Problems with e-commerce, delayed shipping

[Rachel Kane]

Hello,
I do have a problem. I tried to get an e-commerce site going last year, and talked it over at length with an experienced web designer person, and he wound up saying he couldn't figure out how to set it up. (He has done several e-commerce sites and, as I say, appeared to have a good deal of experience). The challenge as reported to me is this - I cannot accept payment via Pay Pal or whatever, for goods which are going to be shipped perhaps quite a few months after the order is placed. What I sell are live plants which, naturally, can only be shipped at certain times of the year. I may take an order even 6 months before shipping.  So far, I've been selling them using an order form, and if a credit card is to be used for payment, I don't charge it until the shipment is ready to go out. I understand that there are legal  limits to how far in advance of shipment you can charge a customer's card. Also, it's hard to give a definite ship date, as my shipping is weather dependent. I spoke with Authorize.net, and they couldn't figure it out. I believe the issue is that they don't/can't hold the card numbers for a future charge. But - other plant suppliers have on-line ordering, so there must be a way. I spoke with one other plant business, and they had designed their own setup - not something I want to do. Any advice on navigating this rats nest  is much appreciated! Thanks, Rachel Kane

[Dan Coutu]

Rachel, it is possible to do what you need to do. Let me provide a little background to help explain things for you and for others that may be interested in the same thing.

When you accept a credit card payment you are obligated by your merchant agreement with credit card companies to ship (or otherwise deliver, such as a downloadable e-book) within 48 hours. If you do not then the transaction can be considered fraudulent and you can lose your merchant account, and thus your ability to accept credit card payments.

When a purchase by credit card is made there are actually two steps involved, authorization and purchase. Normally they both happen at the same time but they don't have to. It is possible to perform an authorization now and purchase later. The timing of the two can affect the charges you as a merchant have to pay. The exact timing may depend on the particular credit card payment gateway that you are using but for the sake of discussion let's say that it is 90 days.

If you authorize a credit card (which means that the card number, expiration date, and card holder's address have been checked to see that they match up with the credit card company's records) and then complete the purchase within those 90 days then you get a discount on your merchant charges for a pre-authorized purchase. Otherwise you have to pay a bit more to re-authorize the card prior to completing the purchase step.

NOTE: in your case you particularly have to worry about card expiration dates since you are shipping possibly months later and the card may expire in the time between the original order and when you are ready to ship. This would dictate that you need the ability to review your outstanding orders for expired cards and have a way to contact the purchaser and get an updated expiration date. This capability is typically found only in the much more expensive e-commerce solutions. I have not done any research to see if it is available in any kind of open source software. If it is not then someone like myself would be capable of adding it to a variety of existing e-commerce packages. The trick is to find a way to do that in a way that you can afford.

I would point out that this is a very good example of the difference between a web designer (who is focused on the visual design of a site) and a web developer (who is focused on making the site work the way that you need it to work.) You may find some people that can do some of both but generally you want to get the right person for the job at hand. I normally find that a combination of the two provides the very best results for a site like you seem to need.

So to summarize, there is a way to gracefully and effectively resolve your problem and the key here will be finding a way to do it so that your return on investment (ROI) for the expense of setting up the site is high enough to justify doing the work that is necessary.

[Anne McKinsey]

Another solution for you, Rachel, could be PayPal Invoicing. Not many people know about this PayPal feature and it doesn't involve a shopping cart. I've just set it up for my own business as it's a way of accepting credit card payments inexpensively.

Your customers could order your plant products and at time of shipment you would send them an invoice via email. They get the email with a link to the PP site where they then enter their credit card details. Then, you get notified of the transaction. On your website, in lieu of a PP Buy Now button, you could have a button or link that is set up to inform you of the intended sale.

---Just a thought and maybe something to investigate further. Here is the link to the PP site for more details on their invoicing feature:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/sell/invoicing_works-outside

Anne

[Dan Coutu]

Anne, I followed your link to see how the invoicing feature worked. It appears that it requires the buyer to have a PayPal account, is that correct?

In addition there is apparently no way to integrate the use of their invoicing with a web site. It is a completely independent process. Is that true as well?

Thanks!

Dan

[Anne McKinsey]

Yes, you're correct on both counts:

The PayPal invoicing requires an account set up with PP that is linked to the business owner's bank account (that is why I suggest to my clients that they set it up themselves)—it's very easy to do.

And, yes, the service is not integrated directly with a website—it is completely independent. I have yet to use this invoicing service so cannot comment on its ease of use, but seems it will work very well. Can't remember offhand what fees PP charges for this, but I'm sure it's much cheaper than other credit card services.

Anne

[Dan Coutu]

Anne, thanks for the reply!

I did understand that as a merchant I'd need a paypal account to use it but was actually observing that it seems that the buyer also needs to have a paypal account. In my experience this sends many people, who don't already have a paypal account, scurrying away never to return. So that's what I was trying to get clarification about.

Thanks!

[Anne McKinsey]

Ah, okay. No, contrary to what many people think, it's not necessary for a customer to have a PP account when making a purchase--or when using their Invoicing service. When the customer clicks to make a payment, they can opt to just choose the credit card they wish to pay with. Here is info  copied off the PP site for info re. their Invoicing service:

"Customers click on the payment button in your invoice to pay using their credit card or bank account—they don't even need a PayPal account. You can retrieve payments as soon as they're made."
https://merchant.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?&cmd=_render-content&content_ID=merchant/online_invoicing

--Anne