[thelist] Shopping Sites, Credit Cards

aardvark roselli at earthlink.net
Thu Jun 27 09:15:07 CDT 2002


> From: ashiel at sportsinteraction.com (Andrew Shiel)
[...]
> The main question is: how do online shops handle credit card numbers?
> There'll be a https form, of course, but what happens to the number
> after that? Does it just get passed to the processor, without ever
> coming near the vendor, or does the vendor have to store it somehow?
> If the vendor needs to store it, what's the safest way to do this?
[...]

the fact that you are asking how to handle cc numbers, and please
*don't* take this the wrong way, leads me to believe that you
*shouldn't* handle cc numbers...

for instance, do you know about not hitting the card for the funds
until the item ships (although you can reserve the amount for a few
days)?  also, both ways you suggest actually happen, depending
on the site, the client, and the needs... you need to state your
needs first, and then find a model that fits...

you said gaming books... i'd say if it's d20 stuff, or even stuff geeks
go for, consider using the site only as a marketing tool, and
pushing people to an outsourced shopping cart vendor or one of the
gaming-oriented sites (hell, try to convince thinkgeek to carry it)...

i'm *way* oversimplifying this, but if you're new to e-comm, it can
be a painful experience to have all alone...


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