Shopping cart questions

[naschell]

Hi, first let me apologize if this has been asked before.

I have a couple of questions that I need help with.

I'm looking for a shopping chart system that allows me to do the card processing myself, I use a company called The Square. I would have to manually enter the info, but the charge shows up on the customers card as sqcommissionedcredentials. So it's worth the added step on my end.

Is there a way to accept PayPal and credit card as forms of payment? I ask this because for the past several years I have only been doing PayPal sales through my site and I feel it is long over due to evolve the site.

Is there anyway to do shipping costs that are based on destination? I ask this one because I haven't been able to change the cost of shipping though PayPal which is very odd to me.

I know it's a lot of info I'm seeking. This year my company is going through a growth spurt, we do business online and at conventions, we recently have been accepted to one of the largest on the east coast. We are constantly evolving our off line presence so I felt it was time to evolve our website.

[Vasili]

Re: Shopping cart questions

This should be useful to review >> Comparing Shopping Carts: Fantastico + Magento

There is no cart that allows "offline processing" (which is essentially collecting the information for you to manually process it) so to integrate using Squared. The processer you are using (Squared.com) is completely 'stand-alone' and not able to be integrated into another system: it was designed to be a tool to enable basic processing only, and to comply with the laws by requiring simple User interfacing. Re-read the Terms of Squared ... there will be specific outlines of allowed Use with regard to "offline processing" and/or "customer not present" that defines your ability to process transactions.

Almost every cart system allows you to choose between processors: Paypal, or another choice that will necessitate using a gateway in addition to the specific API code access so the information is both transferred securely and processed to your particular account. The differences are simply that PayPal not only takes the customer to their page/site to process in a secured environment before returning them to the originating site (your website), and other credit card processors that process information and complete transactions entirely via the scripting of the cart all on your page/site.

PayPal: nothing more than an account is required; payments made on the PayPal secured site

Credit Card Processor: API coding for integration; Gateway required, for secure information transmission (often available from processor); requires by law a SSL Cert, to provide a secure encrypted page/website to collect, process information
> Check with your Business banker for what options they offer for [online] credit card processing. Usually a monthly charge is involved, and any services they offer are based on the inspection of your website (Privacy Policy, Transaction Policy, SSL Cert installed, etc.).
> An interesting option is to use QuickBooks/Intuit for your Business Bookkeeping, as they not only have the ability to integrate online eCommerce seamlessly with your cart with direct Invoicing included, but they also offer a Credit Card Processing Account as well.

Shipping: most carts allow a specially configured Plug-in/Add-On that handles shipping options, and UPS especially has the destination-based charges Plug-in. You will need to locate and install the particular Plug-in for whichever cart you choose (Zen, osCommerce, Magento, etc.).

Each cart has instructions and simple configuration Admin Dashboards to walk you through setup for each option.
If you need specific assistance with any particular Cart, Add-on, or element, you need to find it directly from that Cart's Support Community and not from these VodaTalk Forums.


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Keep in mind one of the more 'versatile' options of PayPal and QuickBooks that allow you to continue to use a BlueVoda created website without having to integrate API/coding to process Credit Cards: PayPal and QuickBooks both allow you to create and send to prospective customers an 'Invoice' that they can then pay using the same system used to generate and send the invoice itself. This allows you to create on your BlueVoda website a "Purchase Request" using a simple email FORM (essentially a regular email especially configured per item, per category, etc. asking that this item be processed) which allows you to respond to by sending out a specific Invoice with the item and other charges on it the customer can pay and process securely, and upon notification of successful processing, you can then ship out the item knowing it is properly "pre-paid."

[naschell]

Re: Shopping cart questions

Well that a bummer about not being able to use the square for the internet sales, but it makes sense. Lots of useful info. Thanks!

Also Vasili, you should have the sub title of Resident Yoda. You are a wealth of knowledge. If I have any other questions I'll be sure to shoot them your way.