If you are looking to have a shopping cart on your website, we recommend the Advanced Hosting Plans.
SSL
SSL (Secure Socket Layer) is requried to ensure that client contact and payment details are transferred securely over the Internet.
Shared SSL
Shared SSL is
free on all Advanced and Standard Plans. If you have a Windows Plan you will need to pay extra for this service. Your site pages would then be accessed something like ...
https://saffasserver.com/~youraccount/yourpages
Dedicated SSL
If you want a more professional feel to your secure hosting environment, we can provide a dedicated SSL plus a dedicated IP address. This will see your secure site pages accessed direct as ...
https://www.change-domain.com
Approval Seal
If you have dedicated SSL you may want to add a security seal to your site to show visitors that transactions are secure.
There are two types of SSL seals available and which you use depends upon which certificate you purchased.
Standard SSL
To add this security seal, insert the following html code into your site pages ...
<img src="http://www.saffas-web.co.uk/images/geotrust.bmp" alt="Secured by GeoTrust 128-bit Encryption" width="115" height="55" />
Premium SSL
To add this security seal, insert the following html code into your site pages ...
<!-- GeoTrust QuickSSL [tm] Smart Icon tag. Do not edit. -->
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript" TYPE="text/javascript" SRC="//smarticon.geotrust.com/si.js"></SCRIPT>
<!-- end GeoTrust Smart Icon tag -->
Note that the web page on which you place the seal must use exactly the same domain that the certificate is registered to.
Considerations
Setting up an online store may be easier than you think however, there are a number of things to consider ...
Product
What number of product will you be selling?
If you are selling a small number of items (say, less than 10) then you may consider incorporating an ecommerce page inside your existing website. You would then be able to better expand the product items with description, pictures and layout ... to better feature the items for sale. This is suggested because a full blown ecommerce store doesn't look so great with just a few items for sale in it. Incorporating an ecommerce script into an existing site isn't so difficult but does require an amount of php or html knowledge (depending on the script you choose).
I you are selling a greater number of items then consider building your site around an existing ecommerce script which you can customize to your own requirements (colour, layout, wording, etc). Doing so will save you time and provide you with a professional finish. We recommend osCommerce and Zen Cart which are free and can be quickly installed from the Saffas Control Panel. They both have some great features and are easy to instal and customize.
Payment
How will you receive payment?
Consider how you intend to take payment. Cheques and Postal Orders can be received through the post however, credit and debit cards need a different setup:
Cheques and Postal Orders
Easy to set up by collecting payment details through a simple online form or as an option in the order process. However, make sure it is clear to the customer how to properly fill out their cheque (to whom and to where). There is nothing more frustrating than receiving a cheque made payable to the wrong company. There are no additional set up costs when receiving payment in this way.
Credit and Debit Cards - "Free" Accounts
You can receive card payments easily through companies like PayPal and NoChex and you can even use their auto-link buttons to incorporate into your existing site for quick, seamless payment. Their terms of trading change and develop all the time however, you can expect to pay a simple percentage fee on transactions without the need to pay any up front setup fees. Visit their respective websites here: NoChex and PayPal
Credit and Debit Cards - "Merchant" Accounts
If you prefer a more professional approach, you will need a Merchant account to receive card payments. A Merchant account is simply an accredited body who process the payment transaction and credit your bank with the resulting funds. They will take a percentage fee of sales transacted and, in most cases, will charge a setup fee which could be a few hundred pounds. Having said that, there are some great offers around and some Merchant account providers who will even waive the setup fee in lieu of a slightly larger percentage fee.
The process for setting up a Merchant account varies. If you are using a High Street bank such as Nat West then the process is more stringent and you will be asked to furnish detail about your business, expected turnover, product sold, etc. However, if you prefer to use an online Merchant company such as WorldPay then the process is a little easier and faster. There are many online Merchant providers to choose from but when selecting one, ensure it accepts all the credit and debit cards you think your clients will be using (namely UK specific cards such as Solo and Switch).
Website
If you have a large product base we recommend you use a professional ecommerce script instead of trying to incorporate the store into an existing site. Ecommerce scripts can cost many hundreds of pounds however, at Saffas, all clients have access to a choice of free ecommerce scripts of which we believe osCommerce and Zen to be the best. You can install and test the script from your Control Panel however, please make sure you have sufficient disk space on your account before installation!
If you have a small product base then you may wish to build a website and incorporate the ecommerce section into it. You can build your own html or php site however, all clients have access to a range of professional, pre-built, php websites that can be customized. These can save a lot of time when building a new site and provide a great level of features that you may struggle to achieve from an html site. We have a preference for phpWebSite however, feel free to install and test any of the scripts available from your Control Panel.
Secure Transactions
If you are using WorldPay or another online Merchant for payments, transactions are made through their own secure gateway. However, all clients have access to the Saffas secure gateway through our shared SSL. This is free and clients can use it at any time to receive secure online forms and payment transactions. To access your shared SSL area, see the instructions in your Welcome Mail or contact us for confirmation. If you want something a little more personal, dedicated SSL is available at an additional cost and includes a static IP address. This takes 24 hours to set up.
Actinic Settings
Our Advanced Hosting Plans are fully compatible with Actinic ecommerce shopping carts so you can transfer your existing store to Saffas knowing it will operate correctly.
For initial Actinic settings, use the following as a guide ...
(The following example is for an account on our P2 servers. Make sure you adjust for the server you are on.)
Server Details
Catalogue URL
http://www.saffas2.com/~youraccount/acatalog/
or, if your domain is already in place ...
http://www.change-domain.com/acatalog/
CGI Bin URL
https://saffas2.com/~youraccount/cgi-bin/
or, if you have a dedicated SSL ...
https://change-domain.com/cgi-bin/
