Could someone explain the basics please?

[Mummy with a dream]

Hi,

I am about to have an ecommerce site built, payments through paypal. I am wondering what happens with how I acknowledge orders, let customers know their item has been posted etc. Do I need a package or does paypal do all that?

I am hoping to somehow to be able to take payment when at tradeshows etc too, but again, I am clueless!

Any advice would be extremely gratefully received.

Thanks

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Your site should handle the processing, what is it being built on? i.e. what shopping cart script are you using? it all starts from there.

 

[moo-tique]

Hi,

Ideally, and usually the best option, is to build your site with an integrated ecommerce facility either built in or as an additional add on. Our website was built this way, and as part of the ecommerce package, we were easily able to manage stock, customer orders and much more.

With regards to accepting payments when your mobile (ie: at trade shows), PayPal offers virtual terminal. In a nutshell, you pay £20 per month and it allows you to manually input customer details to receive payment and take orders. You might want to question how regularly you will use this facility to whether it will warrant paying the monthly subscription.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

You can't use a paypal virtual terminal for customer present transactions though.

 

[helponbusiness]

Well, if your site as created under Prestashop or in Magento, then it is not an issue for you to collaborate it with paypal or any payment method that you can think of.

 

[Mummy with a dream]

Thank you for your replies, I have a clearer idea now

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Have you had a price for your site build yet? The paypal integration will be part of it, it is simple enough. if you are lookign for prices, make a post in the tenders area here

 

[Raw Rob]

You can't use a paypal virtual terminal for customer present transactions though.

That's what I thought, but according to this:
https://cms.paypal.com/cms_content/en_US/files/developer/VirtualTerminal_Guide_uk.pdf

"Virtual Terminal is ideal for merchants that receive offline orders by phone, fax, or in-person and want to accept credit or debit cards."

Unless that's just for the USA?

 

[LMDServicesUK]

That's what I thought, but according to this:
https://cms.paypal.com/cms_content/en_US/files/developer/VirtualTerminal_Guide_uk.pdf

"Virtual Terminal is ideal for merchants that receive offline orders by phone, fax, or in-person and want to accept credit or debit cards."

Unless that's just for the USA?

Actually both Old Welsh Guy and yourself are correct, PayPal confuse the issue by allowing customers to use the Virtual terminal for MOTO (Mail Order, Telephone Order) transactions and Face to face transactions where a Merchant does not have Chip & PIN terminal.

A conventional Merchant account provider would normally allow you to use one or the other but not both through the Virtual Terminal e.g F2f or MTO/CNP merchant account.

This is due to the different Risk profiles as presented by these different transaction types.

However whilst PayPal is good to get started with, their Customer Service is non existent and they will always favour the buyer over the seller, so great to get started, but once you are trading well (£ 500 plus a month) get a proper merchant account !

Re taking payments at shows, do not get a PayPal VTG, get a mobile micro system such as our Mobile Pay or WorldPay's Zinc system. They are both truly PAYG so you only pay when you use. Much better than paying a monthly fee for a service you do not use very often..

Hope this helps.