Question about 2 domains and sharing ssl/merchant account

I guess it all depends on your shopping cart. The shopping cart I have is for one server and one store. But i guess if you used something like cube/zen cart then it prob would be OK.

With out knowing what cart you are running it is hard for anyone to know .

im currently using the trial of cubcart v3. So I may either go with that or xcart(heard good things about it). I am using lunarpages to host my sites under one account.

just read on the cubecart page, It says to use 'add-on domains' function in CPanel i dont use cubecart but it seems like it is possible. You may not be able to use all the features until you purchase.

Hope it helps

belleater said:

Im in the process of creating my website and im very new to ecommerce. I have two domains at the same host account that sell different types of clothing. Is it possible to share the same shopping cart, ssl, and merchant account? Need advice thanks.

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An SSL certificate will only work for one domain. If you have 2 different domains, you need 2 different SSL certificates if you want the https:// to work for both domains.

Some webhosts will allow you to share their SSL, but your secure checkout pages then become something like yourwebhost.com/~youraccountname/secure/checkout.php which doesn't always look very professsional to your customer.

You should be able to use the same merchant account for multiple websites, but you should check with your merchant account provider to make sure.

As far as sharing, it does depend on the cart you choose, but oscommerce offers something called MULTIPLE SHOP which is an addon for people who want to run multiple shops, LIKE YOU..

it shares the database so if a customer creates an account on one, they can log in on the other.. you can have it share stock or not.. its all configured in the admin afte you install the add on too..
here is some info about the addon
osCommerce Community Add-Ons
and a forum to ask more questions
osCommerce Community Support Forums

I'm running multiple Oscommerce installations in separate directories under the same cpanel on Lunarpages. I have one merchant account under the name of my company, each subdirectory is the client name. They go to my company name/clientname and it's a customized store for their items. Since the merchant account is in my company name, it keeps it all tied together.

i love oscommerce!

In regards to the using the same MERCHANT account for both sites you run the risk of a charge back as a consumer who is purchasing on "Site B" will get a itemized statement listing the merchant as "Site A".

Not only will the merchant win this charge back every time, you will be in violation of your Merchant Terms and Conditions and subject to having you merchant account terminated as well as possible fines.

I would suggest paying the extra few bucks a month not to confuse the consumer or get the Card Associations after you.


Ryan Morgan