Hi guys,

I have questions and want to clarify these before creating an e-commerce website. Are statements below correct?

1. I need to buy SSL certificate to provide HTTPS pages in my website.
2. I need to contact my local bank to enable me providing online payment things for users.
3. For the payments with PayPal requires me opening a business PayPal account.

Also, I would be happy to see rough payment figures related to the above information. For example;

SSL: Thawte SSL123 charges $69+VAT for a year.
BANKS: I have no idea about payments.
PAYPAL: I think PayPal takes 10% of every sale I do.

Thanks in advance

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All 3 Replies

Hi. I'll try to answer this to the best of my abilities.

1) You don't need to purchase a certificate to provide SSL, you just need to install one (which can be done for free). However, purchasing a certificate adds "comfort" for the user, as your site is verified by an independent third party. Thawte is a major player, but shop around. There's other well-known names that offer certificates for less.

2) You only need to do this if you want to process credit cards in-house. Paypal, Google Checkout and many other solutions are out there that will process credit cards for you. We haven't found the rates to be too bad where I work.

3) I don't think so. I use a premiere account, personally. I'm not sure whether we have a business account at work or not.

Not a complete answer, but I hope this helps.

If you want to offer very basic ecommerce, then you could get by with just having a Paypal account. Since the transaction takes place on Paypal's site, you would not need an SSL cert.

For the ecommerce sites that we typically do, SSL runs about 250 a year through GeoTust, and Paypal Pro (30/month + trans) which integrates with our cart so the visitors checks out on your site. Integrated checkout is ideal.

You only need to do this if you want to process credit cards in-house. Paypal, Google Checkout and many other solutions are out there that will process credit cards for you. We haven't found the rates to be too bad where I work.

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