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Steve...
Thanks for the high-level costs on running an e-commerce. I would like to adsd a few more pennies....
You forget one major piece of information, i.e., a vendor to process the credit card transations and the associated processing fees. For the uninitiated, these can quickly eat up any profits and turn e-commerce into a loss center.
Based on my own real experiences, I have a few suggestions:
1. Unless one already has a good, accurate history of purchases, always select a plan with the lowest sales "minimums". This value/plan can always be increased at little or no additional charge.
2. Choosing a plan which expects More sales than you generate results in add-on fees for not meeting your "minimums". These fees can be VERY costly and can amount to more than the base monthly agreement and per-transaction charges.
3. There are Tons of vendors who will process your transactions. Be careful, do research, compare total costs (monthly access, per-transaction and interchange fees) and be very selective.
4 Outside of PayPal, Visa/MC are the normally accepted forms of payment. Accepting Discover or American Express may be an additional charge, so check on ANY and ALL possible add-on fees before you enter into a contract.
5. If you are just starting, never enter into an agreement for more than 1 year. I have found that by talking to the sales group, one can get contracts for a little as 3 months. From my own personal experiences, I would not recommend FirstData or any company associated with them (GlobalServices, etc).
