If you’re trying to sell physical products then you’ll definitely need an eCommerce hosting account. If you want to sell digital products, an eCommerce account would help but is not absolutely necessary.

Do I Need eCommerce Hosting to Sell my Product?

The answer to this question depends upon what you’re selling, and how much you plan on selling. If you are selling actual products that need to be shipped to an address, then having a eCommerce hosting account linked to a merchant account would be optimally. If you are selling a small amount of physical products and you do not have a large product catalog, then you could settle for a regular hosting account, and accept payments via a payment processor such as PayPal or AlertPay. On the other hand, if you’re selling digital products such as eBooks or down-loadable software then the choice is entirely up to you. Once again, the more products you are trying to sell, the more beneficial it would be for you to have an eCommerce hosting account.

How Can an eCommerce Hosting Account Help You?

Ecommerce hosting accounts do several things that contribute to the overall success and organization of your online business. Perhaps the most important feature offered by an eCommerce hosting account would be the amount of server resources you’re given, and the per-installed software that helps you build product catalogs and accept orders easily. One such software that no serious internet merchant should go without is a shopping cart. If you have ever shopped online then you have probably used a shopping cart, maybe without even realizing it. The shopping cart is simply the application that lets users buy several products at once and conduct a variety of other interactive activities within your web site.

Safely Selling Digital Files

If you’re selling digital files then you need to be concerned about people sharing your digital files online. One of the ways people share digital files easily is by linking people to the download page that you supply upon payment. To protect yourself from such an occurrence you need to find a way to lock the file so that only one person can download it. You can do this by signing up for eJunkie, which will let you host your digital products online without having to worry about more than one person downloading the file. When a person submits payment to your eJunkie account they are automatically taken to a secured page that only works for one user.

You have two options concerning merchant accounts; paid or free. Obviously a paid merchant account would be optimal. However if you are unable to meet the requirements of a paid merchant account, then you may need to apply for a free merchant account instead. Before you settle for a free merchant account. There are some factors that should be considered.

Are Free Merchant Accounts Free?

Although there is no setup or approval fee associated with free merchant accounts, it is important to note that there are transaction fees, and these fees are generally higher than those associated with paid merchant accounts. Therefore, while these services are convenient for people who are unable to get a paid merchant account, in the long run they are anything but free. It should also be noted that most free merchant account providers will only offer their services to be people that sell products. Meaning you cannot sell services using a free merchant account. You may also need to adhere to certain stipulations and regulations. For example, you may be required sell a certain amount within a certain time period to keep your merchant account active.

Free Merchant Account Policies

Free merchant account providers are used to dealing with people that may have bad credit or may be considered untrustworthy by paid merchant services. Therefore it is deemed necessary to impose stricter policies to protect themselves an customers from fraudulent activity. These policies are very important because they provide basis to keep your funds in reserve for a certain period of time to prevent fraud on your behalf.

This means you will have to wait longer for your funds, and in some cases the merchant account provider may issue refunds to unsatisfied customers without your consent. This has been a problem for many honest merchants, because scam artists know that free merchant account providers are quick to issue refunds no question asked. In many cases the scam artist will receive the products and then receive the refund after they have already received the order items! This is why it is crucial to be sure you are familiar with the policies of your merchant account before hand, so you can take the necessary precautions to protect yourself from fraud.

When Should You Use a Free Merchant Account?

There are many reasons why one would consider using a free merchant account. The most obvious reason being inability to get accepted for a paid merchant account. After all, a free merchant account is better than no merchant account! Even free merchant accounts give you the ability to calculate taxes, shipping charges, and to accept credit card payments.

Twitter and Angels

Headed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and backed by several angels including Khosla Ventures, the SquareUp service provides a swiping dongle device that connects to the audio outlet of a cell phone.  Currently the only device supported is the iPhone but plans are in place to integrate the dongle with the Android and Blackberry devices.  Ultimately, SquareUp intends on having the device work with just about every major mobile media device available.

How-to

To complete a financial transaction, the SquareUp user simply connects the dongle to their iPhone, swipes the customer’s credit card, requests a signature from the customer via the touchscreen, and the payment is made instantaneously.  Customers may also request receipts at their e-mail address.

As the service is being beta tested for the moment, very few details have been released.  It has been speculated that there are no long-term contracts to have to contend with and no ongoing monthly fees.  As such, it would be safe to assume there are transaction fees and, in order to compete with such services as PayPal, these fees would need to be standard or lower.

Internet Feedback

The feedback on this new service has been rather mixed.  As SquareUp has played close to the chest in as far as information being released, curious Internet users have only been able to guess on what the service will provide and what the overall cost will be.  Some have expressed concern over the security of the service.  Skimming programs are plentiful when it comes to lifting banking information off of cell phones and with the banking industry being hit hard enough lately as it is, yet another avenue for fraud may not be welcomed with open arms.

Another concern expressed by Jon Paisner, Yankee Group senior analyst, is that many potential users may not quickly adopt the service due to yet another device one needs to carry around.  Additionally, there is the concern that the audio jack in most mobile media devices is not designed for repetitive use in this manner and may be damaged with long-term use.

Overall

The overall feedback on the SquareUp service is that it may be a useful product for niche businesses – single style transactions (traveling sales), freelance work, and other means where mobile payment may be required.  Most businesses that conduct many daily transactions would not benefit from using SquareUp.  However, as stated, not a lot of information has been released by the company and the planned public release date does not occur until sometime in 2010.  The best stance to take at the moment is to keep a watchful eye on SquareUp and see what unfolds.

Plans

3dCart gives its customers five different account plan to choose from.  At $19.99 per month, the Mini allows for 50 products, 1 gigabyte of bandwidth and gives customers a $25 credit to use for advertising on Google.  Stepping up one package will give you the Starter which allows for 100 products, 2 gigabytes of bandwidth and comes with a $50 Google ad credit, all for $35.99 per month.  At the top end of the scale is the Standard Plus package.  For $99.99 each month you are allowed an unlimited number of products, 15 gigabytes of bandwidth, a $75 Google ad credit and the account includes all available plug-ins that are offered by 3dCart.  All accounts are subject to a $99 setup fee.

Regardless of which plan you choose, all accounts come with UPS, FedEx, USPS and CA Post integration, built-in SEO tools, Google Checkout, Paypal and Amazon Payments and are all installed with an easy-to-use control panel.

A bonus is the available plug-ins that 3dCart offers.  You can choose from a live chat option, enhanced statistics and ROI (Return On Investment) tracking.

Store Administration

Upon initially logging into the store administration area, you are presented with a “Sales by Day” graph, an activity profile/sales history chart and information with regard to the amount of space used, database usage and bandwidth usage.

Menuing to the left side of the panel includes extensive order, product and customer information.  Access to marketing tools, reports, available plug-ins and even a menu section for your own personal shortcuts are all included in this left-hand menu as well.  Across the top of the admin area you’ll find a link to view your store, a file manager, customer relationship management (CRM), a statistics link and more.

Store Front

Each account includes a professionally designed web site including a home page, product pages and unlimited content pages.  Adding your own company logo and customizing the colors of the design are a breeze and you can opt to switch out the design of your store by simply browsing the free templates that 3dCart offers.  Optionally the company offers professional design help and offers its customers several design packages to meet your business’ budget.

Conclusion

3dCart offers a great online ecommerce deal and a nice range of solutions to choose from in both plans and design.  Want to try it out with no obligation?  No problem.  3DCart is currently offering a trail option for 30 days – no credit card needed and you are given instant access.  If after 30 days you are not convinced it’s the right product for you and your business, simply cancel and walk away.  Not a bad deal for a really easy to use and fantastic online product.

Get set with a business account

The very first thing that must be done is setting up a business account with PayPal.  To do this, log into PayPal under your personal account, click on “Upgrade Account” (located in the “Enhance Your Account” box), select “Upgrade Now,” choose Business account and then press continue.  You will need to fill out your business information at this point, select continue and you will be set as a business account.

Choosing the right solution

Once your business account is all set, it’s a matter of choosing which PayPal solution works best for your web site.  When looking under “Merchant Services,” you will see four basic choices – a “Buy Now” button, an “Add to Cart” button, an invoice solution and a virtual terminal solution.  All of these choices are geared to specific levels of e-commerce.

Simple site

If you have a very simple site that has just a few items for sale, your best option is the “Buy Now” Button.  With this option selected, you select what you are selling (product, service, subscription, etc.), whether you wish to allow your customers the option of purchasing more than one item (this will enable the “Add to Cart” button), the name of the product or service and an assigned identification number (optional).  You’ll also enter the price of the item, shipping options, and tax information.  A very nice additional option to the button is being able to customize the button.  You can opt to add in a drop-down menu or a text field.  While this is one of the simplest options available on PayPal, don’t think it’s without some extra features.  You can track your inventory and even add in a special instructions area for your customers.  All in all, the “Buy Now” button is very simple and very handy.

Service-oriented site

For those online businesses that specialize in services rather than products, the invoice solution is the best choice.  Using either a brand new standard template or one that you have created and saved, you’ll be presented with a page allowing you to enter your business information, your customer’s information and all your invoice information.  The page is very easy to use and is outlined much like a regular paper invoice.  There are columns set in place for quantity, item Ids, description and unit price.  You can also choose whether or not specific items are taxable.  Add in your shipping and tax percentage and you have a completed invoice that PayPal will automatically email for you.  PayPal’s invoice solution takes the headache out of written invoices.

More robust solution

Lastly, if you have a rather extensive site with many products or services, you’re best to choose PayPal’s virtual terminal solution.  The virtual terminal works just like the credit card swipe machines used at retail stores.  You will need to sign up for the service and once in place, it’s a matter of allowing your customers to order by phone, fax or mail with their credit card.  Once you have received the order, you input the order information into the PayPal virtual terminal.  PayPal does all the work behind the transaction, ensures you are paid and the customer is charged appropriately.  There are fees involved but they are the same as the regular per-transaction prices charged for any major credit card.

Conclusion

It can be a confusing and daunting task to try to mesh together e-commerce solutions and your online web site.  Fortunately, PayPal has a few services available to make that task a much easier one.  You can spend more time adding products and services to your site and less time worrying about the payment process.