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newmember
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website shopping

Post by newmember »

Hi

First of all i want to make say that i'm completly new to the entire
e-commerce thing(did i used the right term? :D )

I have a possible client that sells books and now he wants to try to sell it online.
I was asked to implement some kind of online searchable book catalog with capabilities of online purchasing from website along with giving him the cost of such a site.

Before writing this post i browsed this forum, searching and reading topics on the subject...and i continue do it right now...
for this moment a few questions came to my mind...

question 1
--------------------------------
Can someone please summarize the options i have for actually implementing online purchases...?
my own summary would look something like this:

option 1:
manually write catalog script and script that handles transaction between my website and some credit card processor.

option 2:
using some shopping card instead of writing scripts manually.

So are these really the only 2 options or i missed something?

question 2
--------------------------------
How much money credit card processor usually charge? (the cheapest and more expensive)
On what base do they charge? (like on per-month base or per-purchase base?)

question 3
--------------------------------
What is the reasonable price for building such a site?


would appreciate any advice or anything you might say...
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Burrito
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Post by Burrito »

1) the catalogue and cc processing are two different animals, if it were I doing it, I'd write both :P
2) the amount they charge really depends on which processor you decide to go with. They will have a monthly fee (usually between $10.00 and $30.00 / month) but you will also be charged a percentage of every transaction from the credit card companies themselves (usually between 2 and 5% / transaction)
3) this is totally variant on how detailed the site will be, how many products they will be selling, how robust the catalogue is etc. your best bet would probably be to set an hourly rate and then decide on how long you think it will take to complete the site, then come up with a dollar figure from that...
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Post by newmember »

more questions...
what is the connection between credit card processor and internet merchant account?

the server where i run php must be ssl enabled?
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Burrito
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Post by Burrito »

credit card processor would be someone like authorize.net. A merchant account is an account setup (usually by your bank) to allow credit card transactions to be posted to your bank account (not necessarily internet transactions, just cc transactions as a whole).

you're going to NEED a certificate to process credit cards. I am emphasizing the word NEED for a reason 8O
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Post by newmember »

why there is a need in certificate?
the process as understand it goes this way:

customer comes to website and starts buying ->
my php script calls some predefined url of processor where customer enters cc # ->
then processor handles all security/authentication matters and contacts my merchant account provider to complete the deal ->
after that processor calls back my predefined php script with status of operation->
so php script inform the customer about made deal

if i wrong please correct me...
assuming these steps are more or less correct, which of the steps requires certifacate?
also, if my host server is ssl-enabled, can it then send its own certifacate?

[EDIT]
one more question:)
Is my geographical location matters when looking for credit card processor and internet merchant account providers?
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Post by Burrito »

if you're going to be doing the processing on your site you NEED a certificate (in reality you don't, but I don't want to steer you down that path). If you're going to be passing your users to another site for the processing, then you definitely don't. The problem with using the latter, is it's tough to get a seamless integration between the cc processing page and your web site.

I assume what you mean by "send certificates" is enablling a ssl connection with the client. If indeed that is what you meant, then if your host has an ssl cert, then you should be in good shape. You wont' have to do anything fancy on your php to make your pages work correctly, just point to them over the https protocol and you're there.
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Post by newmember »

I assume what you mean by "send certificates" is enablling a ssl connection with the client
yes,that what i meant:)
it's tough to get a seamless integration between the cc processing page and your web site
that's not a problem in my case

also i don't know if you noticed but i added later another question, so i'll repeat it just in case:
Is my geographical location matters when looking for credit card processor and internet merchant account providers?

also another problem that bothers me is how much should i charge my client...
you replied previously:
3) this is totally variant on how detailed the site will be, how many products they will be selling, how robust the catalogue is etc. your best bet would probably be to set an hourly rate and then decide on how long you think it will take to complete the site, then come up with a dollar figure from that...
the problem is that by this time i can't make any meaningfull estimation...
so, i'm asking to name the price offer that you think is reasonable(based on your expierince) for such a site...for two cases:
a) using manualy coded shopping cart.
or
b) using of free available shopping cards


thanks a lot :D
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Post by Burrito »

geographical location probably will matter. I'm sure you're going to want one that has support based in your region and works on whatever unit of payment you're going to use (ie pounds or dollars or Canadian dollars etc).

if I were doing it, I'd charge $200/hr to do it, but I could get it done very quickly so my experience would mitigate the high price per hour.

I would do it from scratch. That way if I ever needed to support the application down the road, I'd know exactly what needed to be done vs fishing through someone elses code to figure out what goes where and who's on first. Just be reasonable, but dont' sell yourself short.
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Post by newmember »

thank you...
i also prefer to do things from scratch.... so it will be...

later i'll come with more questions as i start working on the project
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Post by newmember »

by the way...
what are the requirements for my host account to support this online shopping proccess?
I guess not every host is suitable for running e-commerse website...

[EDIT]
no need to answer that, i already know it:)
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