shopping cart on services website?

drainsurgeon · #1 (**permalink**) 24-04-2008, 16:12

Although i offer a service rather than a product, would it be beneficial to offer a payment process via the website??

I do realise people would not usually pay for this type of thing before the work has been done, however.............

By making the payment via the site,
The prices are fixed - therefor there is no unexpected bills,
No cash involved,
convenient to pay on card if something goes wrong before payday,
Payment protection,

also a contract will have been entered into where as i would be obligated to carry out the "service"

any thoughts?

Andy

Chubster · #2 (**permalink**) 24-04-2008, 16:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by drainsurgeon

Although i offer a service rather than a product, would it be beneficial to offer a payment process via the website??

I do realise people would not usually pay for this type of thing before the work has been done, however.............

By making the payment via the site,
The prices are fixed - therefor there is no unexpected bills,
No cash involved,
convenient to pay on card if something goes wrong before payday,
Payment protection,

also a contract will have been entered into where as i would be obligated to carry out the "service"

any thoughts?

Andy

Good Idea potentially....as there always seem to be "extras" on these sort of things...but is it workable your side? Can you foresee any extra legitimate expenses for instance?

drainsurgeon · #3 (**permalink**) 24-04-2008, 16:41

not really i was thinking of using "buy now" stle buttons with fixed prices as i have adverts out with the same fixed prices advertised.
two jobs potentially the same, one takes half hour the other takes 2 hours
Some you win some you lose.....

as on the adverts, a blocked drain is costed at £60, unless they are found to be broken.
Repair works will be quoted on.
The £60 fee stands, if repair works are carried out the £60 is deducted from the total.

so it should be safe.

not all jobs can be covered by this service. Just basic jobs really, dripping taps, blocked bath, blocked shower, toilet, gully etc

andy

RayB · #4 (**permalink**) 24-04-2008, 16:56

Do you get much traffic to the site? If you do then it may be worth doing - but if the site gets lows traffic then online sales will be minimal - in which case, is it worth going to the bother?

drainsurgeon · #5 (**permalink**) 25-04-2008, 07:33

probably not enough, we could do with more lol

RayB · #6 (**permalink**) 25-04-2008, 08:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by drainsurgeon

probably not enough, we could do with more lol

Well, typical online sales conversion is 2 - 4% - and in my experience you really need a critical mass of visits for these averages to kick in. I'd say you'd be needing 200+ visitors per day to get a meaningful level of online orders

Indizine · #7 (**permalink**) 25-04-2008, 08:41

I suppose you could direct your customers to pay upfront on the website as oposed to another means, which may allay there fears of unknown costs other than additional stuff being agreed as you mention. The downside could be chargebacks perhaps? Plus you will have PayPal costs to consider on each payment.

drainsurgeon · #8 (**permalink**) 25-04-2008, 08:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Indizine

I suppose you could direct your customers to pay upfront on the website as oposed to another means, which may allay there fears of unknown costs other than additional stuff being agreed as you mention. The downside could be chargebacks perhaps? Plus you will have PayPal costs to consider on each payment.

i have been looking at google checkout.

National Office Week · #9 (**permalink**) 25-04-2008, 09:49

Hi,

It could be a good USP for your business - set you apart from the rest.

Plus you can always stop it if it proves to be inpractical. You'd just need to monitor it carefully.

Kim

awebapart · #10 (**permalink**) 25-04-2008, 10:46

One of our clients, a local courier, has a payment feature via PayPal on their website, which, since it allows the user to enter the amount, is flexible enough for any quote. Obviously it works on the premise that you are already in contact with the client and you then ask the client to make the payment on your site. With PayPal Pay Now buttons you can also set up the amounts before hand for set service prices (for services where so you don't have to speak with the client first).

Adding PayPal Buy Now buttons does require that you can insert your own HTML code into your pages, something you might not be able to do with some of the lower-end sitebuilders - I'm guessing you are using the heart internet sitebuilders for your websites.