ecommerce site using paypal???

i have been asked to build a site for a small local business thats sells cut
crystal and they want to sell online, they say they want to use paypal to make
transactions but i am clueless to how this will work with the pages i make -
for example, if i make a page of 12 items in dreamwever (lets call it cut
crystal in the shape of buildings) how do i connect this up to paypal? is it
possible to do it this way?

I mean, its very important that people should be able to actually see what
they are buying (hence the site in dreamweaver with the photos) am i making
sense?

posted this on many forums over the last two months but no one seems to know
how to do this and some say it is not possible so I come to you people for help.

Thank you

PayPal actually has a shopping cart of sorts .. there are pretty good
instructions for using their stuff at http://www.paypal.com. In addition,
there are extensions for using PayPal with DMX .. or at least with
Contribute. I think you can grab them at the DW Exchange.


--
Nancy Gill
Team Macromedia Volunteer for Dreamweaver MX/UltraDev
http://www.macromedia.com/go/team/
BLOG: http://www.dmxwishes.com/blog.html
Co-Author: Dreamweaver MX: Instant Troubleshooter (August, 2003)
Technical Editor: DMX 2004: The Complete Reference, DMX 2004: A Beginner's
Guide, Mastering Macromedia Contribute
Technical Reviewer: Dynamic Dreamweaver MX/DMX: Advanced PHP Web Development

"sid vishus" <webforumsuser (AT) macromedia (DOT) com> wrote

i have been asked to build a site for a small local business thats sells
cut
crystal and they want to sell online, they say they want to use paypal to
make
transactions but i am clueless to how this will work with the pages i
make -
for example, if i make a page of 12 items in dreamwever (lets call it cut
crystal in the shape of buildings) how do i connect this up to paypal? is
it
possible to do it this way?

I mean, its very important that people should be able to actually see
what
they are buying (hence the site in dreamweaver with the photos) am i
making
sense?

posted this on many forums over the last two months but no one seems to
know
how to do this and some say it is not possible so I come to you people for
help.

Thank you

You have come to the right place....lol well I might be able to help anyway.

I use paypal on my ecommerce site. There are tradeoffs using paypal vs.
taking credit cards through a bank or other company that lets you take the
cards directly. PayPal is kind of like a third party CC accepting company.
The buyer has to do everthing with paypal...so its more like PayPal is
accepting the CC and then giving you the money. Rather than you accepting it
directly. Its WAY less expensive though. So if they want to avoid a BIG
investement to start PayPal is a good way to go. This is what I did. When my
sales are big enough to justify going to a traditional CC accepting ecommerce
site I will switch. But on to your question.

You or your customer will have to get a PayPal Merchant Account. When you
have a merchant account you will be ablt to put "Buy Now" Buttons on your site
that link directly to PayPals site. Its VERY VERY easy to do this. Once you
have a merchant account you simply go to PayPals merchant account page. There
is a link where you set up your shopping cart. ALL you have to do is plug in
the item name and description, price, and stock number if the product has one.
PayPal will then automaticly generate the HTML code. You copy that code, and
paste it into your page via DreamWeavers code view. Im NEW to DW and to
ECommerce. I had my ecommerce site up and going in a matter of days. Posting
a "by it now" buttone takes less than a mintute when you figure out how. Take
a look at my page...you'll see how these buttons look and how it works. Click
on one of the "bu now" buttons. This will show you where it takes you and how
it will look to your customers. Dont worry....clicking one of the buttons will
NOT obligate you to purchase. It simply takes you to a shopping cart. You can
empty or add to the cart etc. Its a great way to go.

I would give one warning though. One of PayPals drawbacks is that for a
customer to use it, they have to register with PayPal. They have to create an
account and add a credit card or bank account to the file. Its really NO big
deal. Just takes an extra minute or two. The biggest thing is that some
people wont want to become a "member" of PayPal just to buy your product. It
is TOTALY secure though, and offers third party verification of the
transaction. This makes it "safer" for you AND your customer. Thats how I
"market" using paypal on my site. Anyway, check it out if you want.

www.americanheritageoutdoors.com

Matt

Nancy, thanks.

AHO, Wow man, what a great reply. Thank you. I will look into everything you have said. Cheers.