Multiple e-commerce sites run by one company?

[19ninety]

I run a tiny Ltd company with an e-commerce site. Would there be any issues if I set up a second e-commerce site to specifically market one product, but still had all the payments going to the same bank and PayPal accounts?

 

[finleydesign]

Hi, No as long as the content etc is unique, shouldn't be any issues, you may need to register a separate account on paypal, as the return URL would be set to go back to the other website URL if that makes sense

 

[philmc1]

Hi, in short many companies do this as many companies sell a variety of products to different markets. From a technical point of view you may have to setup a 2nd domain name, and instance of your ecommerce software etc. As most payment gateways are related to the site it operates on you will almost certainly need extra gateways and licenses for the software itself. So while your costs will increase (maybe not double), your workload will also certainly increase managing2 sites, keywords etc .
I would suggest that you explore keeping everything on 1 site and use product categories, specific product pages etc to list everything from same site (Keep It Simple S)

 

[arnydnxluk]

Hi, No as long as the content etc is unique, shouldn't be any issues, you may need to register a separate account on paypal, as the return URL would be set to go back to the other website URL if that makes sense

This can be set per-website using the "notify_url" parameter when redirecting to PayPal's checkout. So hopefully not an issue but it does of course depend on the software you're using unless you have developed your own website.

 

[Virtual Reality Hire]

Yes you can. You can have as many sites as you like to target your different customers. You should also be able to use the same Paypal account for all of them.

 

[19ninety]

Hi, No as long as the content etc is unique, shouldn't be any issues, you may need to register a separate account on paypal, as the return URL would be set to go back to the other website URL if that makes sense

I don't have a return URL set in PayPal, seems that's handled by the payment gateway in OpenCart (Braintree). Only problem with a second PayPal account is possibly needing a second bank account?

Hi, in short many companies do this as many companies sell a variety of products to different markets. From a technical point of view you may have to setup a 2nd domain name, and instance of your ecommerce software etc. As most payment gateways are related to the site it operates on you will almost certainly need extra gateways and licenses for the software itself. So while your costs will increase (maybe not double), your workload will also certainly increase managing2 sites, keywords etc .
I would suggest that you explore keeping everything on 1 site and use product categories, specific product pages etc to list everything from same site (Keep It Simple S)

As the second site would be for a single product it would be a much simpler design with a PayPal check out rather than built on full e-commerce platform like OpenCart.
Second domain isnt an issue, cheap enough, and the reason I'm thinking about a separate site for this one product is SEO advantage. Product name for domain name, single product on the site so easier SEO, could potentially be the UK distributor too ... it's a lot of £££'s to raise though for a one man band.

Thinking about it (keeping it simple )... I could make a product.co.uk website with all the product info, sales pitch, strong SEO, then link back to my e-commerce site to purchase... that might be less hassle.

 

[WebDesires]

Hi, No as long as the content etc is unique, shouldn't be any issues, you may need to register a separate account on paypal, as the return URL would be set to go back to the other website URL if that makes sense

This is incorrect, you can setup all IPN and return urls through your IPN scripts, and use one paypal account on as many sites as you have.

 

[kelvin black]

I think you probably needa to set up the CRM platform for multi-commerce website that to gather all duplicate information, customers, order into a central system with payment gateway feature, like paypal. Remind that the CRM system should integrated with both online platform. My company has subscribing CloudSoft as e-commerce solution

 

[webhostuk]

keep a unique URL different from both website and make them both pay at a single point.. Its possible we do it for our UK and US Website with single paypal account and bank account.

 

[antropy]

Would there be any issues if I set up a second e-commerce site to specifically market one product, but still had all the payments going to the same bank and PayPal accounts?

You could set up a 2nd PayPal account and then from there you could pay in to just 1 bank account easily enough.

 

[Karl Ciz]

We have clients with 10 or more sites all linked to the multi-channel system - the idea of having more than one website is an absolute must if your multichannel system will allow easy installation - that way you can link as many as you wish, all running from the same stock control system. Managing them individually can be hard work, Our clients seem to mostly have at least a couple of sites linked, many because they are "specialist" sites which attract more organic traffic than general sales sites. It is also worth considering eBay and Amazon as legitimate sales channels for your website stocks. They are sales platforms but to get a LOT of traffic that you might not see through the websites you have - a good ecommerce policy would always look to have your eggs in more than one basket!

 

[arnydnxluk]

You could set up a 2nd PayPal account and then from there you could pay in to just 1 bank account easily enough.

PayPal only allow one account per legal entity and one PayPal account per bank account. If you ignore the rules and risk having both accounts frozen, you still won't be able to set up a new PayPal account using the same bank details (unless something has changed recently).

There's no issue with taking payments from multiple websites through one PayPal account though, after all it's the same company which owns the websites.

 

[19ninety]

many because they are "specialist" sites which attract more organic traffic than general sales sites.

This is what I'm planning to do and for the same reason.
I'm already on ebay, 50% less profit on most products but almost guaranteed sales, it's not the way forwards - high volume low profit. Tested out amazon, the established sellers get the spot light, didn't make any sales. So I would prefer to try and drive traffic to my own online shop where at worst I loose 3.4% to PayPal.

Question about a specialist sites domain name, say I sell a product called the "Sucky Hoover" made by XYZ Appliances. Their website is xyzappliances.com. I want to make a website to promote the hoover I sell which directs buyers to my e-comm site, can I call my website suckyhoovers.co.uk (as long as it's clear I'm not pretending to be XYZ Appliances)?

 

[arnydnxluk]

Question about a specialist sites domain name, say I sell a product called the "Sucky Hoover" made by XYZ Appliances. Their website is xyzappliances.com. I want to make a website to promote the hoover I sell which directs buyers to my e-comm site, can I call my website suckyhoovers.co.uk (as long as it's clear I'm not pretending to be XYZ Appliances)?

It depends if they have the product name trademarked and what their policy is in relation to using that trademark. At minimum they most likely won't be happy about it. I'd either get explicit permission or go with a generic domain such as besthoovers.co.uk, which could work out better for you anyway depending on specific product.

Might be worth posting in the legal forum for better advice on this one!

(Ironic we're discussing this using the word "Hoover" which is technically a brand name itself...)

 

[Nochexman]

Yes, you can do it. However, if you start taking payments into one account through different websites, and have not notified your payment service, don't be surprised if your account is closed. The assumption will be that the second site is doing something wrong and that the primary site is the cover for the illegitimate activity!

 

[Idosell Shop]

Hi, in short many companies do this as many companies sell a variety of products to different markets. From a technical point of view you may have to setup a 2nd domain name, and instance of your ecommerce software etc. As most payment gateways are related to the site it operates on you will almost certainly need extra gateways and licenses for the software itself. So while your costs will increase (maybe not double), your workload will also certainly increase managing2 sites, keywords etc .
I would suggest that you explore keeping everything on 1 site and use product categories, specific product pages etc to list everything from same site (Keep It Simple S)

It is fairly simple, all you need is the platform which lets you manage many stores within one administration panel. It does not really matter if you will have one or many accounts, even automated mailing, invoice details can be separated. Before you will do so please check if your service providers let you do so (payments, couriers etc.).