Secure Ecommerce Transactions

How secure ecommerce works

Simply, secure ecommerce is the ability to accept credit card transactions from customers when they order goods or services from a website.

The transaction takes place over a secure encrypted connection (i.e.. https://) between the customers computer, your website and a secure ecommerce system.

It is easy to see if you are using a secure connection. In the address bar of your web browser there will be https:// (with the 's' meaning secure) and most browsers will also display somewhere an icon of a padlock. The better browsers will also change the background colour of the address bar from the default colour of white to a pale yellow.

The following graphic explanation should give you more insight into the world of Internet commerce.

Step 1.

A customer visits your web site via the normal un-encrypted Internet connection. (i.e.. http://). This insecure connection is displayed in green in the following diagrams.

Step 2.

After deciding to place an order via your web site, the customer clicks on the link to the page containing your Order Form. They will be automatically sent to the secure section (i.e.. https://) of your web site. This secure connection is displayed in red in the following diagrams.

Step 3.

Once the customer has completed the Secure Order Form they will click the Submit button and send the order (via https://) to our secure ecommerce server. Our server will then automatically send an email informing that an order has been placed via your website.

Note: You do not have to be online at the same time as the customer submits their order. However, for the sake of simplicity, we have shown your computer being online at this time in the following example.

Step 4.

Once you are informed via email of your customer's order, you simply click on a hyperlink in the email to connect to your web site via a secure encrypted link. You can then download the order and process the credit card details via your normal credit card merchant facility.

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