What is E-commerce?
Electronic commerce: the conducting of business communication and transactions over networks and through computers. Specifically, E-commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services, and the transfer of funds, through digital communications.

Selling Online:
There are two basic methods used to sell products or services over the web. The first is to list your products or services in your web pages and then supply a secure order form to collect the order and payment information from the customer.

The second method is known as the "Shopping Cart" method. A shopping cart is a program that resides on a web sever and displays the products available in such a manner that the customer can place multiple products into a virtual "shopping cart".

When the customer is ready to complete their order, the system collects their payment information and notifies you of the sale.

Forms of Accepting Payment: Merchant Accounts
An E-commerce merchant account can make your online business run smoothly. At Web Effects Design, we offer account services that allow your site to accept business and orders from your customers or clients over the internet. Your customers place orders on your site. Once the credit card information is received and verified, the money is deposited into your bank account. This is all done through a Payment Gateway. The process is referred to as Real-Time processing and usually takes 2-3 seconds to complete.

Real-Time processing is usually recommended for sites with a larger number of daily sales to cut down on the work load. Most shopping cart programs can handle either Off-Line or Real-Time processing so upgrading to this capability is a fairly simple matter. It is extremely important that you make sure the shopping cart software you choose can handle your desired processing method.

Keeping Information Secure: The most important item in accepting payments online is security. Web Effects Design is offering certain accounts which come with free use of their own SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate. These certificates encrypt the transmission of data between your customer and our server to prevent the interception of sensitive data.

How To Get Started:
If you would like to learn more about E-commerce and the various options available, experts are available to answer your questions by calling 1-800-993-1791 or by emailing us at info@webeffectsdesign.com.