The primary goal of your online store is to sell products and services online. That being said, you are certain that your website will contain a product catalogue, product/service images, and product description or details. However, product related elements are not just the things that your website should contain. Although selling is your main purpose, you still need to put up other contents to guide your customers in using your e-Commerce site. Read on this article and get to know the other important pages, aside from your product catalogue, that your site should have.

1. About Us
The About Us page of your site allows your customers to learn more about you and your products and services. Unlike the brick-and-mortar type of store, an e-Commerce site will not involve physical or face-to-face interaction with customers. Thus, the information on the About Us page should give online shoppers the assurance that you are indeed a legitimate seller and that you can provide their needs. In writing the content of the About Us page, it is important to consider the tone of your content. Assess if you should be using the first or third-person. The first person (“I am” or “We are”) will give a more personal or conversational feel while the third person (“The company”) will sound more corporate. Your About Us page may also display links to your social media profiles and blog as well as to the lists of your company or business’ awards and recognitions. Remember to keep your contents simple, concise, up to date, and truthful.

2. Frequently Asked Questions
The Frequently Asked Questions or FAQ page is a customer service tool that contains the most common questions asked by your site viewers and the appropriate answers to those questions. With a well-written FAQ page, you’ll save time and effort answering customers’ inquiries. In writing your FAQs, you may opt to group your questions into categories like company and product information, sales, shipping, etc. This will help your customers quickly locate the answers to their queries. Keep your answers to the questions as clear, precise, and direct to the point as possible.

3. Website Policy
Some of the policies included in an online store are Shipping Information, Promo and Discount Policies, Privacy Policy, and Terms of Use. The Shipping Information should tell your clients about how their products will be delivered and what will happen in case of shipping problems. Promo and Discount Policies should clearly specify the terms and conditions of a promo or discount. Privacy Policy is a document that explains how you handle the information that your customers provide you while the Terms of Use specifies how your site viewers may or may not use the contents of your website.

These are important information for both the online seller and the customers. Policy pages should give your clients a clear understanding of the legal conditions, procedures, restrictions, limitations, and responsibilities that apply for a certain promo, feature, or service of your online store. Although these policies cover legal conditions, it is important to keep them clear, concise, and easy to understand.

4. Sitemap
The Sitemap serves as a quick overview of the structure and content of your site. This is an organized list of all the pages found on your site and their corresponding links. The Sitemap will help your customers easily navigate your site and locate the pages that they may be interested in. Aside from navigation purposes, Sitemaps also aid in search engine optimization. Since the Sitemap contains links to the pages of your site, you have a greater chance of having all your pages included in the search engine database.

5. Contact Us
The Contact Us page is a tool that you use to connect with your customers, answer their questions and give them feedback. It is an important page that displays your contact information -phone and fax numbers, office/store address, and email address. The Contact Us page may also contain a feedback form that your customers can fill up with their name, contact details, and inquiry. To encourage customer to contact you for their concerns, you may offer a variety of ways by which they can reach you. Remember to give your feedback right away or as soon as you can.

Aside from the product pages on your site, the five items mentioned above are the other pages that you should consider before launching your online store. They may not directly sell products unlike the product catalogue but they will definitely add plus points for your online shop’s customer service, visitor-to-customer conversion, reliability, and credibility.

You know for sure that the look and feel of your online store is a major factor in getting your customers’ attention. The first few seconds that they look at your ecommerce site is a make or break so it important that you give them reasons to keep on browsing your site. Here’s a few guidelines on what to look out for when designing your online store.

1. Implement excellent navigation.
Easy to use and uncomplicated navigation is one of the concerns of many online shoppers. No customer would want to go through all the hassle of finding the product page after several clicks. Also, make your products easily accessible for your customers by properly classifying products into categories. Keep in mind that customers can get into your website through different ways, so be sure to place full navigation on the pages of your online store.

2. Keep it simple.
The first thing that people notice when they go to your site is its look or appearance. Some site viewers don’t have the luxury of time, so it is important that you make a good impression. However, you don’t want to drown people with a lot of unnecessary elements on the site. Choose simple font styles, easy on the eye colors, and appropriate frames or boxes. Forget about blinking advertisements, over the top flash accents, and animations that take ages to load.

3. Do not clutter up the page.
Do not clutter the page with too much information. Narrow aisle is also a big no-no. Keep breathing spaces for the different elements of your site to let the eyes of your site viewers rest. If you have a lot of products, you may opt to limit the number of items in each page to four to eight products. This way, your site viewers will not be overwhelmed or confused by the long list of products and/or services.

4. Add call to actions.
Callouts are tabs or boxes containing a teaser or short information to important pages of your online store. They are usually placed in the strategic locations within the page and with eye-catchy font and/or graphics to draw the site viewers’ attention. As the name suggests, callouts are intended to make the website visitors “move” or do some actions- either to read more information, to call/email your office, or to try a certain product or service. Callouts also help emphasize or highlight features or pages in your site that your site viewers may find interesting.

5. Highlight credibility and reliability.
Most online shoppers are cautious about purchasing online due to security issues. Thus, you should let them know, in every chance you can, that they can trust your online store. You may feature logos like the Better Business Bureau (BBB) seal and other similar awards to give a sense of credibility on your company or website. The image of the SSL brand (lock icon) should also be present on your site. Your phone number and contact details should be prominently displayed on your site to give your customers options to reach you.

While you can’t please everybody with the design of your site, you should see to it that the design of your store is appropriate or in line with your products or services. It should also be simple, clean, and easy to use and navigate. Although you have a lot of things to consider other than your site’s design, you must also pay attention to these tips to entice your customers and eventually increase sales.

What other design related tips have you used for your online shop? Share them with us.

There are several ways of promoting your online shop. You’ve probably heard about a lot of promotional strategies catering to online entrepreneurs. With the advancements in the internet era, letting people know about your site is no longer as burdensome and expensive as before. However, you don’t just want site viewers to flock to your online store. What you need are customers (or better yet, regular customers) who will increase your sales.

One way of achieving this is through the product review feature that you can incorporate on your ecommerce site. This article shows the benefits of a product review for you and your customers.

What is a product review?

A product review is a component of your site that allows site viewers to rate and/or post information on a certain product or service that they have purchased. Product review entry can be restricted by the site administrator to be either automatically displayed on the product page of the site (regardless of contents) or to be screened first for moderation.

Product reviews are helpful information for you and for your clients as well. Here are some of the benefits of a product review feature:

1. Adds credibility to your online store

Most online shoppers nowadays are more cautious about purchasing products online. Online shoppers want to be assured that your ecommerce site can be trusted to handle online transactions. No customer would like to go through the possible inconveniences and mistakes of a newly organized eStore. With product reviews on your site, potential customers are assured that you are indeed doing business with clients.

What if you receive negative reviews on your online shop? You don’t need to worry about negative product reviews. They are still good for your online store as long as the positive ones offset them. Still, they give your potential clients a feeling that you are not new to the online store business. Plus, purely positive reviews will make the product review seem less real.

2. Makes people talk about your store

Being talked about online is one important way of getting more site viewers and potential customers. Creating a buzz online may also increase your sales. With a product review feature, you create an avenue where your customers can share about the product or service they have purchased as well as their buying experience. The more excellent product review entries that you have, the more chances of gaining new customers.

3. Guides your clients in making an informed decision

Before placing an order on your online shop, your potential customers would like to be sure that the product or service they will purchase is of excellent quality. For them to be assured that they are making the right choice, they want to know what other people are saying. Aside from the product description that you write for each of your products, another source of information about your products is the product review feature. The information contained in the product reviews will help them weigh their options in making the purchase or not.

4. Helps you identify the status of your products

A quick way to identify the status of your online business is through the sales that you make for a certain period of time. However, a clearer and more descriptive indicator of the status of each your products is the product review. What people say about your products will help you identify the products or services that are selling well and those which are not. This will also guide you in identifying which products or services need improvement and how you can make them better.

The product review feature is a great way of involving your customers on your site and letting them know that their comments on your products and services are valued. It is also another element of an online site that you can take advantage of to increase your web presence and eventually your sales. Try this feature on your site and see what your customers say about your products.

What are other ways that you can promote your online store? Share them with us in the comments below.

In the first half of this article (Questions to Answer in Setting Up an Online Store), we gave you 10 questions that you need to ponder on before you start your journey as an online entrepreneur. In this article, we continue to give you a list of queries that will help you flesh out your online shop.

11. Will you accept international orders? If yes, will it be for selected countries only? Please identify.

You should also decide on whether you will be accepting international orders on your online store. If you decide to do so, you also have to consider other matters like countries covered, additional shipping charges, taxes, international payment methods, etc.

12. Do you offer insurance of the shipment? If yes, do you charge extra for this?

In setting up your eStore, you also have to decide whether you are to offer insurance for shipments since this will entail certain responsibilities for you as an entrepreneur. With shipment insurance, your customers are guaranteed that they will get the products that they have purchased in good working condition. Remember to specify the terms and conditions of the insurance in case the product is lost or damaged.

13. Are there any logos you want to be associated with? BBB, Awards, etc.? These will be displayed at the bottom of your website.

Logos like the Better Business Bureau (BBB) seal, and other awards will give a sense of credibility on your company or website. Online shoppers today are becoming more cautious about trusting ecommerce sites due to fraud and security reasons so it is important that you let them know that they can trust you.

14. Will there be featured promos every now and then? If yes, then there’s a need to reserve a section for promos in the homepage.

If you intend to give away promos every now and then, then it would be best to allot a space on your eStore’s homepage to promote this feature. Notice how supermarkets prominently display their promos and discounts on strategic areas of their store to grab the shoppers’ attention. This technique can work for your online store as well.

15. Will you be accepting affiliates?

You may also consider accepting affiliates for your online store to help you sell your products and services. Take note though that you have to consider important matters such as affiliate program terms, affiliates’ commissions or compensations and affiliate updates.

16. Do you want a callout or an ad in the homepage telling the visitors to visit another sister company website? Or an affiliate’s website?

You may also allot a space on your homepage for a callout to encourage site viewers to visit a sister company or an affiliates website. This is one way of promoting their sites through free advertisements on your page.

17. What is the brand of the SSL you purchased for the site? The image of the brand (lock icon) will be displayed on the site’s homepage.

One important component of an online store is the SSL  or the Secure Socket Layer encryption service. This assures your clients that the information sent and received through your website cannot be forged or altered. SSL gives your clients the assurance that your website can be trusted. Displaying the image of your SSL can help increase visitor-to-customer conversion and higher income.

18. Do you have ready product images previously used for flyers, brochures, etc.?

Product images are important components of an online store because this is the only way by which your customers can see what they will be purchasing. Using excellent product images is a great way of showcasing your products and enticing clients to purchase.

19. Approximately how many products will your ecommerce site have?

Answering this question will help you determine whether what you need is a small shop or a big shop. This will also help you determine the capability of your chosen store as well as its limitations.

20. Do you intend to have a blog for your ecommerce site? If yes, do you have an existing blog that you would like to incorporate on the site, or would you like to create a new one?

Having a blog for your online store is one way of interacting with your site viewers and updating them about relevant information, hot deals, promos, discounts, and events. Blogs allow you to build rapport with your potential and existing customers. By letting your site viewers to comment on your posts, you make them feel that their opinions matter to you. It is also important to customize the look and feel of your blog to match the design of your store.

Starting your online store will not be a difficult task for you when you have decided on the most important functionalities and features that you would like to include in it. It is also necessary to carefully weigh your options and contemplate on what will work for you and what will make your tasks easier and more convenient.

Setting up an online store will entail a variety of tasks for the store owner. Before finally taking off to the actual store building process, there are some questions that you need to answer first. Find out in this first half of a two-part article the guide questions that will help you decide on the functionalities and features of your online store. Answering these items will also give you a clearer idea of the things that you have to consider in putting up your online store.

1. Do you want to have an email list or a newsletter sign-up?

With a mailing list, your customers’ email addresses will be collected while with a newsletter sign-up you are committing to sending out newsletters once in a while. These are two great ways of updating your customers about your latest products, services, and promos and enticing them to keep visiting the site.

2. Do you have a customer service number? Do you want to display it prominently? Is it a toll-free number? Do you have a separate phone number for placing orders? Do you want to display it prominently? Is it a toll-free number?

Displaying your phone numbers prominently on the site will give your clients the option of discussing business with you via phone call. With this, you are also giving your clients more confidence on your company and more options to reach you.

3. Would you like to include a customer rating and/or product review feature on the site? How about a product tag feature?

Customer rating and product review are interactive ways that will let your clients know that you value their opinions and comments. This will make your clients feel that their say on your products and services matter. Customer rating and product review also help site viewers know about what other customers say about your product and services and assist them in coming up with an informed buying decision.

Product tags, on the other hand are keywords that you (the administrator) or your registered clients can assign to specific products on your eStore. These tags will allow you and your clients to put labels on the products for easier navigation and search engine optimization benefits.

4. Do you offer:
a. Free size exchanges?
b. Warranty from defects? For how long?
c. No risk, 30 days exchanges and returns?

It is important to ask yourself whether you are going to offer these policies on your eStore. Implementing these policies is a good way to give your clients more confidence on your products and services. On the other hand, it will entail responsibilities and obligations on your part as an entrepreneur. If you decide to do so, you have to be specific with the terms of the policy and be sure to implement them.

5. Do you offer any other promos like Buy 1 Get 1 or discount rates for certain number of products purchased (price items differently for higher quantities)? If yes, what are these promos and what are their conditions or policies?

Promos are effective ways of enticing your customers to keep visiting the site and purchasing products. Before putting up your online store, it is also important to consider having promos and discounts. However, be sure to explicitly state on the site the policies and conditions of each promo to avoid misunderstanding with clients.

 
6. Aside from credit cards, will you also accept PayPal? Are there any other modes of payment that you accept?

Before setting up an online store, you should be able to determine the ways on how you will accept payments for your products and services. Some examples of payment gateways are Verisign, Authorize.net, PayPal, Google Checkout, and bank payments.

 7. Do you offer Free Shipping? Please provide the details such as minimum order, or type of order, etc.
a. only for Canada
b. only for Canada and US (48 contiguous states only?)
c. only for US

Some online shops offer free shipping once their clients reached a minimum order. This kind of promo may also be limited to a specific type of order or shipping address. Make sure that you specify the policies and conditions on your online store.

8. Do you want the name of the courier company you will be using to be displayed on the homepage? If yes, please enumerate. Example, UPS, FedEx, etc.

No customer would like to go through the hassle and inconveniences of delayed shipments or lost packages. That is why some customers are very particular with the courier company that will handle their purchased products. Displaying the name of your courier company on the homepage will then give your clients a quick look at the options that you offer them.

9. Do you offer same day shipping? If yes, what are the mechanics? Example: only applicable for orders placed by 4PM EST?

If you will be offering same day shipping on your site, make sure that you clearly mention its terms and conditions. Some online shops would state that this is applicable for orders placed by a specific time. This feature will also involve some responsibilities on your part as an entrepreneur.

10. Will your customers have the ability to track their orders?

If you intend to do so, you will have to coordinate with your courier company regarding the tracking number for the shipments. The tracking number may be sent to your customers emails so they can see the status of their orders.

The first ten questions correspond to customer loyalty and convenience, payment, and a bit of shipping concerns. By now, you are probably contemplating about how you want your eStore to be. You may also have some questions in your head that still needs to be answered. Feel free to share with us your thoughts.

Stay tuned for our next article on other questions about shipping matters and other elements needed for an online store.

So let’s say you have launched your online store. You have carefully carried out the key elements and features that an online needs in order to go on board. The next thing that you have to do is to start selling. However, for you to reap more customers and gain a higher income, you need to make people notice your site first and eventually buy your products. In order to succeed in your business you will need to promote your store to potential and existing customers. Here are some simple tips and tricks that will help you with this task.

1. Make your store’s URL known
One way of getting people know about your site is by printing your site’s URL on your business collaterals such as business cards, letterheads, brochures, flyers, newsletters, invoices, reports, proposals, etc. You may also include your store’s URL on your signature located at the bottom of every e-mail that you send. This is one great way of cost-effectively advertising your store.

2. Keep your contents fresh
Before launching your online store, it is important to have your contents ready since you wouldn’t want potential buyers to visit your site and end up on an empty page. However, keeping your site’s contents fresh and updated is a great way of making your site viewers interested. Updating the contents will also give your customers timely and accurate information about your site.

3. Participate online
Social networking sites, communities, and online forums give you the power to connect with millions of people through the Internet. In order to promote your store and create a marketing presence online, you need to communicate with people, encourage them to visit your site, and buy your products.

Today, a lot of sites are being used for information dissemination, popularization, and marketing purposes, making it easier for your business to connect with your customers. You just have to maximize these existing sites and their features to your advantage.

4. Use meta-tags for search engine optimization.
Meta-tags are information that supply search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and MSN with details about your site. Their role is to make browsing the internet easier. Search engine crawlers will go through the meta-tags of your site so be sure to carefully select meta-tags. Choosing excellent meta-tags is one way to put your online store on top of the search engine ranking and directing more people to your site.

5. Give away promos and discounts
You know for a fact that that it is important to have site visitors and to convert them into buyers, but even more beneficial for your business is to convert these buyers into regular customers. So how do you turn a site visitor to a buyer and then eventually to a regular client? This can be done through a couple of promos on your online store. Tier pricing, bundled product, free shipping, free products with every purchase, coupon codes and newsletters are only few of the ideas that you can use to entice your customers to keep visiting the site and purchasing products.

Setting up the website is just a beginning of an exciting journey of expanding your business and gaining customers worldwide. As entrepreneurs, it is important to continuously come up with a variety of promotional strategies for your online store. The tips mentioned above are just some ideas that can help you to market your e-store.

What other promotional strategies have you used for your store and how did they work for you? Tell us about your experience.

With the boom of web commerce, eStores are opening left and right, and competition is fierce. Thanks to near-complete information in the online market, you really can’t rely on just your pricing strategy – what it all comes down to is being able to offer the best shopper experience.

We compiled ten essential principles of online selling that eStores should practice so customers will enjoy shopping at your store and keep coming back:

1. Emphasize your contact details. Keep your phone number and e-mail prominently on top of each page. This tells your customers that you can be easily reached if they need any help. (It goes without saying that you should answer inquiries and complaints promptly!)
2. Use simple navigation and make searching easy. Make sure that you have consistent and easy-to-understand navigation bars, product categories, breadcrumbs, headings, and subheadings. Put a search bar (with category refinement if possible) at the top of the page. Think of the right keywords a customer would type in when you make product descriptions.
3. Show helpful product descriptions. Display product specifications that are comprehensive and interesting. Show related products! Not only is this a helpful aid for the buyer, but a means to up-sell products in similar categories.
4. Highlight your calls to action. Don’t make it difficult for customers to make a purchase! Have prominent “Select” or “Add to Cart” and “Check Out” buttons.
5. Let customers shop before signing up. Don’t ask for personal information or credit card details right away; allow new shoppers to add items to their cart before registering. This way, you don’t turn away customers at the door.
6. Combine form and function in shopping carts. Keep your cart as creatively visual as possible without sacrificing utility. Customers must be able to browse and modify the items in their carts easily. Here’s a tip: Use cookies for carts to retain previously selected items – so shoppers won’t be frustrated by losing items they spent time picking out.
7. Show the availability of items. Nothing irritates customers as much as discovering that the items they selected are out of stock at checkout…
8. Show price, shipping fees, and tax from the start. …except possibly that they’ll be paying huge additional taxes and fees that weren’t indicated in the total cost of purchase as early as possible.
9. Offer a variety of payment options. Customers shop online for convenience and will switch stores if they see that they can’t purchase with their preferred payment methods.
10. Ensure that your customers feel secure. Beef up your site with accredited security badges and updated Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates so that

As technology advances and online shops begin to offer more and more features that rival traditional product outlets, this list will definitely grow longer. Stay tuned for more effective eStore practices in the future.

What other practices have worked for your eStore? Share them with us!

For many e-sellers, shipping and warehousing can be the most tiresome tasks of keeping an online store. In the world of e-commerce, customers expect – no – demand prompt and delivery of their purchases in perfect condition. Luckily, warehousing and product shipping can now be outsourced among the many fulfillment houses sprouting up to ease the burden of online merchants.

Hang on – what is fulfillment?

Simply put, product or order fulfillment means to store, receive orders, package, and ship a seller’s products to the retailer or end buyer. For a fee, a fulfillment house (sometimes called 3PLs – third party logistics providers) will store, keep inventories, pack and consign for delivery its clients’ products, acting as a shipping center for sellers.

Depending on how much a seller needs to outsource, fulfillment houses can offer a range of support services – web design and hosting, order capturing, shopping carts, merchant accounts, credit card processing, picking and packing of the product, shipping, invoices, return and exchange logistics, and inventory management.

What good will it do for my business?

Because of the by-bulk orders, e-sellers who enlist fulfillment services can greatly cut down on shipping materials and delivery costs. Outsourced inventory management, warehousing, and shipping allows the merchant to work on more important matters like marketing, business expansion, product development, and customer services.

Some fulfillment houses even go the extra mile, offering bonus packing catalogs and gift-wrapping! It’s less of a headache for you, and a better online shopping experience for your customers.

How much does it cost?

Though the overall charge will depend on the volume of transactions and the specific services a seller requires, most fulfillment houses will charge about US$0.03 per small item, or US$15 per pallet of products per month for storage. Shipping will cost around 10% of the sales, plus the freight cost.

What should I keep an eye out for before signing up?

First, make a list of the tasks you’d rather outsource than do yourself. You don’t want to sign up and pay for so many extras that you have no use for. Then ask the following questions:

• What are the fees involved? Inquire about the standard set-up fees, storage fees, order processing fees, credit card processing fees, and product return processing fees. If you’re a small merchant, ask about the order processing minimums – you want to make sure that your average number of orders will exceed their minimums or else you’ll be paying fulfillment fees even if orders aren’t coming in.
• What’s the order transmission and shipment method? Find a house that has an order transmission process that matches your business. If you’re a small seller with a few products, look for the simplest one. A note on shipping: get a service that will put your company brand on the shipments! You don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to build brand identity.
• How is inventory tracked? You’ll want to keep control over your products even though you’re outsourcing. Make sure you can always have easy access to information on your goods.
• What’s the capacity for growth? Say your product takes off in a few weeks’ time. Will your fulfillment house be able to adjust to a huge increase in orders in a small amount of time in terms of warehousing and mass shipping?
• What’s the minimum contract period? On the other hand – face it. You’ll need a company flexible enough to call it quits when your product line bombs. Be careful of getting locked in by a six-month or year-long contract.

Remember to weigh the pros and cons of tapping a fulfillment house for your business. What’s your rule of thumb? If you’re growing and you find you can’t store and ship it yourself anymore, signs point to yes.

For the past decade, online businesses have prospered on the Internet, creating a surge in global entrepreneurial opportunities. With the success of web-based businesses, however, cyber fraud and tech-savvy criminals were not far behind, seeking profit by hacking into payment systems.

Today, however, thanks to educational campaigns by online institutions, security providers, and industry magazines, consumers have become aware of the importance of e-commerce security, and have become relatively shrewd shoppers.

In a nutshell, your eStore or business website ought to come with a guarantee to eliminate any doubt that someone might swindle your customers out of their payments. An SSL, or Secure Socket Layer encryption service will notify your customer through browser messages that they are transacting over a secure connection and will assure him of three things:

1. That your website is what it claims to be;
2. That the information sent and received through your website cannot be forged or altered;
3. That any sensitive data, like credit card, bank numbers, patient information for medical sites, are encrypted, and cannot be intercepted or decoded.

A simplified security process goes like this: Your client enters his credit card details in his browser. This information is encrypted, or translated into a secure code, as it is transmitted from his browser to your web server. Once received, the security service will decrypt or decode the data, which will be processed and stored (often only temporarily, as required by law) on your server.

There are very few customers who will consider disclosing their credit card details to purchase your products and services if they feel the payment process isn’t secure. So consider looking into SSL security providers if you’re thinking of getting into business online.
Is your website protected by an SSL service? What particular security issues concern your online business?

In the first half of this article, we discussed the basic features of payment gateway systems and some points to consider when choosing one for your business. Though there are several payment gateways you can choose from, we picked three popular services to review, keeping the criteria and needs of a new online business in mind.

Authorize.net

One of the earliest payment gateways online, Authorize.net gained a leading reputation in payment processing since it started out in 1996.

• Available features. Known for secure transactions and the complete integration of their payment process in the online store itself, hence, shoppers need not create a separate Authorize.net account or leave your website when purchasing. Fraud prevention is available in the basic package.
• Fees. Basic setup fee ranges from $150 – $200 among Authorize.net resellers; however, extra services, like advanced fraud detection, eCheck processing, virtual terminals, and automated recurring billing, are charged a separate fee. A premium service, the Customer Information Manager, which stores sensitive customer data, costs $20 a month. The monthly fee is from $10 – $ 50, while transaction fees range from 5 cents to 20 cents per paid transaction.
• Reliability. Authorize.net is known for fast and accurate processing; payments are automatically deposited into the seller’s merchant account, and funds are insured.
• Requirements for sellers. Authorize.net has quite a restrictive set of requirements, including business and bank accreditation and a steep setup fee.
• User perception. Because of Authorize.net’s long history and reputation in the online market, and its site integration, customers will feel that their payments and purchases are secure.

PayPal

The eBay-owned PayPal payment gateway is certainly one of the most popular and widely-used services online, particularly by startup entrepreneurs.

• Available features. PayPal accepts credit and debit card payments, as well as eChecks, and payments though registered PayPal accounts (PayPal Express Checkout). A virtual terminal is included in the setup package for orders taken by fax, phone, or mail.
• Fees. Most Paypal solutions, like Email Payments, Website Payments Standard, and Paypal Express Checkout, have no setup fees, and charge transaction fees of 1.9% – 2.9% plus 30 cents. PayPal Payflow setup fee is between $179 – $249 while the monthly fee is $19.95 – $59.95. This may seem steeper relative to Authorize, but in the long run, the flat processing fee of 10 cents per paid transaction gives merchants more leeway to earn.
• Reliability. PayPal is known for quick and hassle-free transactions, with the payment being transferred to you wihin 3 – 4 banking days.
• Requirements for sellers. PayPal asks you to verify your bank details via a simple process of remotely depositing a small amount in your account and asking you the amount.
• User perception. PayPal has been around for quite a while and has built a positive reputation among both buyers and vendors. In addition, PayPal Express Checkout accounts allow buyers to pay for items without disclosing sensitive bank details. Internet-savvy shoppers know that the less places they give out their credit card details, the more secure they are.

Google Checkout

A relatively new player, the brand name is slowly making Google Checkout a popular choice among users familiar with the simple Google interface.

• Available features. A simple platform for the new online entrepreneur, and simple purchase process for the online buyer. Both seller and buyer will need Google accounts before transactions take place, and buyers can leave customer reviews.
• Fees. Google Checkout charges 2% of each purchase plus 20 cents. If you link your Google AdWords to your Checkout account, transaction fees may be waived for selected products.
• Reliability. Google has negligibly low downtime, and the transfer of payments to you takes about 5 business days.
• Requirements for sellers. Google Checkout is favored by new vendors because of the ease of signing up. You will only need to use their service to verify your bank account details, and the validation process is similar to PayPal’s.
• User perception. Even if it’s a relatively new service, because of Google’s high brand recognition, user perception is generally positive.

The main difference among the three gateways is that Authorize.net’s eStore integration allows you to hide the brand name of the gateway. For some larger-scale businesses, this is a desired feature because it adds to its professional image and brand identity-building. With PayPal and Google Checkout, your customers will be taken to the respective external sites where they will complete the payment.

All in all, new entrepreneurs on a limited budget will find it easier to work with the latter two payment gateways. Google Checkout is a promising new service, especially with the integration of other applications like AdSense and AdWords. PayPal, however, is a wise bet, with its tried-and-tested features, ease of signing up, and greater earning opportunities.

How have you maximized payment gateways for your e-business? Tell us about your experiences with the payment gateways you’ve tried.