Q: Do I install Beanbasket on my site?
A: We've designed our e-commerce system to be a managed service. This means we take care of all the infrastructure details for you. For those sites that need advanced customizations or have other unique requirements, a site license can be granted to use our software.

Q: When can I make my first sale?
A: You can sell products in as little as thirty minutes with minimal capabilities. All that is required is to signup, add your products or services, and configure your sales tax and shipping charges as applicable.

Q: What is a digital certificate?
A: Digital certificates enable you to conduct business securely on the Internet. They are issued to your company based on your domain name from a certificate authority such as Verisign or Thawte.

Q: Is my data secure?
A: Yes, all transactions to your e-commerce site utilize standard SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption used in all modern browsers. The data we collect is stored in an encrypted format for additional security. Our servers are also located in a secure, electronically keyed facility and are protected by firewalls and intrusion detection systems.

Q: What do I need to process credit cards?
A: You will need a merchant account to process payments. Beantree has partnered with market leading merchant account providers like Cardservice International to seamlessly integrate payment processing functionality.

Q: What are the typical charges for merchant accounts?
A: Merchant account fees vary depending on your financial institution. For example, Cardservice International has an initial $350 application fee (refunded if your application is declined for any reason) with a monthly usage fee of $27 plus transaction fees. For each transaction there is a $0.30 (includes $.05 Address Verification Service) fee along with a discount rate of 2.42%. There is a $15 monthly minimum on all transaction fees.

Q: Can I reduce my credit card processing fees?
A: Financial institutions place a slightly greater risk on Internet transactions. Many companies such as Cardservice International also have excellent processing rates for traditional point-of-sale (POS) services. If all your Internet and POS transaction services are through the same vendor, additional discounts may be possible.

Q: I already have a merchant account with my point of sale (POS) system and would like to process orders with it. Is this possible?
A: Yes, simply obtain the payment information from Beanbasket and process your online transactions as you would any other sale.

Q: I signed up for a trial but I'm now ready to go "live". What's next?
A: Simply go through our online account signup process to let us know all the information we need to establish your e-commerce site with us.

Q: I already have a Web site at another hosting provider, will Beanbasket still work?
A: We can coordinate with your existing provider to create a subdomain from your existing domain name or setup a new name for you. For instance, if your existing domain name is beanbasket.com, a subdomain like store.beanbasket.com could be setup. You must contact your existing provider for this functionality or allow Beantree to manage your domain name services for you.

Q: Can I customize the look of my store?
A: Yes, you can modify the look and feel for your store to completely match your existing Web site. All you need is an HTML editor such as Dreamweaver to update your site.

Q: I need a feature that isn't available in Beanbasket, what now?
A: Let us know and we'll consider adding that functionality into our next service enhancement cycle.

Q: Am I entitled to updates or additional new features?
A: Some merchant-specific customizations are not available to other service users. However, we do make many new features available to all e-commerce customers as they are completed.

Q: Aside from e-commerce what else does Beantree provide?
A: We provide a full array of services in your e-commerce hosting package including email services such as spam filtering, virus scanning, and webmail. There are also complementary services such as search engine submission, email lists, site statistics, virtual ftp and more.

Q: Do you backup my data?
A: Beantree performs automated nightly backups for all hosting customers using DLT tape autoloader technologies. In addition, we perform additional database snapshot backups hourly and have mechanisms available for point in time database recovery.

Q: What skills are needed to setup and maintain my e-commerce solution?
A: You, or a designated third party, will need someone to perform order fulfillment and shipping. To manage your online store, all you need is a browser and an Internet connection.

Q: What is my time commitment?
A: If you have many products, setting up your inventory can be a daunting task. Beantree can create a custom import process based on your existing inventory management system. Most other setup activities require very little time and usually only need to be done once.

Q: I have a high volume or mission critical e-commerce need. Can Beanbasket meet those requirements?
A: Yes, e-commerce services can be combined with dedicated hosting or high-availability hosting options. Our Sun and Oracle platform can easily scale to any configuration needed to meet anticipated or actual demand.

To learn more about specific Beanbasket features, visit the features page or contact us for more information.