Our
web design company has considerable professional expertise
to present YOU effectively to the web audience. All sites
created by Vertical Line Web Development meet your online
goals and effectively establish your presence on the Internet.
Considering e-commerce for your web site?
Giving your customer the ability to make a
purchase on your web site can be a profitable
enhancement to your online presence. What
do you need to know?
Components of E-commerce
The basic components of an e-commerce enabled
web site are:
a shopping cart system or means to take
orders
a means for processing credit card transactions
security features to protect those transactions
Shopping
Cart System
A shopping cart system is software that "lives"
on the web server and provides all the functions
associated with the shopping transaction.
This software allows your customer to browse
your store online, place items in their shopping
basket, and checkout when they are ready to
complete a transaction.
Processing
Credit Card Transactions
Processing payment online by credit card allows
your customer to complete a transaction, whether
your physical store location is open or not.
To accept credit cards, you must first have
a Merchant's Account. This is a special account
that allows you to process credit card transactions
from your web site. The money resulting from
these transactions is then deposited into
your regular bank account. This charge for
this type of service typically includes monthly
fees, plus a small percentage of each transaction.
Other alternatives include services like PayPal.
Security
Security comes into play when handling such
sensitive information as credit cards and
other personally identifiable details like
address and such. To make sure this information
is secure, your e-commerce solution should
include SSL to encrypt this information and
to communicate with your credit card processing
provider or Merchant's account provider
Web 
