What Are the Website Requirements for an Ecommerce Site?

If you want to sell goods or services online, you’ll need two things: a website and a merchant account. And one factor of merchant account approval is a quality, honest, compliant website.

If you want to process payments online, here’s what you need to include on your website.

Before we go into the specifics of what to include on your website, let’s look at how to build and care for your site.

These days, data protection has to be a top priority for all businesses. Make sure the information you collect on your website is secure — and the processes you use are compliant with governing organizations.

• Your website should be protected by a TLS certificate and your payment page should load over TLS 1.2 or higher with HSTS enabled.
• Your website and all integrated platforms — such as your gateway — must be PCI-DSS compliant.
• Comply with all local data privacy laws such as GDPR, PSD2, CCPA, etc.

These website best practices might seem obvious, but they can easily get overlooked with everything else your business has going on. If you miss these steps, your acquirer or processor might be left with a bad impression of your business. Don’t needlessly damage your reputation over easily manageable tasks.

• Click all the buttons and links on your website. Make sure all your navigation is functional and sends users where you intend.
• Read through all your content. Make sure it is detailed and provides enough information — yet is clear and easy to understand. Look for spelling errors and incorrect punctuation.
• Check your images. Are they depicting what you want them to?

Let’s take a look at the specific content requirements for your website.

There are several pages and bits of information that need to be included on your website. Make sure you include these items in the most intuitive way possible.

• Make sure your business name is in the header and/or footer of every page on your website.
• Include company logos for all of your accepted payment methods (Apple Pay, Mastercard, Visa, etc.)

You also need to write and share several different policies. Make sure you have outlined each of the following on your site:

• Cancellation, exchange, and/or return policy – Outline how customers can stop subscriptions, cancel reservations, or return merchandise. List any associated fees and timelines.
• Delivery policy – List the carrier(s) you work with and timelines for merchandise delivery.
• Privacy policy – Explain how your customers’ data is collected, protected, used, and disclosed. You should also share contact information for your data protection officer.
• Refund policy – Outline what does and does not warrant a refund, how long customers can wait to request a refund, and how to request a refund.

You need to have a “contact us” or support page so customers know how to resolve issues.

• You must share either a phone number with hours of operation or email address for your support team. Ideally, you’d offer both — along with a chat feature. The more ways a customer can contact you, the better.
• Explain what kind of support is offered and how long resolution usually takes. For example, if someone emails your business, they can expect a response within 24 hours. Or call wait times are about two minutes before reaching a human agent.
• Whoever answers phone calls or emails should be familiar with your business and the goods or services you offer. Phone calls should be answered with a mention of the company name.

Your website’s terms and conditions page should be specific to your business. The actual content that is included will depend upon the goods or services you provide.

Here are some general suggestions on what to include.

• Your registered business name — and the doing business as (DBA) name if different
• Any intermediaries
• Order fulfillment information
• Tax information
• Governing law
• Contact information
• Payment terms, especially if you use a subscription billing model
• Payment service provider information
• Copyrights
• Inclusion of or links to all your policies (refund, cancelation, exchange, etc.)
• Any additional content related to licensing requirements or local laws

You must disclose your business’s address — including the country — somewhere on your website. This could be done on your T&C page. The address you share on your website must match what you provide on your merchant account application.

Each product or service you provide will likely have its own page on your website. Make sure each page has as much detail as possible so the customer knows exactly what to expect. Not only will this help improve the odds of your merchant account approval, but it will also help you prevent chargebacks.

• If you sell physical merchandise, share details about materials used, size, weight, colors, ingredients, etc. Include several photos of the item, taken from different angles and zoomed in on details.
• If you sell downloadable goods, mention the file size, file type, download requirements, operation system compatibility, etc. Provide screenshots or other tangible examples of your merchandise.
• If you sell services, clearly outline what customers can expect. Explain exactly what, how and when services will be provided. If you can, include examples of completed work or other visuals of your offering.

In addition to explaining the goods or services you provide, you also need to explain how much you charge and when.

• Clearly state the price and the currency.
• If the purchase is part of a trial offer or recurring purchase, outline the terms.

Depending on the goods or services you provide and how you charge your customers, you may have to adhere to additional website requirements.

Additional rules are applicable if you provide goods or services with an introductory offer (like a free trial).

On the checkout page, explain the following:

• The customer will be charged if they don’t cancel before the term ends
• When and how much you’ll charge the card
• Your cancelation policy (or provide a link to it with a consent checkbox)

After the purchase is initiated, you must do the following:

• Send a confirmation email with a link to a one-click cancelation process
• Send a reminder email or text — with a link to a one-click cancelation process — seven days before charging the card

On your website, you need to have an easy-to-cancel button that allows your customer to cancel their subscription with a single click.

The more places you include the button, the better. Here are some suggestions:

• On your “contact us” or support page
• On the page that lists your cancelation policy
• In your website’s footer

Ready to start processing payments online? AltoPay can help. Fill out our online form, and let us know you are interested in moving forward. Our team of professionals will guide you through every step of the application process — including checking for website compliance.