To Cart or Not?

[majikmushroom]

I have been selling my log furniture online now for about three years. My average sale is around $700.00. I have not used a store front account, but am researching whether or not it might be beneficial to sales. My thinking is that with large sums of money for a housefull of furniture the client would rather talk to me directly to place an order or for a credit card transaction. I have the following on each of my product pages. "To protect your credit card information we ask that you call in your order, Toll Free, at 1-800-944-1966"
Any ideas or comments would be appreciated. Reed

[stymiee]

That's a great idea. You are reducing your exposure to fraud and chargebacks substantially by speaking directly to the customer.

[frogmanandy]

I think you should offer both. We get a large amount of business through people who call in, but we also sell a ton straight off the internet. You do not have to process the order online. At our checkout page we tell people that the order will not be finalized and their card will not be charged until we have contacted them. This works great, but we still feature our phone number prominently on each page for people who would rather talk to us by phone. In our industry talking to the people is key for selling upgrades and add ons and this approach has been working great.

[davidredwine]

My company used to only sell their education products (some priced over $100) by taking faxed in orders or by phone. Orders range from $20 to $800.

I instituted a Shopping Cart system to their website, SEO'd the product page and other pages to get them better rankings for the products. Sales are a little better in that we saw about a %30 increase in sales of product over the phone in method. We now offer all three methods. The only time somebody phones in an order is when they kind of goof up with their cart. That has happened 2 times in the 1.5 years the cart has been in operation.

We clearly show our addresses, phone numbers, email address (hidden from harvesters by javascript) and our smiling faces on the web site. I think that is important for converting visitors into buyers.

I use authorize.net for my payment gateway and http://www.king-cart.com/ for my shopping cart. I love the way http://www.king-cart.com/ allows me to create the code using their tools, then lets me post the actual code directly on my web pages on my server. I have had zero fraudulent charges or attempts to exploit my product page.

[alegriadj]

We used to have the same thoughts, then we added the ability to "Buy It Now" and now we recieve more orders from impulse buyers. Don't let that money get away.

[Orion]

Telephone is a very unsecure method of providing information, there are kiddy toys that can pick up sound, and phone calls are extremely easy to intercept.

Using a credit card at a retail store is the most insecure, and the #1 way in which peoples debit and credit information is stolen.

Secure online transactions, on a properly set up server, encrypted by SSL, in a cart that does NOT store credit information, is far far more secure.

Now whether you use a system like PayPal or get your own merchant account and gateway (or both) doesn't matter, but I think it would be a great idea to offer some way to transact securely online.

[majikmushroom]

Ron I do have a merchant account that I use. After I talk to the customer and get his cc information I go to my merchant acc.( encrypted ), enter the propers then destroy the information I recieved over the phone. I am the only one that handles any cc information. I want to thank those of you who responded. It looks like I will try out a shopping cart. Thanks a lot, Reed

[gretta]

You may also take advantage of different payment options like check, money order, etc. The thing is that all those channels must be under the same back office for centralized processing and reporting. The e-commerce for furniture market can bring you more market exposure and benefits. See how one Italian company leverages this: http://www.aceflex.com/marzorati.asp

[lince]

The best possible solution for online shopping is to
ask the customer to enter the

Full Name
Location
Credit card
credit card number
Credit card 3 or 4 digit number

these are the basic steps for online shopping
I think this informaTION WOULD BE USEFUL FOR YOU

[tkershaw]

Originally Posted by lince

The best possible solution for online shopping is to
ask the customer to enter the

Full Name
Location
Credit card
credit card number
Credit card 3 or 4 digit number

Yes, all this information is helpful to process a credit card, one required item is missing though; the expiration date! Make sure that if you store this information in a database that you do not save the 3 or 4 digit security code. This is a violation of your merchant agreement and would put you at risk. Your solution of destroying the info as soon as it is used seems a bit overboard - sure sounds like the ultimate way to protect you and your client though!

Tony.

[tkershaw]

Originally Posted by majikmushroom

I have been selling my log furniture online now for about three years. My average sale is around $700.00. I have not used a store front account, but am researching whether or not it might be beneficial to sales. My thinking is that with large sums of money for a housefull of furniture the client would rather talk to me directly to place an order or for a credit card transaction. I have the following on each of my product pages. "To protect your credit card information we ask that you call in your order, Toll Free, at 1-800-944-1966"
Any ideas or comments would be appreciated. Reed

I am skeptical that a shopping cart ecommerce solution would be helpful to your situation because you are selling a unique high dollar product and not cookie cutter widgets off the shelf.

I would never buy furniture on the internet myself as I would prefer to go to a local shop and try it on for size. Maybe I am too old school and don't understand the digital age perspective as well as I should. Something like furniture that you sit in and use every day warrants a more careful and thoughtful approach I would think. It is not like you can throw it back in a box and have UPS return it the next day if you don't like it...

Tony.

[A. Smith]

Many people buy high ticket items online. Look at Ebay! You can buy a $70,000 car! Look at completed items, and see the pricey stuff people buy online.

Offering both is the best way. Then your customers can decide on which method they're comfortable with. I used Mal's e-cart for a former business (they offer a free version that will accomodate most businesses).

[etechsupport]

Yep, you should allow your visitors to view and select the product and add it to shopping cart. You could also get seal of trusted site it will build trust among your visitors during shopping and checkout process.

[tkershaw]

Originally Posted by A. Smith

Many people buy high ticket items online. Look at Ebay! You can buy a $70,000 car! Look at completed items, and see the pricey stuff people buy online.

Yes, this is true. Certain well researched types of transactions I can see spending lots of cash for; if you know exactly what you want! I am the type who prefers to kick the tires per se, so I doubt that I would ever buy a car on the internet.

Originally Posted by A. Smith

Offering both is the best way. Then your customers can decide on which method they're comfortable with. I used Mal's e-cart for a former business (they offer a free version that will accomodate most businesses).

That is good advise - giving customers options is generally a good thing unless you give them so many that they become confused.

Tony.

[etechsupport]

Also make sure that your visitors should feel secured during shopping and checkout process.