Accept Credit Cards Online
by Tim Lesmeister
Accept Credit Cards Online
by Tim Lesmeister
Many outdoor communicators find they need to sell something to make a decent buck. It might be a book or a DVD, a product they developed or a membership to an organization. Fortunately, the Internet and the ability to take a credit card over it in a secure environment make life easy.
Here’s how it works: You or a Web designer develop a website to showcase the product or products you wish to sell. Do not let the designer purchase the Web address. Buy the address yourself to avoid hassles if you decide at some point to shift the site to another provider.
Have the Web developer – or you – add a button for a shopping cart. The button I use on my sites is from PAYPAL (www.paypal.com). They make it very easy for low-volume merchants like myself to take money from a buyer using any credit card. Many people think the hard part is the setting up a merchant account to use credit cards. It is problematic if you go through a bank but are a low volume merchant because the cost for a card machine and the maintenance of the accounts is expensive. That’s why using an online service like PAYPAL is the solution. You can sell just 10 items a year and only pay a percentage when money changes hands. Other services like PAYPAL exist. Do some research then pick the one that suits you best.
After that…post your website and start selling! It is that simple.
Some websites where you can register Web names.
www.networksolutions.com
www.godaddy.com
www.directnic.com
www.register.com