Small Business eCommerce Web Hosting

Small business ecommerce web hosting

The phrase small business ecommerce web hosting can get a little confusing. I have no idea how to separate ecommerce web hosting from shopping cart hosting or for that matter website hosting, the reason is that many hosting companies use these terms loosely.

My take on what I consider small business ecommerce web hosting relates to a checkout stand and a credit and debit card merchant account that is secure. I know this is a simple approach to the term, small business ecommerce hosting.

I think that ecommerce hosting can stand alone for websites that place their products and/or services on their website and use the ecommerce hosting as a easy and secure method of taking credit or debit card orders.

Small business merchant account

When it comes to a credit or debit card merchant account, this service can be applied for by any business that has a store, physical or on the internet. However, they can get pricey if you don't have the volume of sales to justify them, well, at least in the past its been that way.

The other option is using an ecommerce hosting company that has a program which includes a merchant account or using something like PayPal, but they will take a slice of your pie for their service.

One more thought about a merchant account is that most of them have a no-fault return policy with a set time limit, this can cause you some headaches down the line, especially for service type billings.

Ecommerce services and solutions

The bottom line as I see it is that the ecommerce hosting provides you with a secure and safe method to transact a sale and the transfer of money. If you have a small number of products and/or services, PayPal may be a more reasonable solution.

Pros and cons of a small business ecommerce

In most cases ecommerce has an additional cost over and above your shopping cart or website hosting. However, if you have a large number of products, a good shopping cart and ecommerce hosting service is a easy way to manage your inventory, make price changes or discounts and to complete a secure sale and transfer of money to your bank account.

Internet small business resources

• United States Small Business Administration
• Counselors of America's Small Business (Score)