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Category: Other server side languages / issues
e-commerce question

OK. I have several questions, some of which may sound stupid because i've never had to do anything involving e-commerce before....

I've just been asked to do a major site for my local butcher. he wants a site completely redesigned, from company info to sausage awards he's won. this is all about 10 pages. there will also be a perl script engaging with a feedback form for customers to email the butcher, and also a perl script that allows a small announcement section to be placed on the main index page's header top section i.e. "New Show Announced: We'll be in Nottinghamshire on the 23rd entering the Best Cumberland Sausage Competition at Wry Field's Farm". this will simply be ssi that includes the content of the text file containing this announcement, to be edited via an admin page with a form for them to fill in. i will offer onsite training to show em how to use this.

then, he also wants the ability to be able to sell people his products via the internet - an online shoppinf facility where people give credit cards details and he sends the products if the items ordered at over a £30 minimum.

now, firstly, a web designer friend of my boyfriend's said that the two options i had for a small business such a this is either to a) catch all the order and credit card details so that each order i emailed to the butcher's email address, this info is printed and physically entered into their cash till to receive payment, whereupon the good are shipped and the credit card info prinout incinerated. or, b) i can hire worldpay.com or the like for £100s a year to do this dirty work for us. i explained all of this, the butcher chose the first option since he'll be getting only a couple of orders a month, nothing very large at all.

i already know how to do the cart with cookies to track orders, email off these details and then log the credit card information... but....

Questions:

1. how can i make this as secure as possible? i.e. sending email, storing this on the server with all this credit card info...

2. is there another, third, option for me? (it has to be cheap!)

3. MOST IMPORTANT! how much should i charge for this online shop? I already quoted the entire site at £260, complete with content writing, graphics, photography, perl coding, pages etc etc. but i don't know about the shop pricing.

sorry to rabbit on, thanks for any help anyone has for me.

Sarah.

You sound just like i did about a year ago when i made my first e-comm site! hehe

Firstly, i can't re-iterate how much you have to be willing to spend a bit of money. Use something like worldpay or netbanx as teh merchant, or check what bank the butcher is with for his credit card machine (PDQ machine) and get him to ring them and see who they recommend. If its natwest - they use worldpay.

It might seem like an expensive option, but then you don't have to worry about the secure side of things. If you are gonna do it yourself, you're gonna need a SSL certificate which can cost quite a bit (www.verisign.com for more info i believe). Also, emailing the results will only be secure if encrypted using something like PGP (or GPG!) but we're talking some serious stuff here.

Remember that if credit card fraud takes place, you the website designer is held responsible if the correct security safey measures were not set in place by yourself. Hence, i always use worldpay or netbanx (www.netbanx.com)

Hope this has helped you out a little, feel free to post any more qns you have

Jee :)

omg, really? people can hold ME responsible for that? ok ok, i can see why, but.... as the web designer aaagh.

I've already talked to the butcher, and he's not willing to spend that amount of money on that site for worldpay.com etc.

aren't there any more options?

Netbanx is expensive these days, £75 for a single item, £125+VAT for 2-10 is a total rip imo.

Another option may be: Paypal: http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/sell/index-outside not sure on all the terms but I've seen a few places use it such as: http://www.robotbooks.com/robot-motors.htm (towards the bottom) seems an easy method of making an e-commerce site and is easily integrated into a page.

I'm looking into this bunch myself, I'd charge a load more than £260 too... ;)










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