There are many options available depending on your requirements but we can describe 3 options that suit most businesses –
“Buy Now” Buttons
Suitable for : selling a few products with occasional purchases. This solution can be added to any existing website or included in your new website.
How it works : Using PayPal button or similar any customer that make a purchase are taken to PayPal’s secure gateway to make the transaction with their PayPal account. You are notified by PayPal that a payment has been made with details of the product. Payments are automatically processed.
Costs : least expensive to set up. Fees apply per purchase.
Payment Gateway + Merchant Account
Suitable for : selling a few products with regular purchases. This solution can be added to any existing website or included in your new website.
How it works : Custom “Buy Now” buttons are added to your website. A third party secure payment gateway collects the customers credit card details and notifies you of the purchase. The payment needs to be processed manually with your merchant account (speak to your bank).
Costs : more expensive than PayPal buttons to set up. Your bank will have fees for your merchant account.
Dedicated eCommerce Site
Suitable for : lots of products with a high volume of purchases. This is a dedicated solution that should be built from scratch.
How it works : Product details are stored on your website that handles online purchases, inventory and payments all within your website. The payment needs to be processed manually with your merchant account (speak to your bank) or fr a high volume of purchase automated processing can be set up.
Costs : most expensive solution to establish. Your bank will have fees for your merchant account (and automated payment processing). This type of site also required an SSL certificate to collect credit card details securely.