Summary

Over 80 percent of U.S. households are online, and more than half of these households shop from home on a weekly basis. In fact, according to Ipsos-Reid, a leading research company, of the 120 million Americans who use the Internet, half of them will spend at least $700 shopping online in 2004. This means that if you’re not selling online, you’re missing a significant revenue opportunity. And, with advances in technology, selling online has never been easier or more cost-effective.

An online store allows you to be open for business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Not only is this an important convenience for your customers, it also means more revenue for you. An online store also helps you to reduce your overhead costs because you don’t need to hire reception staff and people to take orders. With the right payment processing tools, these functions are all done automatically for you. And lastly, an online store helps you to reach new markets—across the country or even outside the United States. An online store is no longer an option for a successful business, it’s a critical step in managing and growing your business.

The most important part of selling online is accepting payments from your customers ranging from a single transaction (the purchase of an item from your Web site), to a series of transactions from a customer (the payment of membership fees or installment payments via your Web site). Online payment processing offers a customer the convenience of submitting their credit card or other forms of payment on your Web site, and for you to actually receive the money from this transaction. Recurring payment processing allows you to set up regularly scheduled payments for your customers for a series of transactions.