Trading online

[andrewleong]

Hi,

I have built a Joomla site and it’s ready to start selling products. The website was the first hurdle, so I am now faced with the actual logistics and trading side.

I might be making this more complicated than needed, but I have some questions about trading online as a small business.

- Do I need to set up a business banking account?
- When people make a purchase with a card how do you take the money / make the transaction?
- Do you store customers’ details? – Is this safe to do?
- In terms of postage would you just use the post office?

Any help would me much appreciated

 

[johnmark03]

yes, you have to setup the business banking account,,,
and this will help you in the transaction...

 

[andrewleong]

yes, you have to setup the business banking account,,,
and this will help you in the transaction...

Would this be expensive for small transactions

 

[markrobin]

Hello there,
If you want to make the online transaction, than you have to setup the business account. And if you want to keep secure your online business than keep the customer details. It's helps to keep safe your business reputation.

 

[TheClearance]

You can accept Paypal payments instead.


Good to keep clients records on file, incase they contact you.

 

Do I need to set up a business banking account?
No, but it is better to separate your business transactions from your supermarket shopping. Withdraw your 'drawings' to a personal account to keep it simple.


- When people make a purchase with a card how do you take the money / make the transaction?
The easiest way for new websites would be to set up paypal or google wallet to accept credit cards. Secure and simple for everyone.

- Do you store customers' details? - Is this safe to do?
Their credit card details won't be stored if you are using the above payment methods. Personal details such as addresses are in your email inbox when they make a transaction, so no need to print these off.
Put up a privacy notice on your website informing customers what will be happening to the information they provide.


- In terms of postage would you just use the post office?
Yes, but Royal Mail are changing their prices soon, so parcels above a certain size will be rising quite a bit.

 

[David_Sage Pay]

Hi, just new to this, so not sure if I'm answering your question...

Taking payments online often requires a Merchant Number, unless you are looking at Pay Pal/Google check out only. Your business bank can often help with this. Applying for a merchant number can often take a few weeks and be prepared to submit various information to assist in your application, this can include photo ID, business bank statements etc.

If you are looking at taking credit/debit card payments, look at using a Payment provider. This can reduce your PCI-DSS (payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) risk. There are plenty of Payment providers out there and some will have integration into your e-comm platform or shopping cart already, otherwise be prepared to integrate the payment pages into your website. unless you have development experience this can often be better suited to a local developer.

Storing customer details is a good idea, however storing credit card data without being PIC level 1 accredited is absolutely a no-no.

Finally I would add that I work for Sage Pay, a UK payment provider, but feel free to do some research and see what meets your needs. Happy to provide any further advice I can if needed.

 

[andrewleong]

Do I need to set up a business banking account?
No, but it is better to separate your business transactions from your supermarket shopping. Withdraw your 'drawings' to a personal account to keep it simple.


- When people make a purchase with a card how do you take the money / make the transaction?
The easiest way for new websites would be to set up paypal or google wallet to accept credit cards. Secure and simple for everyone.

- Do you store customers’ details? – Is this safe to do?
Their credit card details won't be stored if you are using the above payment methods. Personal details such as addresses are in your email inbox when they make a transaction, so no need to print these off.
Put up a privacy notice on your website informing customers what will be happening to the information they provide.


- In terms of postage would you just use the post office?
Yes, but Royal Mail are changing their prices soon, so parcels above a certain size will be rising quite a bit.

Great reply !!! Very helpful thank you

 

[andrewleong]

Hi, just new to this, so not sure if I'm answering your question...

Taking payments online often requires a Merchant Number, unless you are looking at Pay Pal/Google check out only. Your business bank can often help with this. Applying for a merchant number can often take a few weeks and be prepared to submit various information to assist in your application, this can include photo ID, business bank statements etc.

If you are looking at taking credit/debit card payments, look at using a Payment provider. This can reduce your PCI-DSS (payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) risk. There are plenty of Payment providers out there and some will have integration into your e-comm platform or shopping cart already, otherwise be prepared to integrate the payment pages into your website. unless you have development experience this can often be better suited to a local developer.

Storing customer details is a good idea, however storing credit card data without being PIC level 1 accredited is absolutely a no-no.

Finally I would add that I work for Sage Pay, a UK payment provider, but feel free to do some research and see what meets your needs. Happy to provide any further advice I can if needed.

Cheers David