Netcera’s Datasite software includes all you need for a highly flexible, capable web-based product catalog and shopping cart utilizing our optional Data View, Data Search, and Shopping Cart plug-ins. Pricing is variable based on your needs; below we have delineated typical setup costs beyond the design and setup of your website.

Please note that, unlike most hosting companies, these prices include setup and customization. If you are comparing our pricing to other hosting companies, their pricing does not usually include the cost of the catalog and shopping cart setup. And, of course, the Netcera e-commerce system is fully integrated with the Datasite's content management system, which greatly simplifies management.

Setup Costs:

• Setup of catalog – variable, but usually between $50-200 depending on complexity of formatting, whether you manage setup of individual items or we do, and options such as search.
• Setup of shopping cart – $50 for a typical application
• Secure certificate – we sell secure certificates for $69/year or $119 for two years (128-bit with $2,500 maximum warranty per transaction; higher maximum warranty certificates are also available); other sources include www.verisign.com, www.geotrust.com and www.thawte.com. Our pricing is considerably less than most providers.
  Another option is to use Netcera’s secure certificate, which eliminates this yearly cost but means that the secure portions of your website will need to have a URL such as https://www.netcera.com/Secure/YourName/ - this does not look as professional as https://www.yoursite.com or https://secure.yoursite.com/.
• Secure site setup - $40.00 initial setup; $20.00 for certificate renewal replacement (whenever your certificate expires – if you get a 1-year certificate, this would be at the end of every year).
  Total – starting at $209.00

Monthly Cost:

• Hosting – variable, typically $20/month
• Plugins - $10/month for shopping cart ($5) and DataView/Search ($5). Note that these plugins can also be used for other applications at no additional cost.
• Secure Server monthly maintenance - $2/month
  Total - $32/month, including hosting

There are three options for taking credit cards for orders submitted to your website:

1. A standard merchant account for manual submission of transactions from the website. Better for occasional sales where the company has an existing merchant account.
2. Real-time processing through merchant account with electronic gateway.
3. An “instant” merchant account such as www.2checkout.com – better for occasional sales, and faster setup. Fees are higher per transaction, but no monthly fees.

Standard merchant account

If you already have a merchant account utilizing a physical terminal or call-in process, you can use this same system without having to add charges for an Internet gateway or changing to a provider that supports e-commerce if your current provider does not.

Your website would be set up with a secure shopping cart, and whenever an order is placed you are notified of the order by email or fax. You would then go online to retrieve the payment information on our secure server, and enter it just as you would a phone order.

Real-time processing with a merchant account

With real-time e-commerce, the customer's credit card is charged while they wait, once they click the button to submit the charges. The typical monthly fees for a merchant account are between $15 and $35, and typically $.20-.35 per transaction plus 2-4% of the transaction fee. Lower rates are found by shopping around both with local banks and online. Sometimes a local bank will provide extremely competitive rates.

There are a number of charges associated with a merchant account; unfortunately it's not as easy as figuring out who has the best rate, your projected average transaction amount and the number of transactions per month will be important as you try to determine the best company for you. Also, most merchant accounts will charge a penalty for early termination of an account. If you have a three-year term, for example, they will charge a high fee if you terminate in the first year, a lower fee for the second year, and a still lower fee for termination in the third year. However, you may find that your local bank has relatively good rates and does not charge termination fees. These are all things to take into consideration.

Here is a website that contains some very good information on merchant accounts: Gotmerchant.com Merchant Services

“Instant” merchant account with real-time processing

Services such as www.2checkout.com offer instant setup of a real-time payment processing system utilizing their own gateway and merchant account. You do not need to apply for a merchant account, and there is no monthly charge. This is good for a company that will process less than $1,000/month of credit card charges, or if you need to offer credit card processing quickly while you apply for a true merchant account.

Rates are $49 setup and 5.5% of the transaction amount, plus a $.45 transaction fee.

Comparison of merchant account to 2checkout.com

While 2checkout.com rates are much higher than a normal merchant account, for lower total volume this is offset by the lack of monthly fees

In other words, if your merchant account charges $25/month for an account where you are charged 3% plus $.25 per transaction, it will cost you $36.50/month for ten $30 transactions ($11.50 + $25 = $36.50), whereas with 2checkout it would cost you $21.00.

Please feel free to discuss the available options with us via email: sales@netcera.com
or phone: 866.434.3223 or 866.NETCERA (866.638.2372).