Looking for an all-in-one Merchant Bank/Shopping Cart solution

[grasshopper]

Ok, so I got Incorporated, I have my federal tax ID number (I'm in the US) and I have the state sales permit and the city business license. I'm all set legally, now I'm ready to start selling products on my website however..

QUESTION: Anyone know of an all-in-one merchant bank/shopping cart solution that's legitimate with good rates? I only currently sell one product so companies aimed at "small businesses" would be perfect.

I really don't want to try to setup the shopping cart myself with the provided software from my ISP and then patch it into some merchant bank.

I tried to sign up for Ipayment/Acceptsafe via Hypermart but they are a seriously shady business, even after signing up they know nothing, no confirmation emails, nobody in customer service knows anything about anything and all their phone mail boxes are constantly full..you can't even leave a message. I canceled that situation.

Bank of America wants to much for their merchant services and won't help with the shopping cart (but Ipayment had a killer deal)...and again I don't want to have to setup the shopping cart software by hand.

Thank You.

[vangogh]

Are you looking for something that makes it easy to connect the merchant account and cart? Most shopping carts will have several merchants built in. You add some basic login and identifier information and you're all set.

How was your site built? Are you using a CMS like WordPress of Drupal? Are you pages static html? Do you have a merchant account at the moment?

There are shopping carts available for most every platform. I realize you don't want to set things up yourself, but do consider it'll probably cost less to purchase a good shopping cart and pay someone to install it then it will to pay someone a monthly fee to host it. It doesn't take long for the monthly fees to add up. The plus side of using a service is you may not have to deal with PCI compliance if the service takes the credit card information and none of that is visible to you.

If you only sell one product you may want to look into PayPal. It's not hard to set up and you don't need a merchant account. They also take the card information on their side so there are no PCI worries. It's probably the easiest solution for you.

[grasshopper]

No, looking for a site that includes the shopping cart and merchant account together, like Hypermart does with Ipayment and Shop Site..only I can't use them, they are out to lunch.
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Static, no merchant account.
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My hosting company provides several carts, however I don't want to spend a week learning how to configure them. I don't think I could afford somebody to set it up for me and would not even know where to look for that service. Hypermart has/had a great offer, very low fees...need something like that.
What is PCI compliance? That's a term I've not heard before.
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Well we are selling only one product to start but will rapidly move onto making new sites selling new products once we get our first sale and know everything "works".. I really do not like paypal and want to avoid them, but something like that..maybe google or yahoo merchant services..but cheaper. Hypermart, with the shopping cart, is cheaper than using just the merchant services B of A offers.. But again, they are out to lunch and so looking for something similar.

[vangogh]

Here's the PCI Security Standards site (https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/). Basically you're required to take reasonable effort to protect the credit card information you're collecting. Here's a Wikipedia article on PCI security (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payment_Card_Industry_Data_Security_Standard). You probably wouldn't need to worry about this if you go with a company like Hypermart.


I don't think I could afford somebody to set it up for me and would not even know where to look for that service.

Most any web designer/developer would like do the work. You say you can't afford someone, but it's a one time payment instead of an ongoing payment for the life of the site. Hypermart sounds inexpensive $5/month, which you'd have to pay for hosting anyway. However to run a shopping cart you'd want their security addon and it's probably a good idea to get their backup addon. Now you're talking $30/month. Plus a company like this limits what you can ultimately do with your site.

On the other hand you could install a content management system with a shopping cart. I use WordPress mainly so I'll use it as an example. WordPress itself is free and there are many free themes available, more than how you'd get with something like Hypermart. There are plenty of commercial themes available for under $100 too. You'd need a shopping cart. There are free ones, though here it's probably better to purchase one of the mature plugins. Let's call it $100. You can probably do the installation and set up of WP, theme, and plugin on your own, but let's say you hire someone to do the work it's probably not costing more than a few hundred unless you want them to customize the theme or the cart. Let's call it between $300-$400 to get you set up. With this route you'd also need to purchase your own security certificate. Prices on this cary from $20 or so a year to about $100 a year depending on the type you get.

Obviously what I just described is going to cost more up front, but we're talking about $500ish, most of which is a one time payment. In about a year and a half you'll have spend that much going the Hypermart route. The difference being you'll have to continue to pay with that route for things you're done paying for by hosting everything yourself. You'll also get more control over your site and business by hosting it yourself.

Having said that Volusion (http://www.volusion.com/) is a company offering what you want. It's $20/month. I've never used them myself, but they usually receive good reviews and recommendations. If you search 'ecommerce solutions' you can find more. That seems to be the way many of these sites try to identify themselves.

[grasshopper]

Thank you for sharing your time and knowledge to help me out with this, I truly appreciate it and understand it's value.

I get what you are saying and the logic is undeniable. However coming up with 500.00 right now is a bit difficult, so my thought is to use a service like volusion (ty btw) at _first_.. until we make some sales. Then switch over to a normal merchant bank and shopping cart setup when the funds are available. Since we are going to be setting up many different websites selling many different products, the control I would get by being able to manipulate the shopping cart software myself would be invaluable.

I could probably set the shopping cart up myself but I need more time than I'm able to give at the moment.
We have spent almost a year setting up this corporation, getting all the paperwork, paying all the fees, making the website, writing video scripts, etc..and are eager to finally start making money.

You have opened my eyes however and again, thank you for your time and trouble.

See you on the beaches of the world.

[vangogh]

Glad I could help in some way. The self hosting talk was just to explain the benefits. I don't think there's anything wrong with sites like Volusion, but I think people should understand the pros and cons for each side before making a choice. I understand not having the money or time at the moment. Been there myself. :)

[merlot105]

You can try something like BigCommerce.com - they have some decent rates and offer a large variety of templates and DB space, as well. If you are able to design the website/shopping cart on your own (if you are a programmer), I would say go for it because it will save you on needless fees.