HOW ONLINE STORES WORK
The following elements are required to conduct eCommerce or sustain an online store:
- A product or service to sell
- A website that displays the products or provides service descriptions
- A way to accept orders, such as an online form or a shopping cart application
- A way to accept money, such as an NDMS merchant account for handling payments.
- A secure ordering page and secure internet connection. (In addition to accepting all forms of card payment, NDMS has several integrated alternative payment methods to choose from as well).
- Fulfillment capability to ship products to customers, file download access point or membership login.
- A way to accept returns
- A way to handle warranty claims, if necessary
- A way to provide customer service (often through email, on-line forms, on-line knowledge bases and FAQs, etc.)
Additionally, there are other business functions or practices that can integrate into an eCommerce offering. For example, you might want to be able to show the customer the exact status of an order, update addresses, add multiple card types, etc. These add-ons are a function of the gateway application.
Getting Paid
As your payment processor, NDMS communicates with the buyer’s bank in order to determine whether the account has enough funds for the transaction and secures an authorization for the sale, then – during the settlement process –transfers the transaction amount into your bank account.
How To Reduce Chargebacks
The following information is for website owners and providers information to build a secure and customer-friendly eCommerce web site. The following is vital to securing an internet-based merchant account. Maintaining a website that complies with the following will substantially reduce its exposure to chargebacks.
Merchant's DBA
The name of the merchant’s business name – a DBA or “doing business as” – should be prominent and obvious on the company website. Ideally, the DBA name will be at the top of every page and very clear. Also, there should be a correlation between the DBA and product(s) or services being offered. For example, if you plan on selling car tires, a good DBA name would be “Ted’s Tires”. A bad DBA name would be “Ted Smith Inc.” This name should also be the name that appears on your customers’ statements.
Customer Service Phone
A customer service telephone number is helpful for your customers to be able to call to ask questions. It should be clearly posted. Ideally, it should be on every page. It does not need to be a toll-free number.
Return or Refund
Your customers should be made aware of how a refund or return is handled by your business. How long do they have to request a refund? Will they receive their form of payment back or will it be a credit only? Is it possible to get a refund at all? Even if your items cannot be returned and you will never issue a refund, that policy must be clearly stated for your website’s visitors to see. Also, be sure to include a checkbox on your checkout page that the customer must check to acknowledge that they have read your return policy.
Delivery Methods
How long from the time an order is placed can a customer expect you to ship your product or deliver your service? How will you be shipping it? UPS? DHL? Fed Ex? Next-day air? Ground? Mule? Make sure that your customers are aware of how their order will be shipped and how long they can expect to wait for it. This will help to satiate the impatient customer.
Privacy
How do you plan to use the information that your visitors give you when they place an order? Will you use it only to complete their order? Will you use it for newsletters about your good or services? Will you sell it to a third party? Privacy is a concern of all web users. A privacy policy should be very clear and easy to read. It should be obvious and easy to find.
Product Offering
What exactly is a widget? If you’re selling them, a clear description of what they are must be present. If you can answer the following questions with a description, your product or service is a good one: Who would use this product or service? What is it called? What does it do? How do you use it? Is there a warranty? What colors are available? What is it made of? Technical specifications are always helpful to provide, when applicable.
Credit Card Processing Security
This is probably the most important checklist item. The page where a customer enters their personal information and credit card number must be secure. This means purchasing and installing a secure certificate on the web server. This will encrypt a customer’s private information so hackers cannot steal it while it is being sent to the website. Most customers won’t place an order on a website that does not have one anyway.
