almost anything like finding the answer to a basic question, meeting new people through social networking sites, sending a message to a loved one through email, or shopping. Online shopping is pretty much a common thing nowadays. Companies have online stores up and running and consumers are buying products from these stores 24/7. Furthermore, each transaction is electronic so the need for cold hard cash to purchase stuff has become unnecessary.

These online stores are really just websites with a selection of products to choose from and a payment gateway that will allow a consumer to make an order and pay for it. The simpler the setup is, the more appealing it will be for consumers. If the site is too complicated for the end user, he will tend to look for other online store options that would be a whole lot easier for him to navigate through. To avoid that, you will want your online store to take orders online efficiently and without too many complicated procedures. Here is how.

* Method of payment. Companies should select a good method in accepting payments from customers. One suggestion is to use PayPal. PayPal is a known web-based application for safe online funds transfers. Most companies use this as their method of payment for their online shops because they accept most credit cards and electronic checks. Aside from PayPal, companies can also get their own merchant accounts. Compared to PayPal, merchant accounts have lower transaction fees although their set up fees are higher. Infusionsoft is one company that can facilitate merchant accounts for online stores.
* Shopping cart. Shopping carts are not only found in grocery stores but in online shops as well. They allows customers to order all the items they want before checking out and paying. There are some free online shopping carts available, one of which is the Zen Cart. It is a user-friendly open source shopping cart software commonly integrated and used in a lot of online stores. Another option is the available shopping cart system of PayPal.

* Security. Since transactions being made in online stores involve money, the security of the site becomes an important factor. It is better for companies to have encrypted sites especially if they are using their personal merchant accounts to take orders from customers. A secure page is essential because customers send their credit card information over the Internet and it is possible that other malicious parties may be watching and waiting.

Normally, a merchant account will have integrated security features that an online store can utilize. The same goes with PayPal. Typically, the way it works is simple. If a customer clicks on a product that he wants to purchase, he will be redirected to the secure payment gateway of choice. For instance, if he chooses to pay via PayPal, his browser will be redirected to a PayPal merchant secure transaction page linked to the online store. This way, if a hacker is waiting, he will not be able to see the credit card or PayPal information of the customer due to the secure and encrypted transaction page.


If you are planning to start an online business, make sure you provide a secure and easy to use online store. The simpler and more straightforward the online store, the more customers it will have.

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