Must I have a merchant credit card account to accept credit
cards over the internet through virtualCART?
Yes. We are not a charge processing service.
virtualCART supports facilitation of sales via credit card. You do need a
merchant account to run the charges through.
If you already have a merchant account and a method you are currently using
to run charges, you are welcome to continue to use that account/method with
virtualCART. There is no need to switch merchant accounts or to use any sort
of "realtime" processing if you have no desire to do so.
If you need a credit card merchant account, and are a US client, or have
US accounts,
Cardservice International
can get you set up quickly, and
at a reasonable cost. Like virtualCART, a low fee does not mean you get
less, it just means you pay less.
You can take payment online via PayPal, checks by mail,
Paybycheck, (the online check), fax, and phone orders, without a merchant
account, of course.
You should realize before you set up for automated processing that raw orders
direct from the Internet may contain errors or may be fraudulent.
We recommend our standard non-realtime set-up, where you can review each order, then process it on your own equipment as if it were a phone order.
We automatically check vital fields for correctly FORMED information, but no such system is foolproof. When you receive an order through us, you should review
it for legitimacy, check to make sure all needed information has been included by the customer, enter it into your records, and only then key charges into your
merchant POS terminal (or equiv). Charge difficulties are avoided, and you maintain total control over your merchant account. The customer doesn't know the
difference, and it's a lot safer for you.
Will you support additional credit card payment gateways?
Not in the near future. The ones we selected to integrate with virtualCART are
three of the largest in the world and have the greatest name recognition.
Do these gateways provide payment processing or do they simply
authorize a transaction for processing by the vendor? My
business is small and I do not have a Visa/MC
merchant account due to the high % the credit companies
take out of their small dollar amount orders.
They just process. You must still have a merchant account.
If Authorize net doesn't offer this, do you have any
recomendations for a payment processing service?
Most people think they must get internet processing on-line,
but that's mainly needed for high volume businesses.
With all such things, you still must have a merchant account.
Once you get that, you may simply use the terminal you get with
your account to process orders at your location.
It is the most cost effective way to go since internet transaction
processing bumps up the %fee by one or two points.
You say you offer "secure server" for credit card security.
What does that mean and how does it work?
The goal of virtualCART security is to achieve one thing: Deliver
credit card information from the customer to the merchant with
the minimum possibility of exposure to prying eyes. Our primary
tool for this is the utilization of secure data encryption. We
encrypt the information between the customer and the cart, and
then you retrieve credit card information the same way. Although
orders are emailed to you in the clear, we strip off the
credit card number, which you then retrieve through
your secure browser, thus completing the secure path.
THE CREDIT CARD DIGITS CAN BE RETRIEVED FROM THIS SECURE URL:
Do I need a separate secure server or certificate?
No. These are included with your virtualCART service. This represents a large
cost savings for you, which covers the cost of virtualCART. VeriSign certificates
are currently $349 per year.
Do you use Verisign and can I display the VeriSign security symbol graphic on my
website?
Yes. We hold a Verisign Secure Server Authenticity Certificate. You may
show a VeriSign graphic on your site, but it is important that you use
appropriate descriptive phrasing where you show the symbol. An example
is: "Shopping cart secured by : [VeriSign Graphic]"
When I enter a test number for the credit card number on the demo
page, the cart gives me an error. Can I test it without using a
real number?
You have run into one of our tools that keep you from submitting
erroneous charges. We run a mathematical checksum calculation on
each card number to insure that it is a valid number. To run tests,
use 14 zeros. They are mathematically valid charge numbers, and we
do not specifically screen them out.
If the shopper does not "sign" an on-line receipt, or fax their signature,
is this a problem?
Potentially , it could be, as would be the case with accepting phone orders.
A bigger concern is crooks attempting to order with other people's card
numbers.
We advise that if you get a big order, or ESPECIALLY an
overseas order, that you email the person and request the
bank Name and phone number (on back of the card) to call
for billing address verification. If they are bogus, you never
hear back from them, and you just saved some money.
