Business funding options for unemployed single mum? Stuck! Please help

emsywoo123

GolfBravo wrote: »

I think the other option for you would be shopify - you can easily design a ecommerce website using their templates, and they take care of payment processing, etc. They do charge a monthly subscription, but there is also a 14 day free trial. Why not give it a go?

Sorry, just jumping on this a second, as my parents have been asking me about this and I am stumped with ecommerce.

Say I set this up for them, do people then pay via credit card? How does that money then arrive in my parent's bank account?

Thank you and sorry for a potentially stupid bunch of questions :rotfl:

lincroft1710

Prothet_of_Doom wrote: »

Have you tried the PRINCE's TRUST ?

See Post#26

GolfBravo

emsywoo123 wrote: »

Say I set this up for them, do people then pay via credit card? How does that money then arrive in my parent's bank account?

With Shopify there are 2 options:
- if you already have a merchant account (for example Barclaycard EPDQ) you can merge the Shopify checkout with your existing merchant account. A customer makes a purchase, checks out, the website then redirects the purchaser to the merchant bank to make a payment (eg. Barclaycard), the bank securely takes the money (credit/debit card), and then redirects the customer back to your website and at the same time sends a payment confirmation to your shopping cart. The collected money is then transferred to your bank account and both you and your customer receive confirmation emails. A merchant account like this costs from around £20 per month, and you can also use it to take credit card payments over the phone/email/etc.
- the second option is Shopify payment gateway. A customer makes a purchase and makes the payment without technically leaving your shopping cart. Shopify take the payment securely in the background and then send you and the customer email confirmations. They take their 3% + £0.30 commission and then transfer the money to your nominated bank account a few days later.

So if you already have a merchant account you should use the bank's payment gateway and integrate it within Shopify - the money is in your bank account almost instantly in most cases. For a startup with no merchant account it makes sense to start with Shopify's payment gateway.

And don't forget they also charge 1-2% transaction fees, plus monthly subscription - unfortunately all this can add up very quickly. A self hosted Wordpress or Opencart online shop can be more cost effective, but there many variables.

You can have a DIY online store for peanuts (there are many free shopping carts available, plus cheap hosting), but then you need to develop it yourself and it takes time.

PS
Just keep in mind that setting up your online shop is the easy part. Attracting customers and generating sales is the hard bit - most online shops compete with the likes of Amazon and Ebay.