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18. How do you get the money?

You have addressed all security concerns. But how do you get the money from a customer?

For some reason many people think everything is different, if they do business over the Internet. This is wrong. The Internet is just an additional sales channel - albeit a very powerful one. So accepting money over the Internet is no different to accepting money from a customer who orders a product from you by telephone.

You can ask people to send you a check, money order or to transfer money into your account. Or you can offer them Cash On Delivery or use any other payment method you can think of. Of course you should be satisfied that the selected payment methods meet your security requirements.

Accepting credit cards is a little more complex - as it requires you to have a special bank account. This bank account is called a merchant account. Talk to your bank to find out if they can provide you with a merchant account or ask them who can.

Your merchant account provider will also be able to tell you which cards you can accept. MasterCard and Visa are the most common cards used around the world.

If you run an existing business, you may already accept credit cards.

Ask your bank, if this account may be used to do business over the Internet. If they don’t allow you to do this, just talk to another bank. 


  
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