finding the right type of acct

i am a parent looking to set up a website for a dance school wherein I can post news, have a gallery and enable the school owner to recieve secure payment online for lessons. I am looking at options and wonder if anyone can venture an opinion for me.

[MachineDog]

Lol, I'm a kid. Okay, it'd probablly be good to start off with the "Baby" plan and go from there. For secure payment using credit cards you'll need an SSL Cert which you can buy from HG and they'll install it for $70 a year, the credit card processing will need to be done manually. If you want to use Paypal or other payment processors like 2checkout you won't need an SSL. Also, I recommend using something like osCommerce for payment. Dunno about re-occuring online payments though. Hope I helped.

Originally Posted by MachineDog

Lol, I'm a kid. Okay, it'd probablly be good to start off with the "Baby" plan and go from there. For secure payment using credit cards you'll need an SSL Cert which you can buy from HG and they'll install it for $70 a year, the credit card processing will need to be done manually. If you want to use Paypal or other payment processors like 2checkout you won't need an SSL. Also, I recommend using something like osCommerce for payment. Dunno about re-occuring online payments though. Hope I helped.

Its a start Thanks!

I am a bit of a noob to this so I am researching options...

[Blondy]

There are many people here that can offer advice on what you need. If you have your own merchant facilities, I would stick with your own private SSL certificate and manual processing to keep the costs down. CC Processing merchants like PayPal, CCBill, WorldPay, 2Checkout, Instabill, etc. all charge per-transaction amounts (percentage of total usually).

So, for arguments sakes, one of your clients wants to pay for 2 years advance dancing lessons. Even if you use PayPal (which takes 2.9% + $0.30), and say the yearly cost is $2,000. PayPal would keep $58.30 of that transaction. If you use someone like 2CO (2Checkout), they take 5.5% + $0.45 per transaction. That means they would keep $110.45 of that money. I am sure you could find better things to be spending that money on.

I would say, since your business is primarily OFFLINE, and they would be people who have to see you face-to-face to get the service they pay for, risk of chargebacks would be near ZERO. If it were me, I'd do the manual processing. That way you keep all the $$$.

Good luck!!

Originally Posted by Blondy

There are many people here that can offer advice on what you need. If you have your own merchant facilities, I would stick with your own private SSL certificate and manual processing to keep the costs down. CC Processing merchants like PayPal, CCBill, WorldPay, 2Checkout, Instabill, etc. all charge per-transaction amounts (percentage of total usually).

So, for arguments sakes, one of your clients wants to pay for 2 years advance dancing lessons. Even if you use PayPal (which takes 2.9% + $0.30), and say the yearly cost is $2,000. PayPal would keep $58.30 of that transaction. If you use someone like 2CO (2Checkout), they take 5.5% + $0.45 per transaction. That means they would keep $110.45 of that money. I am sure you could find better things to be spending that money on.

I would say, since your business is primarily OFFLINE, and they would be people who have to see you face-to-face to get the service they pay for, risk of chargebacks would be near ZERO. If it were me, I'd do the manual processing. That way you keep all the $$$.

Good luck!!

Thanks that helps alot!!!

[MachineDog]

Didn't really think about that. ^^; Yeah, that'd work. I guess I normally don't mind since my charges on PayPal are usually small.

[Serra]

Originally Posted by MachineDog

Didn't really think about that. ^^; Yeah, that'd work. I guess I normally don't mind since my charges on PayPal are usually small.

Really depends on how you use CC processing. I use CC processing for as many transactions as possible, including my hosting plans. This gives me a lot of flexibility and allows me to get payments very quickly. The overall cost is about $360.00 a year plus about 1.5%, but it saves me a ton of trips to the bank and with gas prices, I figure that is about $2150.00 a year.

Actually, I have a business partner that spends several hours a week driving around to pickup checks... for me, it just isn't worth it. I'd rather make more money than collect it.

[eurgbp]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

i am a parent looking to set up a website for a dance school wherein I can post news, have a gallery and enable the school owner to recieve secure payment online for lessons. I am looking at options and wonder if anyone can venture an opinion for me.

start with Hatchling Plan it is a good starting point
you don't need much space or traffic, and save a pleasant amount of money

[EarlyOut]

Um, you do realize that you're posting responses to posters who haven't been here in five years, right?