Can I sell products that can be downloaded, such as music or software?
Hostway's shared Web hosting accounts are not configured for the purposes of distributing software and/or multimedia products. If you wish to distribute software and/or multimedia files, please contact [an error occurred while processing this directive] to make special arrangements.
|
What is Hostway Merchant Manager?
Merchant Manager is Hostway's Web-based online store creation and management tool. With Merchant Manager, you can quickly and easily create an online catalog and get your store up and running. Merchant Manager is available for both Windows and Linux hosting plans and supports a number of the most popular payment gateways.
When you order an ecommerce plan from Hostway, you get Merchant Manager automatically. We will handle the initial installation and configuration of the shopping cart software. You can then use the Web-based interfaces to design and maintain your store.
|
Will I be able to customize the "look and feel" of my online store?
Yes. Both packages enable you to quickly and easily customize the appearance of your store. You design the layout of your pages, select the colors and fonts you want to use and add graphics and text as you like. Plus, you can use HTML to enhance the text on any of your Web pages.
|
What are my options for handling transactions?
You have a number of options for handling transactions. The most basic approach is to handle all of your transactions offline. For example, you could publish your address and have your customers send their orders along with a check or money order directly to you. You could also collect your customers' credit card information via email or phone and then process the credit card transactions offline using your retail merchant account.
These are probably not the best approaches, though, because one the main reasons customers shop at an online store is for the speed and convenience it provides.
To increase the chances that customers will want to shop at your online store, it should be able to accept and process credit card transactions online and in "real time." You can handle your own online transactions or outsource them to a third-party credit card processor.
|
What are third-party online credit card processors?
If you want to be able to accept credit cards but do not want to handle these yourself, you can use a third-party online credit card processor. When your customers want to purchase a product, they click a link that takes them to the third-party's website. There, they will submit their order and credit card information, which is then processed by the third-party processor. Essentially, these processors act as resellers. They may charge you a variety of fees for this service, including an initial set up fee, monthly fees and/or per-transaction fees.
While outsourcing your online transactions may seem appealing, you should consider the fact that it will be obvious to your customers that their transactions are being handled not by your company but by a third-party.
|
What do I need to handle "real time" online credit card transactions myself?
If you want to handle online credit card transactions yourself, you will need an Internet-ready merchant account, a payment gateway service and an SSL certificate.
|
What is a merchant account? How do I get one?
A merchant account enables you to accept credit cards as payment for the purchase of goods and services. There are different types of merchant accounts. For example, if you have a traditional "brick and mortar" store, you can get a retail merchant account. If you want to accept credit cards on your website, however, you need a specialized type of merchant account known as an "Internet-ready" merchant account.
Internet-ready merchant accounts enable you to handle Internet transactions in "real time" without any human intervention. Because the risk of credit card fraud is greater when you are accepting credit cards over the Internet, these specialized merchant accounts also provide additional checks that can significantly reduce the chance of credit card fraud. Once the transactions are processed, the merchant account provider transfers the funds received from the credit card transactions from your merchant account to your bank account.
You can choose any merchant account provider, as long as it supports one of the following payment methods:
- CyberSource
- Authorize.Net
- LinkPoint/Cardservice
- VeriSign (PaymentNet)
|
I already have a merchant account. Can I use it with Hostway's ecommerce plans?
Yes. If you already have an Internet-ready merchant account you can use it with Hostway's ecommerce plans as long as it supports one of the following payment methods:
- CyberSource
- Authorize.Net
- LinkPoint/Cardservice
- VeriSign (PaymentNet)
|
What is a payment gateway? How do I find one?
A payment gateway is a service that connects your online store with your merchant account provider. This service reads the information from the order forms and translates that information for the merchant account. The payment gateway also verifies that the customer's credit card account has the necessary credit available for the purchase.
You can obtain a payment gateway separately from your merchant account, however you may find it simpler to choose a merchant account provider that also offers a payment gateway.
|
How can I assure my customers that their transactions are secure?
Obviously, if your customers will be submitting their credit card information to you online they will want to know that this information is safe. If they are not comfortable with the security your site offers, they will probably not buy products from you.
The best way to alleviate your customers' concerns is to secure your site using SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). When a site is secured with SSL — the standard form of encryption currently used on the Web — visitors will see a special symbol in their browser window that indicates the site is secure. Visitors can also tell that a page is secured by looking at the URL. A secure page's URL begins with the letters "HTTPS" instead of the standard "HTTP."
|
What is SSL?
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a method of ensuring that information submitted through your website is secure and cannot be accessed by unauthorized users. When a site offers an SSL-secured form, the information submitted via that form (typically credit card information) is encrypted using a special "certificate key" and then decrypted with another key after it has been transmitted.
When users access a site secured with SSL using either Netscape or Internet Explorer, a symbol displays in their browser windows indicating that the site is secure.
|
What is an SSL Certificate? How do I get one?
An SSL Certificate, or a digital certificate, is an electronic document that contains the information necessary to establish a secure SSL connection. When used in credit card transactions, the website collecting the credit card information and the site to which the information is being transmitted must both have an SSL Certificate.
Hostway can provide both the secure server and secure server certificate needed to support SSL. SSL certificates are free with the Gold Plan and above.
|
