I just accept PayPal right now on my website.
I can setup a merchant account and gateway, and get the SSL. But is it worth it?
The rates are not necessarily better. But will it increase sales to have the other option?
Having a credit card processor will help. However, be sure that you are up on how to detect and prevent chargebacks. Once you accept credit cards, the scam attempts will come very fast and very steady.
I learned this the hard way be being scammed out of a $300 sale. After that, I got about 1 scam attempt every 3 days of so. It is much more in depth to cover here. Read up on chargebacks. . . .
Depends on how mature your store is and if your current sales warrant the extra cost of a dedicated credit card processor. I can’t truly speak from experience, my store currently only takes CC through Google Checkout or PayPal. As soon as my sales warrant dedicated CC, oh boy, I will love that. It’s so much easier for customers to pay by CC vs. PayPal grittyness. And that’s what you want to make it as simple as possible for customers.
Look into taking Google Checkout, it may sound cheesy but when customers see you take GC, CC, or PP by the logos on your store they will be more likely to stay a while and look around thus buying something.
In a nut shell, yes. Bt when is it the right time for you to invest? That I can’t help with. =(
Thanks… Unfortunately because I have a Canadian address, I cannot sign up for Google Checkout… I am seriously thinking of going with PayPal Pro!
Hmmm, well hopefully soon GC with come to CA. Something to think about, if you use PayPal Pro as your CC processor and for some reason PayPal shuts you down you are out of both CC and PayPal Standard payment types for your customers. For that reason when I am ready to take CC I am going with a CC processor other than PayPal. Perhaps just I read too much into those PayPal horror stories but still…
Good point… thanks!
I also can recommend this company for Canadian merchants:
IMO paypal is cheaper then using payment gateway.
Unless you use paypal’s advanced memberships, only advantage you get with payment gateway is your visitors stay on your website throughout the entire shopping experience.
Its important for branding. However for small e-commerce sites it really easy and cheaper stick with paypal.
I ended up using Moneris. We’ll see how it works out!
It could increase the sales.
The idea is that you have to give option to the client. One payment is not an option. 2 methods will make the client say: the product was good ( that why he bought it ) and it was so easy. That’s how you increase viral marketing.
Also only 1 payment option can delay your sales:
Only Paypal … I will have to make an account. Until the client makes an account possible to find another site from where to buy the product.
Options are always better. I know a whole lot of people who do not have pp accounts.
I am starting to find out that people want to place orders over the phone as well… so something other then PayPal is now even more important!
Good point about the charge backs. Will read up on this!
Is there a merchant out there that’ll allow you to take orders over the phone as well? I’ve not heard of that before.
I would just assume that you would have a separate merchant for phone transactions vs online
There is actually a merchant that can do both transactions on the phone and online. I am not an expert is the field and do not feel comfortable explaining it so please take a look at this site http://blog.nabancard.com/merchant-account/ways-your-business-can-accept-payments-over-the-phone/
PayPal Virtual Terminal lets you key in phone, fax and mail orders manually. It’s specifically advertised for that. PayPal offers every processing service you could need.
Why? Both are the same transaction classification – MOTO (mail order telephone order), card not present.
Nothing will tell you the results better than actually testing them… but when you have to spend to get the tool you have to draw a line in the sand to start.
Paypal is widely utilized and with the right link works even for non-users.
However any time you take people away from the branded looking and feel of your site you will have drop-off. For someone like myself who uses Paypal it’s faster and I know the pros & cons for refunds and protection already but for the general consumer, it’s a sudden change and an unknown. This is extremely simple to test as you build your store in deciding if you want to push paypal or push direct payment [one option has to come first].
Most larger brands have taken the opposite approach evaluating paypal after taking direct payments but from the number I see, and the mere fact that paypal does not end up with anything near 100% of payments, you will have a customer base bail not giving them a direct option. How many is very hard to forecast but assume that the more competitive your space, the less tech friendly your audience, and the bigger the order the stronger the impact will be.
I am happy to report that my sales increased, but it is hard to say whether it is due to accepting credit cards or not.
Paypal is name of trust. It defiantly increase your sales. And most of people like me have cash in their paypal account and they like to buy it through paypal
Noticed too - some folks prefer to pay over the phone even though both PayPal and Google Checkout are available. Not sure if it would be the case if we had an option for credit cards also…
maartenvr asked a great question-
I think it really depends on the website you have and the industry your business is in. Some customers don’t like to be re-directed to another site to pay. Good to hear your sales have increased!
Also, be aware that phone orders need to follow PCI compliance regulations. Third party processors may not allow that and accept the liability.
To accept phone orders you will need a merchant account and will need to be PCI compliant.