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How to prepare my online store website to accept card payments?


Question

What are the requirements that the website of my online store has to meet in order to accept credit card payments? Where can I see the list of requirements?

Answer

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E-commerce is one of the sectors that has experienced the greatest growth and evolution and there are many who started their own online stores in recent years. Even though selling online your goods and services might seem as an easy task, few know that in order to accept online payments, create trust in your customers and comply with all e-commerce laws, it is not enough to hire a developer and create a beautiful website.

Bellow we present a checklist or a list of requirements that the website of your online store has to meet in order to accept credit card payments. This list of requirements can be used to make sure the website of your online store complies with credit card processing environment, PSD2 regulation and e-commerce laws.

Company information

Company information has to be displayed on the website, all e-mails and invoices. Some companies expose this data in website footer, others create a separate page About us.

Company information should include:

  • Company registration number.
  • The address of the main office.
  • Type of entity (‘Limited’ or ‘Ltd’, Inc., Corp., LLC).

Product or service description

It is not just enough for you to know what you are selling, you should provide a clear and complete description of all goods and services displayed on your website in order to help your clients to make a right choice that will suit their needs.

Product or service description should include:

  • A description of the goods, services or digital content.
  • The total price of goods, services or digital content. In case the total price should be calculated by the client, provide clear instructions.
  • Payment method.
  • Include information about any additional costs.

Return/Cancelation/refund policy

Fulfilling return/cancellation and refund policies is a very strict point in a list of requirements that the website of online store has to meet in order to accept credit card payments. Moreover, it will help you to build long time relationships with your clients. Always keep in mind, that your future clients don’t know you and being clear and transparent is the key to your online business.

  • If the customer has the right to return an item, detail who pays for the cost of returning that item.
  • If the customer has the right to cancel an order, provide cancellation form or add cancelation policy to your order confirmation e-mail.
  • If the customer has the right to request a refund, describe under what conditions he can receive it.

Shipping policy

Each online store has its own delivery policy. Some include it in the price, others set a fixed fee depending on the weight or the final destination of delivery. The main point is to make sure that the users can get this information easily. And the best way to convey it is to create a separate page or a section with the terms shipping policy.

Shipping policy page should include:

  • List of cities (for national shipping) or countries (for international shipping) where your company can deliver the products.
  • Delivery methods and timelines (it is better to display the icons of shipping companies whose services will be used).
  • Shipping fees (Indicate how much the delivery will cost. If the cost depends on various factors (product weight, dimensions, delivery region, urgency, etc.), describe all options.
  • Pick up points (If you have a pick-up point, it is better not only to indicate the address, but also to add a location map).


Security online store

Checkout page

Checkout page is one of the main pages of your online store and essential point among the requirements that the website of online store has to meet in order to accept credit card payments. This is a place where a simple visitor becomes your client and final decision of making a purchase or abandon your website is made. Therefore, it is very important to ensure that your client feels as safe as possible and completes the order.

Checkout page should include:

  • Terms and conditions
  • Refund and cancelation policy
  • Review with total amount to pay, all additional costs and payment method.

Online store Privacy policy 

The protection of personal data is a tendency of the modern world. The provisions of the law are toughened from year to year and therefore the availability of documents detailing the principles of use of a personal data of your customers is now mandatory.

The privacy policy itself discloses exactly which personal data, whose and how it is processed by the company. The main purpose of this document is to inform the potential client that all possible technical measures are taken with regard to his personal data for secure storage, use and other processing.

Privacy policy should include:

  • Processing basis
  • Rights and obligations
  • Processing goals
  • Types of processed data
  • Processing conditions
  • Information about the security of personal data

Security measures

If your site works through a regular HTTP connection, then any data exchange between the user and your online store is not protected by anything. Therefore, it is recommended to install SSL certificate on your website, then all data is transmitted via HTTPS - a secure version of the HTTP protocol.

This security measure encrypts user data and forwards it to the site owner via the TCP protocol. In other words, all information transmitted by the user is hidden by encryption from third parties: operators, Wi-Fi administrators and providers. It is recommended to display the icon of SSL certificate on your website where the user can easily see it in order to increase its level of trust and security.

Usage of cookies

Cookies are used to track website traffic, ensure the proper functioning of the website and help to customize the site to the requirements of each visitor. Also, they can be used to store passwords and login data.

Almost every website somehow transfers information about users to third-party services. For example, in Google Analytics and Yandex, the remarketing tags Ads and Facebook Pixel are used quite widely. Therefore, a message “Our website uses cookies” message should be on every page that uses this type of file to collect client’s information and meet the requirements of online credit card payment processing. The owner of the website is obliged to give its visitors a choice. Based on this message, the user can decide whether he wants to continue browsing the contents of the site or prefers to leave it.



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