Starting an Online store? Things to prepare

As we go through the process of scoping out your requirements, here are some items that you need to prepare from your end to get the store up quickly and efficiently. 

Finances/Payments 

Company Bank Account

Its important to setup a business account with a bank to make it easy to setup your Paypal and your Payment Gateway. That way you can transfer your Paypal earnings and your Payment Gateway earnings to your bank account easily.

Paypal

We strongly recommend using Paypal as an option for payment in your online store. Paypal is trusted by millions of Australians and offer a lot of benefits to the consumer which makes it easier for them to commit to a new retailer.

eWay/Payment Gateway

We also recommend using a Payment Gateway to process your Credit cards. Payment gateways are providers who will process credit cards and hold funds on your behalf. They also deal with credit card frauds and payment issues. Paypal also does this but its costs are usually higher than other providers. We recommend using eWay as  payment gateway as they have an easy payment plugin and affordable costs.

Afterpay/Zippay

This is a new kid on the block and being used by a lot of new companies. We recommend that you look into it, costs etc and see if this is viable for your company and whether or not you would like to offer this. There may be extra costs associated with rolling this out on your store.

Shipping Options

Australia Post

Australia post is usually the preferred option for most retailers and we can integrated Australia Pay Parcel options in your store. Australia post usually don’t have postcode restrictions and have a robust tracking system in place. However please be aware that Australia post is usually slower and sometimes harder to track down if a delivery goes missing. Also there are some items Australia post won’t ship.

Fastway

Fastway is a courier company which will offer next day deliveries in most states. They might be costlier/cheaper based on what volume shipping you are doing and what areas you are shipping to. We recommend checking prices with them as well. Fastway will come and collect from your base and then do the delivery for you.

Fulfillment and Shipping companies

There are also fulfillment and shipping companies who will warehouse your product, package your product and ship them out themselves. It is worth looking into these if you are going to be doing a lot of volumes or don’t want the hassle of managing the process yourself.

Express Delivery

Do you want to offer express delivery? We recommend having an option to pick express delivery for customers as it increases orders in store.

Cost for shipping / Free Shipping

Do you want to have flat rate shipping? Free Shipping (Absorb shipping costs), Free Shipping over $xxx? Please consider cost of shipping and if there are extra costs for shipping different postcodes etc.

Warranties and Refunds/Returns 

It’s also time to think about warranties and how to handle Returns/Refunds. Please note that depending on where you are running your business, there might be consumer laws that you need to adhere to when it comes to warranty and Refunds/Returns. We recommend looking at other companies similar to you and what they are offering to be competitive and get a sense of how to handle those.  You will also need to provide us with your policies in a document which will go on your site. These include

  • Shipping and Delivery Information 
  • Returns and Exchanges Policy
  • Terms and Conditions of Purchase 
  • Privacy Policy

We can provide you with generic content that you can modify  yourself and send it back to us. 

Please don’t hesitate to contact your NetON account manager if you have any questions.