Need a help with e-store script
 

Could you please help me? (sorry if this is a bit off topic) I am not
technically minded, but I would like to start an online store. What
should I start with? Are there any pitfalls that I should be aware
of? Thank you

Been busy, have we?

In more ways than one, apparently.

lol. well, guess the google search function doesn't help find ecommerce solutions :)

sara, your best bet is probably finding some webmaster forums to discuss these matters, you'll probably get hooked up with some billing experts that can really help you out (the people actually with the companies).

you're best bet, since you're not so technically inclined, is to go with a 3rd party billing company. i can suggest a few. there are 2 basic types of 3rd party billing, those that have the merchant account for you, and those that you use the merchant account with.

this will be the easiest way to go. they will handle everything for you, from the online shopping cart, to card billing and statistics. i would say the best route to go is with a merchant account. there are companies out there that will help you set everything up and get it running. i know of a company that will do this for you, and help you get a merchant account, etc etc. it's about $50 setup, not including the actual merchant account (this you have to obtain through your bank). the primary merchant account bank in the US is wells fargo. they charge about $25/month plus visa fees. then, each transaction has a small fee attached.

if you are unable to get a merchant account, or concerned about certain potential pitfalls with having a merchant account, going through a billing provider that has their own merchant account is a good way to go. you just sit back and collect the checks. with these companies though, there is generally either a holdback of funds, or a longer waiting period for checks. they do this to protect themselves from chargebacks.

it's also a fairly good way to go. the holdback is generally for a period of about 6 months, and it's usually around 10%. these companies also charge a per-transaction fee, which varies with volume.

the downside of going through a good 3rd party biller (generally these do the merchant accounts for you), is that you have to wait for the checks. some companies pay weekly, some monthly, biweekly, etc. with a merchant account the cash is there as soon as someone pays, but there are other things to consider with that system.

you could of course talk to your bank and assemble the system yourself (by buying the gateway software, that sort of thing), without having to write a letter of code. this is a solution as well, but generally costs a lot more than setting up with an ipsp.

again, it's best to actually talk to the people that do this kinda stuff for a living to get everything strait. this is just a _little_ info from my experience in the area.

drop your email addy or contact me on icq, and i can probably send a few people your way to discuss it further.

edit: the fees may be different depending on the types and goods and services you plan to be selling. if it falls under visa's description of "high risk", you will probably have to register with visa, which has a hefty pricetag attached :)

LOL, I think this is just a spam post. Anyone check the webage in the sig?

http://www.alarit.com/

Odd to be asking for e-commerce script help when they are selling a e-commerce script on the site?

Yeh there are troll bots that will post stuff automaticly after registering to the forums.

Theres a feature I can enable that disables that pretty easily (usign GD to make one of those hard to read text images that you need to type in what it says... bots cant read them I guess)

;)

sheesh, i didn't even see that.

what a waste of time.

My favorite quote from the battle.net forums:

"Delete and Ban"

Then find a way to spam the bleeding fsck out of where this person came from. Fsck em.