Online ordering system for small business

Every channel is another place for an order to get lost, and every payment app is another balance to reconcile at the end of the week. One ordering page on your site takes the order, the payment and the customer's details together, so every order sits in one list. The Daily Press takes orders for pickup or curbside on its own site.

Without a deposit, a booking costs the customer nothing to abandon, and the slot or the stock you held for it is lost. Collecting a deposit when the booking is made, with the amount and the terms shown before the customer pays, gives the booking weight. Ascend Exotics shows each car's deposit on its page, so a driver sees it before applying.

When the pay button opens a page that looks nothing like yours, some customers stop, unsure whether it is safe. A checkout that carries your name and colors keeps them going. Wayne County Traffic School takes live card payments as part of its own enrollment, so a driver pays and starts the course in one sitting.

Card numbers written on paper or sent by text can be copied by anyone who sees them, and the risk is yours. An online payment form sends the card straight to the payment processor, so the number never passes through your hands or your inbox. We set up the processor, and the money settles into your own account.

It is the part of a website where customers choose what they want, pay for it and pick a time to collect or receive it. Behind it sit a menu or catalog you can edit, a payment processor that takes the card, and a list where your staff see each order. Some run on a marketplace app; ours are built into the business's own site.

Either link an ordering service to your site, or build ordering into the site itself with your own menu and checkout. A linked service is quicker to start but sends customers to its own pages and may take a cut of each order. Built-in ordering keeps them on your site, at your prices. The Daily Press has ordering built into its own site, including orders placed while the cafe is closed.

Connect a payment processor, such as Stripe or Clover, and add a payment form where people buy. The processor checks the card, takes its fee and sends the rest to your bank account, and your site never stores the card number. Wayne County Traffic School takes live card payments for its courses this way.

Open an account with a payment processor, then take cards through a secure payment form on your site or a payment link you send. For a one-off charge, a payment link by text or email works well. For regular sales, a form built into your site keeps the customer with you and records the order alongside the payment.

Take payment at the moment the customer commits: at checkout, at booking or on the invoice, by card first. Every extra payment method is another balance to reconcile, so keep to one processor where you can. Deposits belong at booking, and balances can follow on the day from the same system.

Build the store into your own site, with a payment processor for the checkout, instead of renting a storefront by the month. That means no platform subscription or theme to pay for, and no store that depends on one company's app store. It suits businesses whose goods do not fit a template, like one-of-a-kind items or made-to-order work.