Shopping Cart Comparisons
[If you have questions about terms, see FAQ below chart. "CC" = CreditCards; "RT" = Real Time]
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| ALTERNATE SECURE SHOPPING SERVICES |
| PayPal.com - Easy installation; Allows Visa & MC; Customers must join PayPal; No charge until you make a sale; 2.2% + 30¢. |
| OrderButton.net - Easy installation; Allows all major cards; No charge until you make a sale; 7% maximum. |
[Please note: There are literally dozens of shopping cart packages available... this chart is just a representative sampling of some of the most popular products. If you use a cart not listed here that is reasonably priced and has proven to be completely satisfactory, please Contact Us to let us know]
Frequently Asked Questions
- What do you mean by "Buy", "3rd Party", and "Hosting"?
- Buy: You purchase the software, and then either you install it on your server [generally in the cgi bin], or your server administrator installs it for you [at an additional fee].
- 3rd Party: You have your website hosted at your own server, but when an order is placed, the visitor is seamlessly connected to the secure 3rd party server which is hosting your shopping cart only.
- Hosting: Your entire site is hosted at a server that includes a shopping cart in its hosting package.
- What does "Real Time Authorization" mean? What is "Offline"?
When a customer makes a purchase, the money from that sale must be transfered to your bank account. With "real time authorization", the credit card is approved in a matter of seconds, then the money is placed automatically in your account.
With "offline", you securely retrieve the credit card information [name, number, expiration, $ amount, etc] from the cart control panel, then approve the card using your own terminal, or by calling in the sale to the credit card company for authorization.
- Why is there such a wide range of prices?
Mostly because the more expensive products are more sophisticated. The question you must ask is whether you really need all these options. If not, start with a scaled down version, then upgrade as necessary. Here are some additional features that may be included in a more costly software package:
- Database integration;
- Customer tracking;
- Extensive built-in tech support;
- Multi-lingual capabilities;
- Multi-currency support;
- Shipping calculator;
- Real time authorization;
- Thumb nail product graphics.
- What does it mean when a cart says that it supports "affiliates"?
This means that other websites can sell your products, and you'll know from the shopping cart data which site originated that sale. This allows you to compensate each affiliate according to the total sales they generate.
- Do all carts support digital payment by check?
For most of the carts listed here, this is an extra "value-added" option, which is to say, you pay more if you want it. Since most customers do use credit cards at this point to make purchases, you must decide whether this option is necessary for your specific business. For most people it is not necessary.
For more information: If you do not yet accept credit cards, check out our table of Merchant Credit Card Services.
For an explanation of Secure Payment Processing using the Verisign model, go to their online guide.