Shopping Cart Questions

[Kaye]

Hi all,

I am so glad I found this forum there is a lot of information here that I already have found useful.
I am pretty sure you all will be able to give me some great tips and advice regarding shopping carts so here goes.
I designed a site in Dreamweaver it is hosted by GoDaddy. I have 25 items on the site that are for sale. My needs would be for the customer to click on the quantity of the item/s they would like and for the information to go into their shopping cart. I would then like the shopping cart offer the customer the option to pay cash or credit card(paypal as well i guess) and then get their information such as delivery address and forward all that information to me via an email notification. The reason why I am accepting cash is because it is a food service that would be delivered in real time so I need to offer both as sometimes people only have cash. I would like to keep the customers experience as simple as possible if I could have the shopping cart and checkout on the same page as the items that would be even better as a quick transaction period will be pleasant for my customers. Any tips, ideas and suggestions of direction I should go in would be greatly appreciated. I hope I have given enough information coherently and that I will receive a few responses.
Thanks

[roban]

If you don't want to use shopping cart software that works from a database with all the options you are looking for, then your options are limited.

Pay Pal Pro would be 1 option and Authorize.Net buy buttons would be another. There are probably others but these are ones that I have experience with.

[Kaye]

thanks for the response. I was leaning toward paypal pro from what I have read so far but wanted a little info on what to look for as I will be calling their sales department Monday morning and did not want to be Dazzled by their sales pitch and get something that probably isn't the best solution for me.

[Emilyecho]

Good luck to your business

[roban]

I don't think they will try to dazzle you. Pay Pal Pro will allow secure checkout using credit cards without leaving your site. You will be looking at the cost per transaction mainly.

[Kaye]

thanks for the well wishes Emily. It is a tough economic market out there but I also feel it is a ripe time for entrepreneurs and hope it does work out for me.

Roban thanks for the info. I am calling as soon as they open.

[marc77]

It is a tough economic market out there but I also feel it is a ripe time for entrepreneurs and hope it does work out for me.

Agree to both. Now is the right time to start something new.

[PCIMerch]

PayPal Website Payments Pro isn't bad... but you will need some technical skill to integrate (which you may have already given you created the site in DreamWeaver). Some companies will help you integrate, so don't be afraid to shop around for a merchant account with the best rates and service.

I also concur... now is a great time to start something, and the best businesses that survive today will be poised for great successes when the economy does recover.

[marc77]

PayPal Website Payments Pro isn't bad...

Can't recommend PayPal at all. Please read their terms carefully and expect the worst...

[Make'n Money]

PayPal is like Windows Vista; everybody has an opinion. Many, but not all, are based on somebody else's "experience" with the product.

[marc77]

PayPal is like Windows Vista; everybody has an opinion. Many, but not all, are based on somebody else's "experience" with the product.

Exactly. And this is the reason why it is so important not to just rely upon recommendations but to carefully read through all legal documents, terms and contracts of such services.

A wrong decisions made there can have negative influence to your business' future developments. It's hard to change a payment processor or shop software while actively selling, very often your site is down at least a few days till anything has been set up.

[Windsun]

Can't recommend PayPal at all. Please read their terms carefully and expect the worst...

In the 4 years that we have been using PayPal we have processed over $3,000,000 through them and have yet to have a problem.

I wish we could say the same for our CC processor.