|
Right, what's first? - Company type and bank account
If you are not set-up in business yet you will
first need to decide what type of company you will
be. Either Limited etc. or sole trader. The main
reason for this is because it is dependent on what
type of bank account you can use to accept
payments. If Limited, PLC etc. you will need
to have a business bank account set-up. If on the
other hand you are a sole trader you can use a personal
bank account. The bank accounts are where you want
the money to be paid into from each transaction.
You can use your current bank account or you can
simply set one up when you are
ready to start trading online.
If, for whatever reason, you are wanting to channel
your online
transactions into say two different bank accounts,
you would need to set-up
a different merchant account for each and use
the relevant account depending on where you wanted
the money to go. Say for example you want the money
taken from your TV sales to go into your NatWest
bank account and the money taken for DVD sales into
another NatWest account or even a totally
different bank such as Lloyds TSB - you will need
to set-up a
different merchant account for each bank.
Please note that if you decide to go down the sole
trader route and then become Limited at a later
date, you will have to re-apply
for this service as you would have become a
new legal entity.
Secondly you need the ability to get
paid
You need the ability for visitors to your website
to actually pay you. To be able to actually accept
credit and debit card payments you need what
is called a 'Merchant
Account' - A Merchant Account is an account
opened through a bank that is a member of the Visa,
MasterCard, or other credit card network which allows
merchants to accept credit cards from purchasers.
The funds are then transferred electronically to
your bank account.
So, which of the four accounts you
provide should I use?
This depends largely on how you operate your business
and what your priorities are i.e. cash flow, when
you want to get paid, type of business etc.
Our Merchant
Account and Gateway Solution 1 Account
offers a 2.99% transaction charge with
a £20 monthly fee and £75 set-up. However
even though you are paid (settled) weekly, 5 days
in arrears there is a 5% rolling reserve (The rolling
reserve holds 5% of total transactions, over the
previous six month period). This means that even
though you are paying less per transaction and in
monthly fees and will be getting settled quickly,
you won't be getting all your money.
Now, our Merchant
Account and Gateway Solution 2 Account has
a slightly more expensive transaction charge at
3.3%. However it has a lower monthly fee at £15
and a £75 set-up fee. You are paid the full
amount when you get settled, however it is 28 days
in arrears.
Our third account, the High-Risk
Merchant Account + Gateway, is mainly for high
risk businesses. This has a transaction charge of
4.4%, monthly fee of £15 and a set-up of £200.
Finally our Adult
Merchant Account and Gateway is, as you can
guess, for Adult related businesses. We don't mean
adult toys etc. (you can use our Solution 1 Account
for this) we mean pornography, escort agencies etc.
As you can imagine this is a very high-risk industry
so therefore the transaction charges are higher
than any other account. These start from 5% and
go up to 8% per transaction.
Right, all that's done. What now?
You've set-up your business, arranged a bank account
and worked out which account is best... what now?
Ifd you are wanting to sell via a website you now
need to set-up your website
and shopping cart
and get your products out there to sell. If, on
the other hand, you will be taking
payment over the phone
instead (or as well as) then you can start to use
the Virtual Terminal
or VPOS system
straight away.
What is a shopping cart?
A shopping cart
is a piece of software that produces a product inventory
and shopping mechanism for your shoppers to view
and buy your products online. It works on the principle
of placing products from a catalogue into a basket,
then going to a checkout to pay for the goods. (Similar
model to a supermarket).
Do I need an ecommerce shopping cart?
This is dependent on the number of products that
you are intending to sell. If you have just 1 or
2 products with fixed prices, and standard shipping
rates you could design your site so you only use
our payment secure process to take the orders online.
If on the other hand, you are selling multiple products
with complex pricing and shipping costs we strongly
recommend the use of
a shopping cart. This will enable you create
a structured product inventory which looks professional
and is fully integrated with our payment process.
My website is now built and integrated.
Is there anything else I need to remember?
What about marketing your
website and search engine optimisation?
Many companies go online and think by doing so
they will make money over night and their business
will become successful. Well unfortunately this
just isn't true and many simply get lost in cyberspace!
Just like a normal high street business you need
to market your site
and work hard at turning your
online venture into a successful enterprise
making thousands rather than hundreds of pounds
per month.
Because of this we have put
together a rough guide to marketing your web
site.
What is Search Engine Optimisation
(SEO)?
At present statistics show that 85 percent of all
user traffic comes from the main search engines
this means 85 percent of 1 billion Internet users
worldwide (including more than 35 million in the
UK). A user base that is growing all the time. There
are over 6 billion websites competing for top spots
on the search engines, for this search engine optimisation
is needed.
SEO (search engine optimisation) is one of the
most essential factors in your websites' success.
Search engine optimisation is the procedure of selecting
and positioning your website's targeted 'keywords'
and 'key phrases' which are used as part of a web
search by your potential customers to ensure that
your site is placed high on the search engine results.
Is that it?
One more word of warning...
When you first get a website
you will probably spend time working out what kind
to get. Should it be perfectly designed and aesthetically
appealing or functional and attention grabbing?
You will spend hours poring over the words for the
home page, deciding exactly what shade of blue to
use and working out the finer details of navigation.
Probably for the first few months you will eagerly
post new client stories and special offers but,
as the novelty wears off, so will your enthusiasm.
If you don't continue to update your website
then the message you give out to prospective and
existing customers may no longer be the one you
want to give out.
In a few months take a good hard look at your site.
Are there news stories that are out of date? Are
your company contact details up to date and correct?
Does your website really reflect who you are today?
If any of these ring a bell then it really is time
you revisited your website. A few years ago it was
fine to not have a website, now it's the first port
of call for most business customers to check on
information about your company. Poor design or inaccurate
information can mean the difference between a new
client or no client.
If you decide to sell online, we wish you every
success and hope that you come to us for all your
eBusiness needs.
............................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Related Pages
|