Electronic Commerce is collecting money on the internet. You have so many choices it's hard to comprehend a real comparison, so most often the least-expensive solution wins. We're here to guide you through this decision-making process so that in the end you'll get what you were looking for in the first place - collecting THE MOST money on the internet.

The Basics:

Essentially, you need the following to perform e-commerce:

1. A Website with SSL (secure, 128-bit encrypted) pathways
2. An SSL Certificate which authenticates ownership of your own website and indicates that a 3rd party has investigated your SSL pathways and found them safe
3. A Bank to take the payments!
4. An Internet Merchant Account to facilitate the electronic transfer of funds between your customer and your bank
5. A web interface (form) that allows customers to describe their purchase and financial information. The interface must send this information to the Merchant Account which verifies the customer's account and returns an authorization to the website interface to complete the sale. The interface then provides the customer with a receipt both on the website and through e-mail. Meanwhile the Merchant Account contacts the bank with the transfer information and awaits the actual payment upon which the Merchant Account finalizes the transaction and notifies you that the sale is complete.

You can skirt some of these steps by using 3rd-Party services that allow you to use their SSL pathway, certificate, bank, merchant or interface - but while the setup is easier and the startup costs are lower you'll still feel the bite of per-transaction costs and your customers will experience the confusion of being taken away from your website to make their transaction. Most website hosting solutions offer some kind of 'quick' shopping cart and tout a merchant interface, a one-size fits all solution that is a maze of tax questions and still requires you to set up the bank and merchant on your own. You can try services like PayPal and find out your customers were 'this close' to buying and then they went to the other website that allowed them to do things more quickly.

We have a better idea - Custom Programming

...and support throughout the setup process. Behind the scenes all of our e-commerce programming packages stand on the same platform and are thereby expandable; but to fit your budget and your particular requirements we tailor the system to your specifications. In the end you get the best cost-effectiveness ratio and your customers are presented with the ease of a professionally developed web interface. The cost of each system depends on the specifics of the program, but overall we develop on three levels:

Basic E-Commerce Many times your needs are very limited; you have one or a few products that will never change and you'd like people to be able to buy them. Or you have an event or class that you'd like people to be able to sign up for. We get your website organized, create the proper stages toward the interface and connect you up to your merchant and your costs tend to be between $500 and $1,000.

Comprehensive E-Commerce You have a online store! Your products change, your prices change, the overall website needs to reflect the addition of new lines of products and services and you need control over it all. Perhaps you want to offer discounts and allow users to sign up for bargains, perhaps you have specials or whole lines of sale products 'while supplies last.' We build through and through to give you everything you need and let the program add up all the customer's costs and create methods for you to fulfill the orders quickly and precisely. These beautiful custom systems range from $2,500 to $5,000.

Expanded E-Commerce You have a store, and it's not just online! You need someone to provide everything we've discussed in the Comprehensive E-System but everything there needs to reflect what is happening on the physical isles - when a price changes here it has to change there and it can't be too complicated or you'll never get it all done. We love this kind of challenge and hope you'll call so we can discuss different ways we can approach the solution.

When you're ready to start accepting payments online - call The Designsmith first!