E-commerce websites can range from very simple to very complex. There are quite a few things to consider when preparing to budget an ecommerce site. Here is a breakdown of the most common features required to do business on the internet.

A basic e-commerce site for a small business can start as low as $2500. More complex sites with shopping carts, affiliate tracking, and other advanced features are available. We will be happy to give you a free estimate, click the Quick Quote link.

For your business to accept credit cards, you must have a merchant account. If you do not already have a merchant account, you can get one through your local bank or an on-line service such as i-payment or CSA. When you get your merchant account, you will have to get either a real physical terminal or a virtual terminal. The price range starts at around $200, so shop around to get a good deal. Your merchant account will charge you a small percentage (1%-3% average) plus a transaction fee around 30 cents per transaction. There is also a monthly statement fee of $10-$25.

Once you have a merchant account, you will need to set up an internet gateway if you want your website to process your transactions automatically. Vexcom works with two of the more popular gateways, Authorize.net and PlugNPay.com. These services also charge a monthly fee ($20-$35), and provide secure transactions with your merchant account.

You will want to have plenty of details about your product(s), including all relevant information such as color, size, weight, style, etc. Be sure to get high quality photographs to display on your site. Depending on how many products you have, you can determine if you will need a shopping cart. If you only have one or two products, then you are better off just making simple order form pages.

While there are quite a few "off-the-shelf" shopping cart packages, most have quite a few limitations when it comes to customization. We have always found that it is better to develop a custom solution built around our clients business model instead of trying to change them to fit a shopping cart. A custom solution allows the system to grow and change with your business and doesn't lock you into a pre-defined model. Custom solutions start at around $2000. ( This is for the shopping cart / ordering system itself, not the entire website.)

A great way to boost your internet sales is to offer an affiliate program. We can implement a custom affiliate program to track and manage affiliate sales. Your affiliates can log in and check their commissions, and you can create reports to show summaries of what your affiliates have earned and how many sales they referred to you. Simple affiliate programs (without automated tracking features), start as low as $750. Contact a vexcom sales representative for a free quote on your project.