Ecommerce (payment options)

One area of ecommerce where we get many questions is the area of accepting payments for on line orders. Here we have out lined some of the different options for payments and their pros and cons.

There are a number of payment options which can be used for an online store. The solution for your site will depend upon the number or products sold and number of transactions likely to occur in a set time frame.

Manual payment methods where goods will not be shipped until payment cleared:

• Bank transfer which allows clients to pay by transferring payment to a nominated account. The transaction is delayed (not real time) as it is cleared and verified manually before shipping.
  
• Personal or bank cheque, payment is manually cleared and verified before shipping.
• Credit card details collected and processed at a later date manually.
• Account payment, transactions are acummulated and manually invoiced on a monthly basis.

These are generally for low volume sites or an option for those clients who do not have credit cards.

Automated On line payments:

• Payment gateways such as DPS or Paypal accounts, where customers will be directed to a payment gateway which allows them to pay by credit card.
• Real-time credit card processing within the client's site. Credit card details are requested and processed through your own web site. DPS and most banks provide this service.
• Paypal

The options are the best for high volume sites and added convience for clients, however fraud issues do need to be monitored.

For online payment solutions 4success recommends and uses DPS credit card payment options. All payment details would be collected via a secure encrypted link.