Friday, March 29, 2024

E-Commerce Journal Part 2 Page 3

The server people to the rescue! We would get the process started to get Peter’s name off of the domain, but in the meantime, we would simply use one of the other domains we owned to complete the online transactions. It’s done all the time. What a brilliant idea! We would get a Verisign for StreetArtists.com. You may not have even noticed the difference in the names. It’s plural. StreetArtist[s].com.

We decided that we would use an entire server, not just an area of a server, to conduct online transactions. That’s perfect, it’s completely safe, and people will stay within the umbrella of StreetArtist.com to do their transactions. From the beginning we didn’t want to use a third party to process our orders. We wanted to keep it all in house, where we could keep an eye on everything and ensure the monetary processing was being done fairly and correctly.

The problem was that Tammy and I had bought the StreetArtists.com domain while we still lived in Pennsylvania, so the address and email on the whois search were incorrect. Again, those of you who know InterNic know that this is an easy fix, right? An online form should do it, right? Not anymore. Now an InterNic number must be assigned and a fax must be sent and blah, blah, blah. Another three days.


Luckily I noticed an 800 number was offered if I was having trouble. I was. I called. Success! A person!


The kind voice on the other end asked me the question I had offered when I bought the domain. It’s a key phrase that only I would know, so in the future I could use that key phrase with a representative to prove I am who I am. I had forgotten the phrase, but luckily knew the answer when she asked me the reminder question I had put in.


No, I’m not going to tell you what it was.


She updated my address, email, technical contact and everything right there on the phone. After midnight, the changes went live and we were in business! Back to Verisign!

We re-entered the Verisign site and this time all went well…until…we were asked for our DUNS number.


Do you know what that is? Neither did we. A DUNS number is sort of like a business social security number that allows other businesses to check to see who you are. If I’m on the phone with a company and I’m not sure they are who they say they are, I can ask for a DUNS number and run a check.


OK! We need a DUNS number. It’s just over two weeks before we go live.


A DUNS number is granted by Dun and Bradstreet. I guess that’s why it’s called a DUNS number. It easy to get one. We just need to provide a business license in the city where we’ll be doing business.

A business license? Aw shoot. We do need one of those, don’t we? We’d better head out. I’ll get back to Verisign after we have the license.

Next: The Business License

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