Adding On-line Access to a Nicaraguan Business

In jamoreno42's bio, he says he has a business here (bricks and mortar kind) but would like to offer on-line ordering. Totally makes sense and it seems like what to do/how to do it would be useful information for many. Here are my scribblings on the subject.

There are lots of on-line shopping cart systems. Miva Merchant is very popular but it is but one of 100 that could make sense. The real problem is not going to be the cart but who will do your merchant services—that is, processing your credit card transactions. On the doesn't work list is PayPal and they will not pay you in Nicaragua.

Maybe BANPRO or BAC will allow you to use their merchant account for on-line. I don't know but, even if they do, they may not be the software to interface the shopping card to their on-line processing. (I have written such software and while it isn't really hard, many processors require you to submit your software for review before they will allow you to use it. That could be time and money.)

One interesting option is CC Avenue, an Indian company that offers world-wide services. The rates are reasonable but, unless you have an established business, they probably will not approve you. Authorize.net is another commonly used processor worth checking out. CC Avenue offers their own shopping cart. Authorize.net is supported by many of the available ones.

Note that I need to make this work for CoolTop—not just for on-line but that is part of the picture. So, someday, I will have a "you can do it like this" story but, for now, this is just a pointer. If you are doing this and have some good options that work, please speak up.