Step 8: Adding Ecommerce to Your Website

Ecommerce is the buying and selling of goods and services, and the transfer of funds, through digital communications. If your goal is to sell your products or services on the Internet, you have to think about how you will accept payments. You have a couple of options here. A Merchant Account, Payment Gateway with a Secure Web Certificate will allow you to accept credit card payments directly from your web site (with a shopping cart).

For smaller businesses with few products, we recommend opening a sellers account with either PayPal or 2Checkout.

PayPal is a service which allows people to send and receive money safely and securely. It allows you and your customers to exchange money through a neutral source. You simply open a PayPal account (for free), and place "buy me" buttons on your web site. You customize each button to contain the cost and shipping. Click here to sign up and to find out more details.

With 2Checkout You pay a fee of $49 and can accept credit card payments from your website or send payment requests via email. For each sale that you make you pay 5.5% plus .45 per transaction. If you don't make any sales, you don't have to pay anything. Similar merchant services can cost much more than this, so 2Checkout is your best bet. You receive your money twice a month via direct deposit into your checking account. Click here to sign up and find out more details.