Many aspiring e-Commerce store owners will need to eventually use  a merchant service company in order to  enable the processing of credit cards.  A simple Google search for merchant services brings up about 21,000,000 results.  Many eCommerce newbie's ask , "what is the criteria for choosing a merchant service for my shopping cart software?"  There really is no one answer, and I highly recommend researching your shopping carts requirements as well as searching the internet for information about what an online store owner might need in a credit card processer. That being said, there are some universal features a majority of people should consider.

Global Customers - If a business plans to sell to an international marketplace it's important to obtain a merchant account which is capable of processing international credit cards.

Account Deposit Duration - It's a good idea to ask a credit card processing company how long it takes for the funds generated from credit card sales to be deposited in to the bank. My experience has varied over the years with some companies waiting upwards of 1 week while others taking only a couple of days.

eCommerce Security - Obviously security should be a top concern in setting up a store because the information which needs the most protection is the passing of credit card information from the client computer to the  credit card processing company. Always inquire on  the general security policy and ask if their system supports anything beyond the standard 128-bit digital certificate.  Additionally, a PCI-ompliant system  is a definite plus eCommerce owners should consider.

Fee Structure - Many credit card companies will try to entice you with low rates, and fail to mention any sort of transaction fee or charge back fees. Before you sign on the dotted line make sure you have a clear understanding of how much everything will cost you. Receiving a bill with charges and fees that were not expected is never a good  thing.

A common overlooked usability technique within eCommerce site design is the ability for customers to print product, category and/or content pages.  With a majority of shopping cart software incorporating fluid design with CSS it's vital to make certain that online visitors will be able to print your site pages. There are many benefits to having online pages printer friendly. For starters it's part of good usability standards, but more importantly it can lead to an increase in sales and exposure. Often time's people print products to show relatives who otherwise would not be able to view them because of not having a computer. However, what tends to happened more often is people print products and articles with their PDF writer for later viewing. Therefore, it's imperative that users have the option of printing web pages within your site.

Making a site printer friendly usually requires adjusting html, css, div or table code. Often times no matter how much a person tweaks the code the pages don't adjust or the design takes a dramatic change. The answer to this type of situation is creating a separate printer friendly page which can be formatted in simple text, and works beautifully in any printer. Although this may seem like a simple solution it does come with hazards that need to be addressed before creating a separate printing page.

The major issue with a second printing page is duplicate content. Even though no one can say for sure what search engine algorithms penalize for duplicate content, it's safe to say that they don't like it. In fact I have personally seen sites dropped in ranking because of duplicate content, and once the duplicate content was removed their rankings came back. The method I recommend to my shopping cart software clients is to add a simple no follow tag in to the print page link. In addition, to add an extra layer of protection I suggest putting all the "printer friendly" pages in to a designated directory, and restrict search engine spider access via the robots. By following these simple rules your eCommerce site will keep the look you want without sacrificing usability or ranking. 

As ecommerce shopping becomes increasingly popular, more and more people are looking for open source based online shops.  osCommerce was the first true open source shop to come about online, and it has definitely served its purpose since its creation.  However, with time there have been more open source shops develop that offers some aspects that osCommerce cannot.  Here are a few reasons why you may not want to use osCommerce.

Not template driven
One of the minor downfalls to osCommerce is that it is not template driven.  This will effect how quickly you can adjust how the site looks and it is not near as flexible in doing so if it were template driven.  To make up for it not being template driven, osCommerce does have style sheets that allow you to quickly change the header, footer, and left and right column files.

Slow customization
If you are looking to customize files and pages, it is almost necessary to have a developer of some sort.  With oscommerce, if you attempt to customize files without a developer, it is extremely time consuming.  You may want to consider spending a little extra money to higher a developer for you.

In the next post I will write a few more reasons why a person may not want to use osCommerce as their shopping cart software.

As you first begin to look for a PHP shopping cart, you will quickly realize that it can become an intimidating process.  There are a number of shopping carts to choose from, and many of them seem similar to one another.  However, there are certain features that you can focus on to help you decipher a quality PHP shopping cart from one that is in the mix of the crowd.

Most probably the reason you are getting a PHP shopping cart is to make life easier for yourself with customer’s orders and their payments.  Therefore, it is crucial that your shopping cart includes specific money-making features.  The first feature is that it should be able to calculate shipping and tax for USPS, USP and FedEx automatically for you.  It should also be able to customize gift certificates and product coupons for you.

These features should be a no-brainer for your PHP shopping cart, and will make it extremely convenient for you when dealing with customers.  On top of that, your shopping cart should be 100% customizable.  The more you can make your shopping cart look like yours, the better your business will be.

In the next post I will conclude the reaming things to look for. 

In this modern technological age, buyers probably look to websites that include shopping cart technology because it is so much easier to maneuver. It also prevents the potential for losing what you have ordered and having to start over again. In cases where the computer shuts down, one can go back into the website and the items in the shopping cart are still there. Of course, this assumes that the buyer logged into their account before they began to put things into the shopping cart because that's the only way that the software will know what you chose to purchase.

It's possible that the first shopping cart software was used because of websites such as Amazon.com that distribute products for many different merchants. From there, many different eCommerce sites have developed, and of course, Amazon.com has expanded their offerings from books, CDs and videos to include toys, clothing, adult entertainment, and much more. The Internet is full of numerous bookstores, clothing merchants, office supply stores, and even party stores that make use of shopping cart software in order to make it easier for their customers to order. With the addition of express CheckOut, customers are able to store their information on the merchant's website, and when they return to order something else, they do not have to enter their address or credit card information. Not only does this method save time, it also makes it safer for the buyer to shop online since the information is stored and not something that he has to enter at the risk of a hacker seeing the information. Of course, that is not an issue if the site is secure, and the customer has a firewall, but it's always better to add another area of safety.

Ecommerce shopping has a number of benefits over shopping in person.  It's convenient, allows you to price-compare quick and easy, and provides you with a wide selection of products and brands to choose from.  However, not everything with ecommerce shopping is positive.

From the shopper's standpoint, there is always the fear of credit card fraud, spam and identity theft from your ecommerce shopping cart.  Because of these very reasons, a number of people still avoid purchasing items online.  Is it really worth the risk of losing everything just so you can "conveniently" purchase a jacket or CD?

Another downside to ecommerce shopping is shipping prices.  Some websites do provide free shipping, but many times it is after you have purchased a certain amount.  Many times, when you add up the price of the item plus shipping and tax, your ecommerce shopping cart is more expensive than purchasing it in person.

When you purchase an item in the store, you have the ability to feel the texture of the item, measure it to make sure it accommodates your needs, or try on the clothing to assure yourself it fits.  With ecommerce shopping, you have no guarantee that the item you are purchasing will work.

Shopping cart software is obviously not the end all of eCommerce success. If fact if you have been reading some of my previous posts you will find a wealth of information about different strategies and tips to achieve success. As I understand it the criteria for shopping cart software is more then just a shopping cart, but rather a collection of marketing, software and risk taking which if done correctly will yield unimaginable success.  In this post I will discuss the importance of choosing a strong business name. Often overlooked, a business name is the first thing customers associate a business with, therefore, it’s important to take special consideration when choosing one.

It’s kind of comedic when new business owners believe they found the perfect name only to discover that the .com and / or the .net have been taken. I can’t stress this enough before you finalize a business name make sure the .com or .net is available because customers  will most likely associate a business name with a  domain name.  It’s unreasonable to expect online customers to remember two sets of names 1) your business name and 2) your domain name. Therefore, if the name you want is unavailable move on to the next step.

Determine if your name is a band or a business name. The way to decide what type of business you have is simple. Ask yourself am I selling a product made by someone else or is my product unique to me? Often times an online business provides a service like computer repair, web design, internet marketing just to mention a few. In these cases it’s ok to use a personal touch like J&F Design Solutions or Sean’s Computer Service. It’s a high probability that names like J and F design will be available in .com and .net.

If you are someone looking to sell stuff online, then the PHP shopping cart software is for you.  With the ability to build a search engine friendly online store, there is no wonder why people are using this as their ecommerce solution.  There are a number of benefits you will get out of PHP shopping cart making the offer too good to turn down.

If you are considering purchasing the PHP shopping cart software, you will find benefits right from the beginning.  Unlike some software that only accepts credit cards online the PHP software accepts credit cards and PayPal payments, making it much more convenient for you.

When purchasing with your choice of payment, you will also notice how cheap the software is for what you will get out of it.  There are multiple styles of software, each having their own benefits.  The most expensive PHP shopping cart software is the premium edition, which runs at $299.  The premium edition is the ecommerce solution as it provides all of the Shop-Script Pro features plus other exclusive advantages.

The PHP shopping cart itself comes completely ready to run.  There is no programming required to set it up, allowing you to save time in the beginning stages.  The program is user friendly and extremely easy to work with.  You will find that it is easy to design integration in any HTML editor, giving you options to build it around your business.

Unless someone has been living in a cave for the past few years, the name eBay and amzon.com should at the very least sound familiar.  It’s almost expected that anyone who works with eCommerce has at one time crossed paths with eBay or Amazon. Unfortunately, many newbie’s who purchase shopping cart software don’t realize that both eBay and/ or Amazon can be a vital launching pad for new businesses.

Anyone who has been in business knows that starting a new company whether it be a local shoe shop or a super market requires taking some risk. Usually the less risk associated with a particular business the more competition you will have since everyone wants to get a part of the pie. Switching gears to an online business gives an entrepreneur specific advantages.  I suppose one could look at it as the criteria for shopping cart software which basically means meeting a criteria with regards to research and development.

eCommerce research can be a tricky process, and if not done properly can result in the loss of time and money. Therefore, in keeping up with the holiday spirit I will go over some “secret” marketing techniques involving eBay and Amazon. Before a person purchases an eCommerce shopping cart solution I recommend opening up a 15.00 eBay store,  and selling some of your products via there system for couple of months.  During this process keep detailed records of what is selling most, and at what prices. Though this $15.00 investment you are able to really know what to feature, and what might not sell. Besides for the valuable research information you will start your business with a few customers who will hopefully be your fans.

The next step, and I stress this is optional would be to open up a merchant account with Amazon and start listing the best selling eBay  products. Depending on how the conversion works out an eCommerce store owner would be better prepared to launch a successful and most importantly profitable eCommerce business. 

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When most folks imagine Christmas it's hard not to think about the wonderful gifts associated with the holiday. For brick and mortar retail merchants, the thought of Christmas usually brings dollar signs to their eyes. The latest retail industry to profit from Christmas is online merchants who use shopping cart software to advance their online business.  If you’re an offline business owner Christmas is the best time to get started selling online. Unlike many other business’s selling online requires very little start-up and basic marketing to be profitable. I will continue to outline several methods a new business would use to increase sales though out the next few posts.

Reliable eCommerce Hosting – Take a moment and think about the following scenario: You have just spent bunch of money on purchasing a shopping cart solution, you paid developers to customize it, and on top of it all spent a few thousand dollars on a creative eCommerce friendly website design. The site you have poured your heart and soul into is finally live and ready to make you money. One problem, your hosting company is experiencing technical difficulties, and not only are visitors getting error messages, but search engine spiders can run though your site. In a period of twenty four hours you have potentially lost hundreds if not thousands of dollars in business not to mention the damage done with regards to search engine ranking. This is why I strongly recommend researching a potential hosting provider to make sure they committed to a 99.9999% uptime.

In the next eCommerce post I will dive in to some of the great off page marketing techniques I use to promote an online business so please stay tuned.

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