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PCG Hosting Support
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PCG Hosting Secure Server & E-Commerce FAQ
Select a question, or scroll down to learn more about Ecommerce:
What is Ecommerce? Ecommerce (a.k.a. electronic commerce, EC, Ebusiness, Etailing) is the buying and selling of goods and services on the Internet or more specifically the World Wide Web. What are the components to build an Ecommerce web site? The first component of Ecommerce is to establish a presence on the web, by signing up for a hosting account. Secondly, to sell goods online, you will need a) shopping cart software, and if you want to process credit cards online: b) secure sockets layer enabled, c) a payment gateway, and d) an internet merchant account. If you plan to sell your products online and accept credit cards, we recommend that you subscribe to one of our Ecommerce bundles, that come with these components. What is SSL or Secure Sockets Layer? How does it work? Please see our SSL page for an explanation of SSL and how it works, accessible here. Does PCG Hosting have a secure commerce server? Yes, PCG Hosting has a secure certificate installed to each virtual hosting server. All Ecommerce, Web Starter hosting plans or above get SSL included in the monthly price. Can I use PCG Hosting's secure certificate and SSL connection? PCG Hosting allows its Ecommerce, Web Standard and above hosting customers to use the PCG Hosting SSL server certificate for free. This is simply done by referring to https://asv1.sagenetworks.com/~sv000000/ rather than http://... when creating a link in your HTML. Any directory, www page, or image (anything in your public web directory) can be served securely by preceding the URL in the link with https:// and the proper server information (outlined in the following question). Note: Pages constructed in MS FrontPage can not be made secure using the above manner, because FrontPage webbots do not work in the secure sockets layer. How can I use SSL for secure transmission? If you are on an Ecommerce, Web Standard or above hosting plan, you get SSL secure server access with your account. In order to use SSL on your account, change the URL of your web pages as follows.
Note: Pages constructed in MS FrontPage can not be made secure using the above manner, because FrontPage webbots do not work in the secure sockets layer. If I prefer not to use PCG Hosting's name and my provisioning ID for the SSL certificate, what can I do? Purchase your own certificate from a Certificate Authority such as VeriSign or Thawte. The current cost for a VeriSign certificate is $349 payable to VeriSign, or $125 payable to Thawte for a Thawte certificate. By purchasing your own secure certificate you can then use https://[insertyourdomain.com] for your site's secure URLs. The steps in this process are:
Where can I find information about security on the Web? You can find information about security at the following sites: DevEdge (Netscape's Developer Central) HotBot's List of Links WebMonkey And, if you are interested in a book, check out the O'Reilly Web Security & Commerce book. How do I know which of PCG Hosting's Ecommerce packages is best for me? Ecommerce Basic If you have few products and you expect the number of transactions to be low, then Ecommerce Basic is ideal. Mercantec SoftCart StartupT enables a store of up to 10 items to be created. Payment processing is done offline. Ecommerce orders are taken on a secure connection (SSL) so your customers can feel secure when placing their order with you. Ecommerce Special If your needs include a larger number of products or you want the convenience of processing transactions completely online, then Ecommerce Special fits your needs. Mercantec SoftCart LiteT enables you to create stores of up to 100 products with an optional online payment service. After obtaining a merchant account, payments may be processed using Cybercash or other selected payment gateways. With the included hosting services, Ecommerce Special allows you to present a very functional, sales-generating Web site at a very reasonable cost. Ecommerce Pro If your plans include a large Web store - greater than 100 products - then Ecommerce Pro is the plan for you. In addition to the unlimited number of products that can be accommodated, Mercantec SoftCart ProfessionalT has the same great features as SoftCart Lite, such as support for online payment services and SSL. Ecommerce Pro is a complete and robust ecommerce solution that also includes Web hosting services. It is not required that you select an Ecommerce package to handle Ecommerce on your PCG Hosting web site, however since we have bundled the necessary Ecommerce components together for you, we are attempting to save you time and money from purchasing all of these components separately. How many products can I sell with PCG Hosting's Ecommerce packages? Theoretically, it is unlimited. PCG Hosting packages and supporting versions of SoftCart have been built to support various levels of products (or SKUs). A merchant can sell from 10 or less to thousands of products and the SoftCart family will support it. What is shopping cart software? Shopping cart software acts as an online store's catalog and ordering process. Typically, it allows a consumer to browse the web site, select items for purchase as they browse, review what they have selected; make necessary modifications or additions; and purchase the merchandise. The shopping cart software selected by PCG Hosting is Mercantec's SoftCart 5.0. Each PCG Hosting Ecommerce package includes a version of SoftCart. Where do I get support on the OpenMarket ShopSite Express, Manager, and Pro products? PCG Hosting recommends that all users of the ShopSite products use the support mechanisms of OpenMarket: http://www.shopsite.com/help/index.html There is a demo shopping site available at OpenMarket: http://www.shopsite.com/cgi-bin/demo/demo.cgi And a "Quick Start Guide": http://www.shopsite.com/help/setup.html Also - here is the URL to online demos for Express/Manager/Pro: http://www.openmarket.com/shopsite/demo/ Credit Card Processing Information: http://www.shopsite.com/help/payment.merchant.html Other support materials including FAQ's, training, etc.: http://www.openmarket.com/shopsite/products/table.cfm http://www.shopsite.com/help/faq.html http://www.shopsite.com/help/new.users.html What is Mercantec SoftCart 5.0? Mercantec SoftCart 5.0 is considered one of the most popular Ecommerce solutions on the market today because of its reputation for ease of use, unparalleled security, proven reliability, open architecture and worldwide adaptability. Out of the box, SoftCart provides merchants with an easy to use interface that walks new merchants through the required steps of setting up a viable Ecommerce storefront capable of accepting both on and offline orders. What differentiates Mercantec SoftCart 5.0 from the competition?
Is Mercantec SoftCart secure? SoftCart offers the highest level of security in the industry. Not only is the data encrypted going from the shopper to the merchant, it's encrypted when it resides on the server prior to downloading by the merchant. It is critical that all data (credit card info) be encrypted while traveling to and from the merchant. This is one of SoftCart's hallmarks. Where do I get support on the Mercantec SoftCart products? PCG Hosting will provide support in getting SoftCart installed on your account. Basic support in set up is also available, but PCG Hosting advises all customers to read the available documentation provided by Mercantec. You can reach the Mercantec Online Support and FAQs at http://www.mercantec.com/support/index.html What is a payment gateway? A payment gateway is simply software that is hosted on a server that links an online store to a process that verifies that a customer who is placing a credit card order has the credit available and that the order should be accepted. Later, when the merchant is ready to submit the charges for processing, the payment gateway accepts them and submits the charges to a payment processor who facilitates the transfer of funds to the merchant. What is an internet merchant account? An internet merchant account allows a merchant to process credit cards online and to have the funds electronically transferred into his/her bank account. Merchant account providers charge a fee for their services over and above the fees that are charged for the Ecommerce package you select with PCG Hosting. Must I have a merchant account and payment gateway to do Ecommerce? No. You can have just the shopping cart to capture the order information and then manually process the transactions offline, as you do normal non-web sales. Where do I get support regarding VeriSign? VeriSign has an extensive support area online. Be sure to refer to this site to get the answers you are looking for regarding your VeriSign secure certificate. Where do I get support on CyberCash? There are a number of documents on establishing a CyberCash account, a merchant account, and other information, all located at the CyberCash web site. For help on our PCG Hosting CyberCash gateway, please contact our Technical Support department. What are the files involving CyberCash installed in my directory? First, download and/or read the CyberCash manual that contains a majority of the information you will need to know about CyberCash (including setting up your storefront). In the user's root directory these files are installed: ccpaylogo.gif cyberlogo.gif test-mck.html (the test page) The ASP scripts and templates are installed in your CGI directory: CCMerchantCustom.inc CCMerchantTest.inc directpaycheck.asp directpaycredit.asp example-query.asp fullfillment.asp mswalletpay.asp testdriver.asp in a subdir of cgi-bin: templates: cardPayment.tem customFailureResponse.tem customReceipt.tem customRedirectResponse.tem directchecksale.tem directcreditsale.tem failFulfillment.tem mswalletsale.tem mswjs.tem mswPayment.tem scriptError.tem tempDifficulties.tem thanks.tem Please note that .asp files go into NT accounts, and .cgi and .pl files go into Unix accounts. .inc and .tem files can go into either type of account. There is also a "logs" directory, in which nothing is installed. CyberCash creates logs there for the customer to troubleshoot and see how many people are using the pages for ordering. For more information on each of these files, please refer to the CyberCash documentation. What are the complete steps necessary to implement CyberCash?
What do I need to get started with CyberCash?
What do I need to send PCG Hosting to set up CyberCash on my account? PCG Hosting needs five pieces of information from you, three of which should be given to you upon signing up with CyberCash for an account. (If you do not have this information, please contact CyberCash to obtain it). From CyberCash:
How do I submit refunds, perform manual transactions, check my monthly balance, etc. with CyberCash? All account information is on the CyberCash side. PCG Hosting does not affect this administration and there is no connection between transaction amounts, problems, support, refunds, etc. and PCG Hosting, Inc. The Administrative interface with CyberCash can be reached by logging into your account there at amps.CyberCash.com. How do I get my shopping cart to send the necessary info to CyberCash? Communications with CyberCash is done through form information. The form involves basic HTML code and it is necessary to set the fields and action of this form specifically. Use the templates contained within your directory after we setup your CyberCash software as a guide.
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