People use e-commerce for purposes ranging from fund-raising to selling products. Is there a suitable solution for everyone? Yes! The options range from "easy to set up" and "cost-effective" to comprehensive and expensive. Learning all the options and making the the right e-commerce solution choice is the key.

You will need to identify an e-commerce solution that suits your need, technology and budget.

What You Must Do For E-Commerce

Before you can choose one of the above options, there are a few things you need to do.

Set up a merchant account: An Internet merchant account is needed for any merchant in order to accept credit card processing and transfer of funds into your bank. You have to ask your bank to set up a merchant account for you through one or more financial institutions like VISA, MasterCard, American Express etc. After setting up a merchant account, you will receive a MerchantID which you will use in your store front set up.

Register a domain name: You need to get a domain name for your online business. It could be www.yourbusinessname.com. It is preferable to get a domain name that has some relevance to your business.

Set up a Payment Gateway account: This is required to set up. E-com sites. The Payment gateway allows your web site to securely accept credit cards in real time.

Authentication and security. A big consideration is ensure security of Credit Card and customer information. The hosting server should offer you a secure hosting of your domain. SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate/s should be purchased and installed on your domain to allow fully secure transmission of all data.

Find a hosting company: This is an important step, since your whole business is going to run on your hosting company's server. The server where you host your web site must be secure and offer all the required server facilities.

For more information, contact us on (02) 9484 3273 or mobile 0411 348 430 and one of our Consultants can help to find the right solution for for your business.