4ecd

Using a third party payment processor

4ecd — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 11:04:42 +0000

If you are selling a digital product, it may be advisable to use a third party payment processor like Clickbank or Plimus. They take care of all the payments, refunds and the disputes/chargebacks are also handled by them.

Ecommerce and uptime

4ecd — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:16:03 +0000

There are some large ecommerce websites which spend a lot of money on PPC advertising. But if you try to order anything from the website, atleast 50% of the time, you will get some error during the checkout process and are returned to the home page.

It is both a waste of the buyer’s time and the ecommerce websites money.

Error handling and payment processing

4ecd — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 08:53:32 +0000

Few merchants seem to have a well designed system for error handling while processing payment. I had made a payment using Bill Desk, and since there was an error while processing the payment, I could not note down the transaction id. I then had to wait for nearly 36 hours before the payment could be processed properly and waste a lot of time following up.

OSCommerce for ecommerce websites

4ecd — Thu, 08 May 2008 13:56:57 +0000

An OS Commerce ecommerce website can be designed using the STS system which allows the design in one HTML file. It is simpler compared to designing with a standard OS Commerce module.

Using Fantastico which is available with Cpanel hosting , the process of installation of OSCommerce on your website is simplified to a create extent. The databases are created automatically.

Integrating a shopping cart

4ecd — Fri, 02 May 2008 12:48:29 +0000

Most web hosting companies include a free shopping cart software for Ecommerce . For some web hosts there is a script which installs the software on the website. The shopping cart software allows the visitor to select a particular item and add it to the list of products he wishes to purchase.

The web designer can create a standard web page and integrate the shopping cart by adding the relevant code to the web page, so that the check out and payment pages look similar to the rest of the website.

Paypal for Ecommerce

4ecd — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:16:47 +0000

Paypal is widely used for online payments, since it is accepted by a large number of merchants in a number of countries. A Paypal business , premier or personal account can be opened for free . However fees are deducted from the payment received for a business or premier account.

A number of options are available for integrating Paypal with an existing website. The simplest is using the standard Paypal buy now or subscribe buttons. These can be created from the user control panel by filling a few parameters. To ensure that these are not tampered, the encrypted code should be used on the website.

Ecommerce for different Hosting / Operating Systems

4ecd — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:36:18 +0000

OSCommerce (www.oscommerce. com) is a free ecommerce solution, available under the GNU public license. Uses PHP/mySQL , has many features needed for upgrade and the software is constantly upgraded. It has an active developer and support forum.

Zencart is based on OSCommerce and overcomes many of its limitations.

Perl : Interchange, not very reliable

ASP : VP-ASP or Comersus

ASP.NET : AspDotNetStorefront ( www.aspdotnetstorefront. com) , complete source code is available to the buyer who can modify it as required

Paypal shopping cart : free , but a fee is deducted for every payment received by a Paypal business or premier account

Ecommerce Web Design

4ecd — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 08:40:57 +0000

For Ecommerce website design, there are many ready made free software available as well as paid solutions. For free open source software, the developers do not offer much support , but if the software is widely used, support is available through forums and mailing lists. Shareware or paid solutions offer a free trial period but can be expensive. They usually provide support by email or over phone.

Even if an open source solution is used, some amount of customisation is needed for all ecommerce websites. If the website owner is familiar with web design and programming, this may be simple. If the website owner does not have enough time or is unable to learn how to make the modifications, a programmer may have to be hired and the expenses involved can be significant.

Some popular free shopping cart software are:
1. Zencart
2. Oscommerce
3. Agora
Free templates are also available with this software.

Hello world!

4ecd — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 04:52:28 +0000

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!