This is likely to be the most
important section for your e-shop. Without a proper payment system, customers will not be
able to buy goods of your e-shop, and all your investment in the shopping cart software
etc. will be in vain. So, how do you accept payment over the Internet?
Credit
Cards
Digicash - Electronic
Wallets
CyberCoins - Micropayments
Millicent - Micropayments
PayNow - Electronic
Cheques
1. Credit Cards
Definitely the most popular
way to transact over the Internet. And in our opinion the best way by miles. Many cards
are accepted over the Internet such as Mastercard, Visa, American Express and Discover.
Rates however, will vary between different issuing banks and credit card companies.
2. DigiCash
DigiCash's ecash™ is a software-based
payment system which allows users to send electronic payments from any personal computer
to any other PC or workstation using any computer network, including the Internet. To
start using ecash you will need to have a bank account with a bank that issues ecash.
Having obtained your bank account, you will need to follow the bank’s instructions to
apply for an ecash account. Your bank will provide you with the ecash Purse software,
complete with an Account ID and set-up password. Then, simply follow the instructions in
the Purse User’s Manual to open your ecash account, and you will be able to start
using ecash immediately.
MICROPAYMENTS
3. CyberCoins
Small credit card payments, in the 25-cent -to-$10 range,
are uneconomical to process. And most people don't to put payments that small on their
credit cards to begin with.
But that's exactly the type of transaction the CyberCoin®
service was built to handle. So, for example, Merchants can use the CyberCoin® service to
provide
- "pay-per-view" areas
- sell special high value content such as reports
- sell small programs and utilities on-line
- sell one day passes to sites that otherwise require monthly
subscriptions
- even offer pay-per-play games.
The CyberCoin® service provides special tools to deliver
information to the user, which can either be the content the user is paying for, or an
electronic receipt that provides access for the user to get to the content elsewhere
4. Millicent
DIGITAL's MilliCentTM electronic commerce system lets you access a new world of value-added content
and service over the Internet. It allows you to securely purchase and get information,
magazine articles, cartoons, music, video clips, online games and software with a simple
click of the mouse.
MilliCent is extremely flexible. With it, you can choose to
purchase web-based content through short subscriptions for websites you visit all of the
time or through pay-per-click for content or sites you visit occasionally. MilliCent
subscriptions can be purchased for hours, days or weeks, instead of years! Content bought
by the click now costs pennies, nickels or dimes instead of dollars!
ELECTRONIC CHEQUES
5. PayNow
This service is for payments directly from a
checking account. The service can be applied to both consumer and business purchases. Use
it to sell hard goods, digital goods or even as an on-line way to present and pay
"real world" bills on-line.
