The document outlines key aspects of ecommerce essentials, focusing on payment processing, taxes, and shipping. It explains the differences between merchant accounts and payment gateways, discusses compliance requirements, and provides guidance on managing sales tax and optimizing shipping strategies. Additional resources for further reading on these topics are also mentioned.

1. ECOMMERCE
ESSENTIALS:
Payments,
shipping, & taxes

2. Howdy!
I’m Beka Rice
I’ve worked with
eCommerce stores since
2013.
@Beka_Rice
@SkyVerge | @Jilt
Slides: skyver.ge/wcmia
2

3. 1.
Payment
processing
What should you know to get
started?
3
@Beka_Rice

4. 4

5. 5

6. Merchant account vs
The business account
into which funds are
deposited after being
transferred from your
customer.
How do I get started?
Payment gateway
Processes a transaction,
taking customer data and
checking for acceptance or
decline. (Replaces a sales
terminal for eCommerce.)
6
Some processors bundle merchant accounts with a
gateway, others offer only gateway services.
@Beka_Rice

7. What do I need?
◎ Do you accept payments already?
○ Existing merchant account
◎ Do you want to charge customers right away, or
when an order ships?
○ Authorizing vs capturing transactions
◎ Do you need or want to allow customers to save
payment methods for future use?
○ Tokenization & vaults
◎ Do you need or want recurring billing or
installment payments?
○ Subscriptions support
7@Beka_Rice

8. PCI
Compliance
What does it mean? Do I
need to do anything
about it?
8@Beka_Rice

9. 2.
Taxes
What are you responsible for? How
do you manage them?
9
@Beka_Rice

10. Assessing sales tax
Taxable items
Knowing which
items are taxable is
difficult when you
sell across state
lines! Consult a tax
attorney to be sure
you assess sales tax
appropriately, or use
a service.
Accounting
Plugins tend to have
built in tax reports,
but you likely want
to confirm this by
tracking tax in an
accounting software
as well.
Remitting
You must remit tax
to the appropriate
states, which means
a relationship with
your accountant and
tax attorney is
important :) Or use a
service
10@Beka_Rice

11. 11

12. 12

13. Configuring tax
◎ EDD: can ignore tax per-product
◎ Woo: WooCommerce > Settings > Tax > “Calculate
tax based on”
○ Determine whether to use origin or destination
◎ Woo: On product page — set tax rate + status
13@Beka_Rice

14. 14

15. 3.
Shipping
What options are available? How
can I optimize this?
15
@Beka_Rice

16. 16

17. Shipping for online sales
◎ Do you ship items already with a carrier?
○ Look for rate discounts
◎ Closes drop points / UPS or FedEx stores?
○ Be sure you ship on a timely schedule
◎ Do you plan to ship internationally?
○ Consider building relationship with FedEx
◎ Profit margin on your orders?
○ Try to offer free shipping to boost Avg Order Value
◎ Average weight + size of packages?
○ Learn about flat rate boxes with USPS
17@Beka_Rice

18. 18

19. 19

20. 20
Live rates + other options
Live rates can give real-time rates to pass cost on exactly
to customers.
◎ FedEx, UPS, etc., integration plugins
◎ WooCommerce services
Fulfillment services can also offer rates:
◎ Shipwire
◎ ShipStation
@Beka_Rice

21. Thanks!
Time for some questions
You can find me at:
@Beka_Rice
I’ll be at the Jilt booth!
Slides: skyver.ge/wcmia
21@Beka_Rice

22. 22
Further reading
Payments
◎ Beginners’ guide to payment processing (Sell with WP)
◎ Selecting a payment processor (Sell with WP)
◎ Authorize vs authorize + capture (Sell with WP)
◎ WooCommerce PCI Compliance (SkyVerge)
Sales tax
◎ WooCommerce Sales tax 101 (SkyVerge)
◎ Managing sales tax for an eCommerce store (Sell with WP)
◎ Guide to digital sales tax (Sell with WP)
◎ Selling subscriptions and getting tax right (SkyVerge)
Shipping
◎ Beginners’ guide to WooCommerce shipping zones (Sell with WP)
◎ How to use WooCommerce shipping classes (Sell with WP)
@Beka_Rice

23. Credits
Special thanks to all the people who made and released
these awesome resources for free:
◎ Presentation template by SlidesCarnival
◎ Photographs by Unsplash & Death to the Stock Photo
(license)
23@Beka_Rice