I am considering implementing ecommerce, what points should I take on board?

• Research your market and its receptivity to eCommerce
• Know what your competitors are doing and learn from them
• Align business processes to support your online operation
• Establish resources to meet increased demand
• Commit to maintaining your site - the face of your business
• Have realistic expectations, it takes a while to get going

What do I need to get my ecommerce business going?

There are a few key things that need to be set up in order to operate an effective ecommerce business. These are:

• Product or service suitable for selling over the web
• A dynamic website
• Merchant account with your bank for Internet transactions
• Online payment facility - merchant gateway
• Order fulfillment and dispatch systems - shopping cart

Where do I start to set up a merchant account with my bank?

You will need to contact your bank about your intentions to trade online. This will require them to generate a Merchant ID Number and/or Terminal ID number for you to use when registering with our Transaction Gateway. Before this will happen the bank will require you to fill out the relevant forms in regards to your business (ABN etc). There is usually a wait of two to three weeks before the Merchant ID/ Terminal ID will be sent to you by your bank. The Merchant ID/Terminal ID will cover the three main credit cards: Bank Card, Mastercard and Visa. To be able to offer a facility for other cards, such as American Express and Diners, you will have to contact these organisations direct.

Do I need a Merchant Identifier number as well as a Terminal Identifier number from my bank?

Yes. In most cases the Merchant ID and Terminal ID are the same number. But you will need to provide AliveCommerce with both numbers. It varies depending on your merchant bank, that is, the bank that will supply you with the account for internet based transactions.

Is the Merchant ID/Terminal ID different to the EFTPOS Merchant ID/Terminal ID that I currently have?

Yes. You will need to specify clearly to your bank that you will be using their Merchant ID/ Terminal ID numbers for credit payments over the internet. The EFTPOS ID numbers are different and will not work.

What if my bank does not have the Online Merchant ID number/ Terminal ID number facility?

You can still remain with your bank and apply for the Merchant ID / Terminal ID with a different bank on the approval or guidance of your existing bank.

How do we apply for a AliveCommerce service?

AliveCommerce will send you a Merchant Bank Details Form after you express interest that you want to register with us. The form will request information such as your Merchant ID/Terminal ID numbers, the account details with your acquiring bank (ie. where your Merchant ID/Terminal ID numbers are attached to), your ABN and your company address. When you fill out the form you either email it or fax it back to us. You will then be invoiced for the registration of the Payment Gateway. Once the payment has been received by Logic Commere, we then register you with the Transaction Gateway. The time taken for this to occur is 24-48hrs. When the Transaction Gateway for your company is registered the development of your online payment facility using our software will be able to commence using the registered gateway for testing purposes. This will involve us forwarding you the relevant software. When we complete the development and testing of the website and you are happy with it, we then set it live. This process will also take 24-48 hours.

What happens after we register?

Members of AliveCommerce’s support team will contact you and notify that your account has been established and testing can begin. A URL will be given for you to download the software and the instructions for you to implement the software on your website.

What do I do when I receive the Merchant and Terminal ID’s from my bank?

On initial contact with the AliveCommerce sales team you will receive a Merchant Establishment Form. This form contains fields for you to enter in your Company Details, Contact Details, Bank Details and your Merchant and Terminal ID’s. Once you fill out this document and forward it back to AliveCommerce our technical team will proceed to register your details for the testing phase to begin.

On the Merchant Establishment Form what does it mean by “Name to appear on Card”?

The “Name to appear on Card” is typically the trading name that a client will see on their bank statement after making a purchase from your website.

When filling out the Merchant Establishment Form I get to "CARD ACCEPTOR NAME/LOCATION" and I’m not sure what that means?

The Card Acceptor Name/Location is required for Westpac Merchants only. It is a description of your organization to inform the client on their bank statement after purchase from your website. It is the name of your Company, the Location (eg. Brisbane) and Country (eg. AU for Australia). This is an extension of “Name to Appear on Card” but for Westpac Clients only.

What’s the difference between the Merchant Settlement Account and the Billing Account when I’m filling out the Merchant Establishment Form?

The Merchant Settlement Account is the account the funds will be deposited after a purchase has been made from your website. The Billing Account is the account where the Merchant Bank will bill you for nominal fees. In most cases the Merchant Settlement Account and Billing account details are the same.

What about American Express and Diners?

Diners Club and American Express are optional. However if you want to offer American Express and Diners you will require separate Merchant ID and Terminal ID numbers for you to trade online. You will need to contact them if you want to provide clients with a facility to use these cards. American Express in most cases will require to see the functionality of your website before they will issue you with the Merchant ID/Terminal ID numbers.

In relation to using AliveCommerce, does it matter where our website is hosted?

To make use of AliveCommerce, your web site can be hosted with any web host. Obviously we recommend Alive Hosting. The application software that we provide to you is hosted within AliveCommerce on a secure server. Our application software is executed by you by remotely calling our server. This is possible using Javascript code that we provide to you and you embed into your website. A “Submit” button can be used to launch our software from your site. The software is in the form of a Popup Window that will appear above your site and will ask for the Credit Card details of your client.

What does the Javascript code do?

The Javascript code will ask you to pass to AliveCommerce an Account Code that we assign to you, the amount value and a currency from code (US dollars, Australian dollars, Euro etc) to the Popup Window. Once the Popup Window receives the variables, it passes those variables back to you, via a return or fail URL that you provide to us, along with the Transaction Gateway’s summary code, response code and the cardholders email address. These details you can use at your disposal, possibly to populate your own databases. Because of this, your website needs to be able to dynamically accept these variables, for example using ASP, Coldfusion, Perl/CGI and Java.

How long does it take before we can trade online?

It depends on the type of e-commerce merchant facility you want. We have several applications and services that we can provide for you and the length of time will depend on the level of work required. The level of customization is also a factor in the length of time and cost to a project. More often then not the solution that we provide requires some customisation of our product to suit your needs. If you want a standard credit card facility the whole registration and development process can take from one to two weeks maximum.

When will I receive the money from online purchases?

The transactions are all in real time. That is, the money is debited from the Cardholders card instantaneously. When a client goes to your website and purchases a product through AliveCommerce’s Popup Credit Facility, their credit card details (card number, expiry date etc) is sent instantaneously through the Transaction Gateway to your Merchant Bank which will reply with a response and summary code. This code will tell our application software if the transaction is valid or not and it will return a message accordingly. The valid/failed transaction is recorded in our database. The dispersal of money is then the responsibility of the cardholder's bank and your Merchant Bank. It will depend on the bank but generally the transfer of funds occurs within a few hours.

Do I receive reports on the transactions?

AliveCommerce has a Client Administration Zone that will suit your every need in regards to transaction reporting. When you register with us, we provide you with the URL to access the Administration Zone as well as the Username and Password. Detailed approved and failed transaction reports, along with other administration tools, are available there.

I’m worried about security, what security measures do you take?

The AliveCommerce Transaction Server, Credit Card Facility, Shopping Cart Facility and Administration Zone is protected by 128 bit Thawte certificate. The data sent along the transaction gateway to the Merchant Bank and Payment Gateways are encrypted using public and private key technology.

The credit card number, that the Cardholder inputs when purchasing a product, is encrypted on AliveCommerce’s databases using Java’s Data Encryption Standard which offers 56 bit encryption within the database. Our Credit Card facility records the Name, email address and IP address of the person making a purchase for tracking of transactions and quick reference if the need arises.

When do we get our invoice?

AliveCommerce will invoice on the receipt of the Merchant Establishment Form from you.

What if I don’t have a developer?

AliveCommerce will be able to implement the software for you. Please contact our sales team at sales@alive.com.au and they will organise pricing for you.

I already have a shopping cart can I still use AliveCommerce?

Yes. It depends on the application that you are using as the shopping cart. Some shopping cart applications will not allow a third party to integrate the shopping cart to connect to a different gateway. A good indication is if the shopping cart allows you to have access to certain levels of the source code so that it can be manipulated for changes. We recommend that you contact the vendor or developer of your shopping cart to ensure that it is possible to connect to a different transaction gateway using their application. Please feel free to contact us also so that we can investigate to see if it is possible for us to integrate. We recommend a couple of good shopping cart applications.

How long will it take for my site to go live?

This will depend on the work of your developer. Once we receive the Merchant Establishment Form we will issue a test certificate to enable the testing phase. The issuing stage is approximately one hour. At this time your developer should have downloaded the software from website and the AliveCommerce support team will provide you or your developer with Usernames, Passwords and Account Code Information to begin testing. Once your developer is finished with the implementation of the software and is in the final stages of testing they contact us and we will test the system and register for a “Live Certificate” that will enable online payments. The live registering phase takes between 24 – 48 hours.

Do you provide support in the implementation and testing phase of your software?

Yes. All support queries can be directed to support@alive.com.au and our team will respond accordingly.

What is our contract with AliveCommerce?

The contract with AliveCommerce is within the Merchant Establishment Form. The standard contract is on an annual basis.

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