What do i need to do to create an ecommerce site?

Answer by:  Frédérique Taillefer, Aplus.Net Knowledge Base Support

STEP 1:

We strongly recommend that you establish a Merchant Account as soon as possible, to ensure that you can start accepting and processing credit cards as soon as you site goes live. To apply for a Merchant Account with Aplus.Net’s Merchant Account Provider of choice (CardService International [CSI]), simply click here and submit your application. The setup of a Merchant Account with CSI is included in both the Pro and eCommerce Unix hosting plans.

Alternatively, you can set up a Merchant Account with a bank of your own choice (including international banks outside of the United states), but you will need the Merchant Account information before you can move to the next step.

STEP 2:

Once you have received your Merchant Account information from your Merchant Account Provider, you will need to provide Aplus.Net with that information, so that we can establish RPG (Rodopi Payment Gateway). A payment gateway is a feature that allows credit card processing on your site. The setup of the RPG is included in eCommerce hosting plans.

To provide Aplus.Net with your Merchant Account information, please submit the RPG Setup Information Sheet.

NOTE: If you wish to process American Express and/or Discover cards, you will need to set up your Merchant Account accordingly, and you will need to provide Aplus.Net with your American Express and/or Discover account number so that we can add those in the payment gateway settings. This applies also to customers who sign up with CSI.

If you are going to use the Rodopi Payment Gateway, please read the following document in our Knowledge Base:

• Which credit card processors does RPG support?

STEP 3:

Your account is now being set up for you to process credit cards through your site. You now need to set up your storefront by accessing your Miva Merchant administration interface. Here is how:

I. eCommerce Unix plans opened before December 7^th, 2005 using MIVA 4:

• http://yourdomain.com/Merchant2/admin.mvc

II. eCommerce Unix plans opened after December 7^th, 2005 using MIVA 5:

• http://yourdomain.com/mm5/admin.mvc

III. eCommerce Windows plans:

• http://mivasecure.abac.com/ftpusername/admin.mvc

Note: Please replace yourdomain.com with your actual registered and hosted domain name. Replace ftpusername with your Main FTP Username associated with your hosting plan.

STEP 4:

After you login, Miva provides a simple step-by-step checklist for you to create and administer your online store. By default, you are in Simple Administration Mode. If you wish, you can use the Advanced Administration Mode by clicking on the “Switch to Advanced Administration” in the top-right corner of the page.

Please visit http://www.miva.com/docs/merchant/howto41.html for MIVA 4 documentation and user guides to assist you in creating and administering your online store.

The online documentation for Miva 5 is available here: http://smallbusiness.miva.com/products/merchant/supp_mm5.html.