One of the most important parts of selling online is to calculate, display, and configure shipping charges. While many commercials for stamps.com make it look so easy to print a label and put it on the box, selecting an appropriate shipping policy with affordable rates can be a nightmare. Also, visitors do not like to see a surprise at checkout – they would like to see the policy before they shop.
Stamps.com doesn’t know your item!
Note that stamps.com and its competitors do not know anything about your product – neither weight nor size. You will have to do the research yourself and tell the software what to charge – within the US and internationally.
Examples of shipping calculations are:
- Free shipping (include shipping in the calculated sale price)
- Charge a base fee and add a fee by item
- Weight based shipping
- Value based shipping
- A combination of the above
SBWeb – Santa Barbara Web Design has built countless stores with a variety of shipping calculations. We mainly work with Woo Commerce and know exactly which plug-in or extension to use for your purpose.
Payment Processors
In order to avoid security risks and audits of PCI compliance, it is wise not to process payments on your website.
Typically, PayPal is the standard choice. Even if you do not have a sophisticated checkout system with a “my account” feature, it offers a simple hosted shopping cart and processes all major credit cards.
Other payment vendors are Stripe, Square, and Authorize.net – just to name the most common ones. While PayPal, Stripe, and Square have similar rates based on the percentage and transaction fee, Authorize.net has a monthly base fee.
However, once you consider selling CBD products, PayPal and Stripe are quick to suspend your account. Square and Authorize.net will take your business under certain conditions.
Call Matt at (805) 699-5058 or (928) 300-7116 to build a successfull online store.
