Q. Why should I sell my products online?

A. Selling your products online opens up your market to a global audience — over 500m at the last count. It’s an opportunity to increase your turnover and profits, and to successfully reach people who are interested in your products whom you might never otherwise reach.

You should have realistic expectations about online sales though! The more specialist or niche your products, the more likely you are to see success. So, if you handmake unique jewellery, are one of only three manufacturers of specialist plastics/metals etc., or have a stock of original prints/antiques, then your online store is much more likely to be successful than if you sell CDs or books.

Don't forget that selling online to existing customers is just as important as to new customers. Why? Because existing customers are already your best customers, and an online store can both encourage them to spend more and reduce your costs for each sale.

For instance, if you have an art gallery and a customer visiting your town buys a picture, you'd probably give them a business card with your web address on it. The customer may never visit your town again (or not for a long time!) but, if your artworks are online, then the customer can browse the selection when they want and either buy then and there or be encouraged to make a special trip and view in store.

Q. What is an internet merchant ID and why must I have one?

A. An Internet Merchant ID enables your store to collect and process credit and debit card payments online.

Because banks consider internet transactions a different class of risk (known as ‘internet person not present’ transactions), every business which wants to take credit and debit card payments over the internet needs to have an Internet Merchant ID, whether or not it already has a merchant ID for taking credit card payments over the phone or in person.

Q. How do I get my Internet Merchant ID? How long will it take?

A. Your Internet Merchant ID is provided by WorldPay. You can apply for one here now, or wait until you set up your store.

Either way the process is quick and simple and, even if you have little or no trading history, you should have no problems – WorldPay (our payment processing partner) approves over 90% of applications, from both new and established businesses.

You should receive approval within 48 hours and once they’ve reviewed and tested your site you’ll be ready to start taking credit and debit card payments online. There is no need to make separate arrangements with your bank and funds can be settled into any account anywhere in the world.

If, at any time, you get stuck, help is available on the telephone from WorldPay.

Q. How much does an Internet Merchant ID cost?

A. An internet merchant ID costs £160 + vat per annum, plus a one off £85 + vat set up fee, which are both paid directly to WorldPay.

Q. Are there any other costs involved in online trading?

A. There is also a Merchant Service Charge for credit card transactions of 4.5% of the value of the transaction, and for debit cards of 50p per transaction, assuming you use WorldPay’s WorldDirect service the most suitable for small businesses).

Q. When do I receive money from customers who have bought products at my site?

A. WorldPay remit the money to your nominated bank account up to a maximum of four weeks after the purchase is made. So sales from week 1 will be remitted to your account no later than week 5, from week 2 no later than week 6, and so on.

Q. Who are WorldPay and why do you use them?

A. WorldPay are one of the world’s largest and most experienced companies in the field of online payment processing, and OnlineBizBuilder has partnered with WorldPay to create a quick and easy way for your business to take credit and debit card payments on-line.

Every week WorldPay helps hundreds of businesses in hundreds of countries to start taking on-line credit card payments simply, swiftly and securely. WorldPay is secure and endorsed by the leading processing banks around the world.

Through our partnership with WorldPay you will benefit from:

• real time payment processing (payment is confirmed before order is processed)
• the highest levels of security and encryption for card details captured on WorldPay’s secure payment servers, for both you and your customers
• the ability to take payments in any currency (ensuring your shop reaches a global audience) and receive payments in Pounds Sterling, Euros or US Dollars.

You do not need to have an existing merchant account. WorldPay can approve you for Internet trading in just 48 hours.

Q. Will my ecommerce website have shopping basket features?

A. Yes, just as with any online store, shopping basket features that enable your customers to add products to a basket one at a time, and then pay for all their purchases together, are included.

Q. Are multiple currencies handled?

A. WorldPay provides multi-currency processing for Sterling, US Dollar and Euro.

This allows someone in the US to know exactly what price they are paying while you receive Sterling. This will be the exact value you price your goods at – less the merchant service charge – so you don't take the exchange rate hit.

Q. How are delivery charges handled?

A. You can select your delivery charges in any number of ways. For instance, you can include delivery charges with some or all products; set different delivery charges depending upon the product or the shipping destination; and set minimum and maximum delivery charges for customers ordering lots of products.

All the help you need is provided in the guided set up process.

Q. Can I choose the order in which my products appear?

A. Yes, you can choose precisely how your store is laid out, and change it at any time. You can have all your products on one page, or on a page each; or you can group them together in categories (such as kitchen, toys) or more specific sub-categories (such as kitchen furniture, cutlery, crockery etc.).

You can change their position, prices, descriptive text and photographs at any time.

All the help you need is provided in the guided set up process.

Q. How do I know that customers’ transactions are secure?

A. OnlineBizBuilder uses WorldPay as its transaction partner. Worldpay manages the process to take money from your customers and pass it on to you. It uses 128-bit encrypted technology and is used by all UK banks.

OnlineBizBuilder never transmits payment details over insecure methods such as email.

This is the highest level of security that is currently available.

All private data is encrypted so both merchant and customer are safe. All monetary transactions go directly through our Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Web server. SSL is an industry-standard protocol that creates a secure connection to the server, protecting your information as it travels over the Internet. SSL uses public key encryption, one of the strongest encryption methods around. In Netscape Navigator you can tell you're in the secure mode when an unbroken key appears on the bottom left corner of your browser window. Internet Explorer displays a padlock on the bottom right of the screen. Another way to tell that your website is secured by SSL is when the URL begins with https: instead of http.

Q. What methods of payment can customers use to pay me?

A. You can set up your internet store to accept payments from customers holding Visa and MasterCard credit cards and Switch and Delta debit cards. At the moment Amex cards cannot be accepted, though we are looking into this.

Q. Do I receive notification of an order?

A. Yes. When funds are settled into your account both you and the customer are sent an email to confirm the order. You can view all your order details in your own Order Management Centre.

Q. Can I link my online sales to a database such as MyBusiness or Sage 50?

A. We will shortly be linking with MyBusiness, so that any sales you make online can go straight to your accounts package. We do not yet plan to link with Sage.

Q. Can I download my products from an Excel spreadsheet on to my website?

A. We can do this for you if you require; there is usually a one off charge for this.