1. How many products do I want to sell online Now?  Is there a deadline I'm up against?
2. How many products do I want to sell online in the future?
3. Do I need to integrate with Shipping?
4. Do I need to integrate with Inventory?
5. Who is going to keep my e-commerce pages and products up-to-date?
6. Do I want a turnkey solution -- where I just hire someone who maintains this for me for a set monthly fee -- or do I want a solution that I or a current employee will administer?
7. Does this person have the technical or other skills they will need?
8. Does this person have the knowledge of the business that they will need?
9. How much am I willing to pay for e-commerce?  
10. What kind of Return on my investment (ROI) would I like to see from e-commerce?
11. When do I want to implement this?  
12. What is the value of the labor involved to set this up?  

 

The best way to do e-commerce is to have a PLAN for what you need and an understanding of why you need it.  

We have solutions for the hobbyist, the small at home business person, charities, and schools.

We have solutions for brick and mortar businesses that really do have a 250-product catalog.  (We know you need to integrate your retail POS, accounting, shipping, and inventory management.  We know you have staff who can help with this -- but what solutions are best for you?)

Our solutions allow you to get the best return on your modest investment, and allow your staff or you to manage your own store.  (We can help with that too, as well as set up and design.)

 

We can't help but notice that there's a strong "penny-wise but pound-foolish" trend.  If you are going to set up your own e-commerce for your business, we admire your ambition.  But isn't your time better spent running your business?
We get asked for advice for e-commerce -- even when some people have already contracted out to a solution provider.  If you have a solution provider that you are happy with, then you need to get them to earn their money. 

It's pretty common for providers to have people sign up for "free" accounts.  But then it's not long when the customer realizes the limitations of the "free" services.  Those services aren't free.  You invest your time, or your staff's time, and folks, time really is money.

The best way to do e-commerce is to have a PLAN for what you need and an understanding of why you need it.  We have solutions for the hobbyist, the small at home business person, charities, and schools.

We have solutions for brick and mortar businesses that really do have a 250-product catalog.  (We know you need to integrate your retail POS, accounting, shipping, and inventory management.  We know you have staff who can help with this -- but what solutions are best for you?)

Our solutions allow you to get the best return on your modest investment, and allow your staff or you to manage your own store.  (We can help with that too, as well as set up and design.)

E-commerce Overview and Comparison

    

Your First Cup Site Creator website is fully equipped with everything necessary to start selling online. Whether you sell one or hundreds of products, the integration of payment buttons and shopping carts is easy with a few simple steps:
 

• Choose an e-commerce solution that allows integration via pieces of code  (sometimes called embed codes)
• Generate your payment buttons / shopping cart code / 'view cart' code
• Add the codes to your website using the HTML Snippet feature in First Cup Site Creator 

 

Using this method, your visitor/customer will select a "buy now" or other button on your site's page.  

Then a Checkout page will open on the provider's website -- PayPal or Google Checkout for example.  

your customer will complete the transaction on the processor's page.

The actual Checkout is secure and is processed on the website of your e-commerce processor.

You do not need an SSL certificate to use these services.

The Chart below looks at several popular payment options. There are many, many processors available but PayPal and Google Check Out are probably best for people just starting out.  

• Google has the advantage of integrating its offering into syndicated shopping searches - with a higher fee.
• PayPal has the advantage of being well known, and also offers premium services.

For a small business, either of these options can work well.

They all offer e-commerce solutions for small businesses and entrepreneurs that you can easily integrate in your site via HTML snippets.  If you are a non-profit, we can recommend these as short-term solutions, but can also recommend better, long-term fundraising solutions for you.

Some comparisons from 2010.  CHECK providers for their most current rates.

	Setup / Monthly fees	Processing fee	Details
PayPal	none	3% + $0.30 per transaction	Customers pay with PayPal account Buy Now buttons / basic Shopping cart available Suitable for small products range / sales volume
2CheckOut	Setup: $49	5.5% + $0.45 per transaction	Customers pay with credit card or PayPal Buy Now buttons / Shopping cart available Suitable for small products range / sales volume Often used for higher cost virtual goods (software, IT services, etc.) Disadvantage: Does not offer customer refunds or customer service
Google Checkout	None	2% + $0.20 per transaction	Customers pay with credit card through Google account Buy Now buttons / Shopping cart available Suitable for small products range / sales volume
E-Junkie	Fees depend on number of items.	N/A	Not a payment processor as much as a service that allows you to easily manage your product catalogs and post them into your websites, blogs, emails, etc.  Also supports virtual products and affiliates.

For mid to large products range / sales volume for businesses or individuals we recommend using E-junkie.

E-junkie allows you to syndicate different payment processing options including the ability to bill credit cards directly through your merchant account. On top of this, E-junkie brings an advanced shopping cart for tangible or digital products, options to manage inventory and have sales tax, shipping and handling automatically calculated. The service is available for a small monthly subscription fee ($5 for 10 products) and no transaction fee apart from the fees of your selected payment processor.

 Need more details on E-Junkie?  Follow our step-by-step tutorial for integrating E-junkie with your website

What about Nonprofits?

Nonprofits or charities, alumni groups, and others may be looking for a Donation solution.

For short-term efforts, PayPal or Google Checkout can work very well.

But many nonprofits actually use other services that allow them to integrate donations with mainatining contact with their supporters, or even engaging supporters in their efforts so that the supporter becomes an actual advocate for teh organization.

If you are a nonprofit, we suggest that you simply contact us to help you assess what solutions may be best for you.  We do recommend Click and Pledge services for nonprofits that have a long-term or ongoing need for fundraising.

We do not recommend high-priced, single-source vendor solutions in the nonprofit market.  We also encouarge nonprofits to take advantage of donations of SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions for Customer Relations Management (SalesForce.com has a very good nonprofit donated license offer and does not discriminate against charities based on religious affiliation.) 

Don't settle for an e-commerce hosting solution.  What you need is the e-commerce database, payments, syndication, and versatility solution.

 

Many companies promise that their solution is the best for you. 

But then you find out that you can't sell on more than one site, or you can't embed product images and buy now buttons in email, or you find out that their solution "wires you in" to their payment processor.  And those monthly fees.

 

We recommend a real solution -- that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, is versatile, allows you to pick from different payment processors, and allows you the flexibility to display products on your Firstcup Site Creator site as well as other sites and blogs, you name it -- without extra fees.

 

It supports software downloads and document downloads as products, building affiliate networks, and the selling and shipment of tangible goods.

 

It's called e-junkie.  It's logo looks like this: 

 

 

And yes, they have a 7-day free trial for our clients.  You can even use e-junkie on ebay, believe it or not. 

Your eBay digital delivery will be provided by E-junkie.com

 

We recommed e-junkie for clients who have these requirements:

1.  Small number of products -- or a product catalog that does not change dynamically.

Why?  Well, with e-junkie, if your catalog of products is perhaps 20 or 30 items, you can easily manage this, and if your catalog does not dynamically change, then keeping the catalog updated and your codes up to date really is not an issue.

2.  Nonprofits.

Why?  Many nonprofits are enjoying e-junkie at either a free cost basis or at a discount.

3.  Looking for low cost of entry. 

In other words, you want to get started with e-commerce, but you don't want to make a big investment.

4.  Do not need a large-scale catalog solution.

 

5.  May have a need for an affiliate or partner program. 

A nonprofit example.  For example, your larger nonprofit entity is selling charity tickets -- but has smaller entities helping with this effort, and the smaller affiliates receive a small amount of the proceeds for doing so.  Maybe you're a state organization with local chapters.  E-junkie will allow you to track which of your local affiliates sold which tickets online, so you can ensure they receive their share of the sales.

 

A for profit example.  You run a small business where you sell handmade jewelry.  You make an arrangement to give your referring affiliates (whether they are individuals, other buusinesses, or nonprofit clubs or charities) a 10% bonus for sales they refer.  E-junkie will allow you to give your affiliates a tracking code for this purpose.

6.  Selling Virtual Products