E-commerce

6. How Much Will It Cost?

Set-up costs can be limited to hundreds, rather than thousands, of pounds. Running costs can also be much lower than for even the smallest traditional shop.

6.1 You will have set-up costs for your shop, including any shopping-cart software and payment processing software.

• Small shops selling a limited range of items can sometimes be set up for a nominal fee. For example, turnkey e-commerce packages start from around £10 a month.
• Most shopping-cart products are available to buy or lease. Some are free, but these are often more complex to install and configure.

6.2 You may wish to spend money on marketing and advertising, although social media can offer a free route to customers.

6.3 The main running expense will be wages for whoever keeps the site up to date.

• You may also pay a basic charge - up to £50 a month, depending on the space required - to your web-hosting company to cover space for your website. This charge is usually included with turnkey packages.

6.4 You will be charged a processing fee by your bank or the agency handling your credit card transactions.

• Most of the internet banks and payment processing companies, such as NetBanx, charge a set-up or annual fee plus a percentage of the value of each transaction.
• However, if your average transaction value will be in excess of £12 or so, it will make more financial sense for you to find a provider that charges a flat rate per transaction with a low monthly fee.
• If you require instant online credit card authorisation, the charges are higher. You will need to use a specialist online processing company and have special shopping-cart software. The more sophisticated and complicated your website and payment system are, the more it will cost.