Online Payments
Accepting credit card payments online is expensive. Not only does it increase
the cost of the website, but there are usually ongoing costs every year too.
When considering taking orders online, you have two basic options:
- Set up a basic form where people fill in their details, tick what they want
to buy etc, and then when they click on "Submit" it emails their
information through to you, to deal with as normal. For a small extra fee,
the form can also be encrypted so that people can enter their credit card
details, which are then also sent to you.
This option is very cheap, and is the option that most small businesses still
use. It allows you to accept basic orders and process the payments "offline"
in your normal way.
If this is your preferred option, then do NOT tick "Online Credit Card
Processing" on this form.
- Your second option is to have a system that actually processes the credit
card transaction in real time and transfers the money immediately. This system
is much more complicated and expensive, but does mean that by the time the
order comes through, everything is already paid for. These systems will normally
have ongoing yearly fees associated with payment gateways etc.
If this is the system you would prefer for your website, than please tick
the box marked "Online Credit Card Processing"