E commerce forms are how a small site sells a handful of things without installing a shop: a product form for one item with options, an order form for a short list of items with quantities, and subscription forms for the thing that is delivered every month. They are payment forms with a catalogue in them, and they are the right answer until the catalogue outgrows a form, which is usually somewhere around a dozen products. This page sets the three out, says where each stops being a form and starts being a shop, and works the charge, the processor's cut and the net for each on the free payment form calculator so the owner knows what a sale lands before the first one.
The product form: one item, its options, its quantity
A product form sells one thing: the price, a quantity, and the options that change the price, such as a size or an engraving, added as an option fee. On the calculator one of a $120 item with a $15 engraving option at 8.25% sales tax charges $146.14, and at 2.9% plus $0.30 the processor keeps $4.54, leaving $141.60 in the account and $130.46 after the tax is remitted. Every one of those figures moves when you enter your own price, rate and fee.
The order form: a short list with quantities
An order form is two or more product lines with a quantity each, an option such as delivery, and a total the form computes before the card is asked for. Two of a $45 item and one of a $120 item with a $15 delivery option is the calculator's worked example: a $225 subtotal, $243.56 charged, $7.36 to the processor, $236.20 landed. The point at which an order form becomes a shop is when the list needs a search box; until then the form is simpler for the buyer and cheaper for the seller.
Subscription forms: the same charge, every month
Subscription forms sell the monthly thing, and the arithmetic is the product form's repeated: the processor's fixed fee comes off every renewal, which on a small monthly amount is the larger part of the cut. The form must show the renewal amount, the date and how to cancel before the card is asked for, and the confirmation must repeat them. Each renewal is an entry with its payment in Shortcodo Pro, against the same sender, so a failed renewal is a status on a list and a cancellation is one click on the entry.
Questions people ask about e commerce forms
When should e commerce forms become a proper shop?
When the list needs a search box, stock needs tracking per item, or the tax rules differ by product. Until then a form with quantities is the simpler sale.
Does a subscription form need a cancellation link?
Yes, shown before payment and on every renewal email. A subscription that cannot be cancelled from the account page is a complaint waiting.
Can the register connect to my processor?
Shortcodo Pro connects your own processor so each order's entry carries the payment and the cut, and can push paid entries to your books as sales.