So where in the world do you get started with accepting payments online? What about PayPal, and what about other credit card services? What’s the difference?
There are many ways to equip your website with “e-commerce“. From sophisticated shopping carts to one-step order forms, thousands of businesses successfully make that step into the e-commerce world.
Things you should understand about the difference between basic PayPal accounts and true credit card merchant services
- The cost of integrating a basic “standard” PayPal account is very low because it is free to set up the PayPal.com account and the web developer usually only has to paste in and massage a little bit of PayPal code into your website.
- PayPal charges significantly high transaction fees/percentages for each transaction.
- When you use a basic PayPal set up, there is a period in the transaction process when the visitor leaves your own website and goes to PayPal.com; the potential danger in this is that some buyers are scared off by the URL/site change, and some businesses actually block their employees from visiting PayPal and similar sites.
- The cost to set up a merchant service account with an online payment gateway (like Authorize.net for example) may be higher (set up fees vary by industry, type of business, merchant service company).
- The cost from your web developer will likely be higher because they will need to either custom program an order form for your site, or they will need to install and customize a shopping cart software for your website to accept the orders and communicate with the payment gateway.
- The rates/transaction fees will likely be much lower and more competitive with a merchant service company that is offering credit card processing for your business. This makes sense for businesses that expect to do a high volume of online credit card sales – over time they will see significant savings.
To get a complete picture, I recommend talking to one or more merchant service providers to evaluate your options and get rates. This may include having a conversation with your current trusted banking provider and also some recommended outside merchant service companies. Weight that information with your assessment of how many online sales you plan to have, and be sure to discuss your vision with your website developer.
