E-Commerce & Merchant Services

Electronic commerce, or e-commerce, refers to a general set of services associated with online payments, shopping carts, online stores, and online credit card processing. We have a vast amount of experience designing e-commerce web sites for a variety of industries.

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E-Commerce

With your typical e-commerce enabled web site, customers can browse through your store and view products organized by different categories. Products are usually displayed in a list of results, and then more product details are shown when the user clicks on a product in the list. The product listing contains all the details of the product including a photograph, full description, prices, and options.

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Shopping Carts

Users can add an item to their shopping cart, by clicking on the appropriate button. Once in the cart, users can change the quantity or remove unwanted items from the cart. Clicking on the checkout button takes the user to a secure online order form where the billing, shipping, and payment information is collected.

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Online Stores

Online stores usually contain all the features above, plus additional features that allow you to process orders, manage customers, and update the products in your store.

Such features may include user features such as the ability to search through the online store, or the ability to group products by manufacturer, popularity, or price. Users may be able to create a wish list, or even write reviews about a product. Or the store can include features that allow the customer to log into their account to check the status of an order, or to view their order history.

During checkout, the online store collects all customer information, and then calculates the tax and shipping costs. Taxes can be set for your local region. Shipping costs can be calculated via live rate look ups from the major carriers (FedEx, UPS, USPS, etc). The credit card is then processed in real time, and the proceeds are automatically deposited into your merchant bank account.

Once an order is placed, it is saved in a backend order database. This information can be accessed via a secure login where you can review the order or update its status. Some online stores also include the ability to easily email all the customers in your order database.

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Credit Card Payments

E-commerce systems usually include the ability to accept credit card payments online. Once you have your merchant bank account setup, we can help you choose an online credit card processor. We can then integrate that processor into your web site, so that you can accept payments online. We can also help you install the necessary Secure Server Certificate (SSL) on your web site.