Monday, 13 June 2011
Summative:
We were assessed by Linnéa Dimitriou. We did well I think overall; we presented our idea and also explained our U.S.P. (Unique Selling Point) of why our website is going to be different.
Kofi, who was the web developer, showed a sample of what the site was going to look like.
Also we went through all the research:
Target Market/Audience
Finance/ Costs Research
We talked about our competitors, showed our final logo designs and other promotional materials, in particular our idea to sell T-shirts so as to be able to launch the website from the profit we made by selling them.
And as a final assessment we now still have to submit a report explaining our overall contribution to the group. How did it all go? If we were to do it again, would we do anything different next time? Basically, what have we learned and what would we do to improve, as well as all the research we did as a group and focusing a bit more on the information we worked on.
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
Formative:
PayPal has two Schemes:
The Basic Plan and the Pro plan
This is what each plan offers:
THE BASIC:
BASICS:
Website payments are standard.
-Lets you offer your customers a safe, fast and convenient way of paying with just a few clicks.
-Ability of adding payment choice buttons on your website which can be customised.
-Quick, easy and free to set up and can start accepting global online payments with PayPal in less than 15 minutes.
BENEFITS:
-Customers can pay you in a few easy clicks
-Enhanced customer experience-helps increase sales
-No lengthy application process-gets approved on the day
-Easy set up- no advance technical skills required
-Ability to sell in over 190 countries and in 21 currencies.
-Industry-leading fraud screening technology
KEY FACTORS:
-No set-up cost/cancellation fees or monthly minimums
-Only low transaction fees based on monthly sales
-Easy integration
-PayPal has over 26 million UK customer accounts and over 220 million worldwide
-You can accept 21 different currencies from 190 markets
-Your customers don’t need to have a PayPal account and can use:
MasterCard/Maestro/Visa/American Express/Solo/GiroPay/Direct Debit/Discover Network/ Compte Banclre/CB and a few others.
EASY INTERGRATION: How to set up..
Add a payment button:
To start selling online you need to open a free PayPal Business account and choose from the buttons below to create an easy payment experience for your customers.
Complexity matters all handled and will also be given an HTML code to copy paste into your source code.
Customisation of options (some technical knowledge required) by visiting: www.paypal.co.uk/buttonfactory
Add to shopping cart:
Option to choose a pre-integrated shopping cart from their trusted
e-commerce partners and simply add PayPal as your payment processor.
Add to your existing shopping cart:
Ability to add PayPal to your existing cart or custom-built solution. For PayPal-compatible carts, just simply select PayPal as your payment service in your cart account setup. For custom-built carts, add website Payment Standard by copying the HTML link into your checkout.
COSTS:
Free to open your PayPal Business account
No set-up costs
No monthly fees or cancellation fees for Website Payment Standard.
All you pay is a low transaction fee of between
1.4%-3.4% (Depending on volume) + 20p on each payment.
Dean’s idea of charging for T-shirts + Subscription Services for the amount of £7.25 a T-shirt cause of PayPal charges (t-shirts a little bit more expensive)
THE PRO:
BASICS:
-Usually for established online businesses, Website Payments Pro is your complete all-in-one online payment solution.
-No need for a separate Internet merchant account,
Website Payments Pro allows you to process all your payments quickly, easily and affordably.
-Website Payments Pro allows you to accept credit and debit card payments directly on your website or, if you prefer, PayPal can host your payment page and enable you to customise the page to look like the rest of your website
-You can also accept payments via the phone, fax, and mail with Virtual Terminal, enabling you to offer multiple payment solutions to attract more customers.
-Also includes Express Checkout (see separate product
guide), which allows your customers to pay in just three easy clicks
using their PayPal account – helping convert browsers to buyers.
THE BENEFITS:
-Accept cards directly on your website or on a PayPal hosted
customised payment page
- Includes Express Checkout which can increase sales by up to 14%*
- Advanced fraud management features
- No need for a separate Internet merchant account
- Add Virtual Terminal at no extra cost†
- Benefit from an additional layer of security with 3-D Secure
- Dedicated Customer Service and Integration support
- Tailored pricing for large volume merchants
*Based on a Q1 2008 SME Survey conducted by NorthStar Research on behalf of PayPal
WEBSITE PAYMENTS PRO IS IDEAL FOR:
- Growing online businesses that want to accept card payments and offer
their own branded payment experience
- Companies looking to consolidate many payment relationships into one
- Businesses with access to technical programming skills
- E-commerce businesses that need advanced fraud management
-For established online businesses, Pro is your complete all-in-one online payment solution.
-With no need for a separate Internet merchant account, Website Payments Pro allows you to process all your payments quickly, easily and affordably.
- Allows you to accept credit and debit card payments directly on your website or, if you prefer, PayPal can host your payment page and enable you to customise the page to look like the rest of your website.
-You can also accept payments via the phone, fax, and mail with Virtual Terminal, enabling you to offer multiple payment solutions to attract more customers.
- Also includes Express Checkout (see separate product
guide), which allows your customers to pay in just three easy clicks
using their PayPal account – helping convert browsers to buyers.
KEY FACTORS:
-No set-up cost/cancellation fees or monthly minimums
-Only low transaction fees based on monthly sales
-Easy integration
-PayPal has over 20 million UK
customer accounts and over 230 million worldwide
-You can accept 21 different currencies from 230 markets
-Your costumers don’t need to have a PayPal account and can use:
MasterCard/Maestro/Visa/PayPal/Solo/GiroPay/Direct Debit/CB and a few others.
STANDARD Vs. PRO:
Not sure whether you need Website Payments Standard or Pro?
In most cases, if you’re selling online for the first time then Website
Payments Standard is the simplest, quickest and most suitable option.
So it might make sense to start with Website Payments Standard, then
upgrade later if necessary. However, if you want to give your customers a more personalised payment experience, Website Payments Pro is what you are looking for.
Comparisons:
STANDARD:
-No technical knowledge required
-Customer is redirected to PayPal to pay then returns to your site
-Basic fraud features
-No monthly fee, low transaction fees
-No approval required
-Your customers’ don’t need a PayPal account
PRO:
-Requires some technical knowledge - .NET SDK or Java SDK or HTTPS Service
-Customer remains on your site or is redirected to a PayPal-hosted payment page, which looks and feels like your website
-Advanced fraud management filters and 3-D secure
-Low monthly fee plus transaction fees
-Approval required (5-7 working days)
-Your customers’ don’t need a PayPal account
COSTS:
There are no set-up costs or cancellation charges and it’s free to open your PayPal Business account.
There’s just a low monthly fee of £20 and a transaction fee applies on each payment.
Next E&E Session - Freelance Day:
Next E&E Session: Freelance Day 26/05/2011
Juliet Sturridge developed and delivered industry training including "Runners' Bootcamp" for people looking to get into the film and broadcast industries. She has headed various companies and is currently involved in setting up a recruitment agency for freelancers. She is a business advisor to Clear Cut Pictures.
The session covered:
To freelance or not to freelance? - that is the employment question.
Acquire some tools to help you work your way through the labyrinth of legislation, discover ways to find, impress and keep employers. Arm yourself with information to protect your position and finally make use of that Maths GCSE with payslip translation, smarter invoicing and ways to measure your true worth.
If you’re looking for a job working for an employer, you usually start at the bottom and have to work your way up. You have to always be polite, helpful and willing, be able to take orders and think how the boss would want something done rather than how you want to do it.
As a freelancer, you are self-employed but this can be as a sole trader, in a partnership, a limited liability partnership – there are pros and cons to each of the different forms of business.
A third of your income goes on tax; you need to be registered for VAT and it’s good if you can get a Lorimer letter (LP10) from the Revenue saying they accept you as self-employed because that will allow companies to pay you without first deducting tax.
You need to be professional, slick, keep up-to-date with technical and other developments in the industry and have a sensible email address. She also explained the various rights you have and how to safeguard them.
2nd Session Of E&E - Business Strategy Day:
Business Strategy Day
Guest lecturer Peter Le Voyer (former investment banker & serial entrepreneur)
Sources of Money:
There are various possible sources
• Self
• Self funding project
• Bank (Loan/overdraft/H.P.- Hire Purchase /Leasing)
• Friends/Family
• Angels (business investors)
• Institution
Structure of Business:
Can be self-employed, partnership or company (if you form a limited company, your liability is limited if the company goes bankrupt)
Capital Structure
Business Plan:
This should cover:
• Product or service
• Target market
• Financial aspects projected costs and income
• How the business will operate
• Management of the business
Management structure:
Important to clarify the respective roles of each member and ensure that abilities are complementary.
Time-span:
Is this a long or short-term business?
Should have shared values
Ideal is to have high margin and cash generative business
Invest profits
Still need to fund income start up period: it should be as self-funding as possible so avoid releasing too much equity for this