How a typical online store works?

Fore ground:

To begin with, we will look at a straightforward online store like Amazon.com or flipkart.com. Such stores sell physical objects like books, DVDs and clothing, and digital information like MP3 music files, digital videos and software.

Most online stores have the same fundamental structure:

1. An interface that allows you to search for products or services
2. A shopping basket where you can list items you wish to purchase
3. A checkout procedure

Some online stores will require you to create an account with them before you can purchase anything. Others will allow you to do once-off purchases without signing up for an account.

Why sign up for an account at an online store?

An account can be useful:

• It allows the site to record your credit card and contact information so that you do not have to re-enter it every time you want to make a purchase.
• It can keep a record of things you bought in the past.
• It can generate suggestions for things you might want to buy, based on your past browsing and purchasing record.

Some sites offer additional benefits to account holders, such as:

• Member discounts and special offers
• Newsletters or updates on the items you purchased

The checkout process

Most sites make it very easy to buy online. Every step is clear, and you will have many chances to change your mind. You can cancel the process at any point and see the total you will pay, including shipping costs, before you make the payment.

Example: Amazon.com

In this example, we are assuming that you have searched for and found an item you wish to buy on Amazon.com.

Choose the item you want, and add it to your shopping cart by clicking on the “Add to Cart” button. The “Buy with 1-Click” option means that you will bypass the checkout procedure described below and buy the item immediately.

If you first want to check what you are about to buy, you can go to your “shopping basket” by clicking on the shopping basket icon at the top of any page. The shopping basket is a page that keeps track of all the items you wish to buy or have bought in the past. Notice the “Save for later” and “Delete” buttons in the screenshot below.

If you are ready to buy, click the “Proceed to Checkout” button. This button takes you to a page where you can specify how you wish to pay for the items in your cart.

This will take you to a series of pages in which you can fill in your personal details, your postal address and your payment method – for example, your credit card number. There may be several “continue” buttons. These will take you to the next page, and won’t trigger payment.

When you have filled in all the necessary information, you will be shown a final page on which all the details are displayed.

If you are satisfied, you can click on the “Place your order” button. This button will trigger payment. On other sites, this button may be called “purchase”, “submit payment”, “pay now” or something similar. Don’t click on this button more than once, as in some cases it could result in more than one order being placed.

Once your order is processed, the site will give you feedback on its success. This may take the form of a page containing an order number, or an email with the details of your transaction. This is important information. You will need it if anything goes wrong with your order or if you are not satisfied with the product you purchased.

Some tips for pain-free checking out

• Stay calm. You can change your order or cancel at any stage – right until the final stage of submitting payment. Many sites even allow you to cancel the purchase after that point, but that is obviously not ideal.
• Don’t hit the “back” button of your browser, as this may confuse the process. If possible, look for “edit”, “delete order” or “cancel” buttons in the shopping site itself.
• Only hit the final button if you are sure. An incomplete checkout won’t be processed, and no payment will be made.

Shopping safely

• Check the URL in the address bar. If you are about to enter sensitive information on a website, always have a quick look at the URL of the site in the browser’s address bar. If it is a secure site, the URL will start with the letters “https”. A normal site will have the letters “http” without the final “s”.

• Look for the lock. Your browser will display a small lock icon. Depending on the browser you use, it may be in the status bar at the bottom of the browser or in the address bar at the top.

• Take care when sharing your information. Never give your credit card number over the telephone unless you initiated the call. Never respond to an email that asks for sensitive information.

Back Ground:

eCommerce stands for Electronic Commerce, which is in itself a broad term for selling on the internet through a website, electronically. With the ability to process credit cards electronically on the internet, just about anything can be sold on the web.eCommerce websites are built differently, but they all use the same basic functions. The ability to accept credit cards is clearly a defining factor. Most times the credit does not actually process through your website, for security reasons, but processes through a payment gateway(like paypal.) A payment gateway is a company that works with the credit card companies to be sure that all credit card transactions are processed securely and credit card numbers are not stored by small businesses. 

You must have an account with a payment gateway to accept credit card on your website. Although your transactions will process through a gateway, the viewer will never know or be directed away from your website. Your website will be guarded with 128-bit encryption using an SSL certificate, making fraud nearly impossible. When a purchase is made the money will be transferred directly into your businesses' bank account. 
When an order is placed, the customer's purchase and payment information will come into your administration section. You will login with your desired username and password to view this information.