| ||
|
|
|
|
| ||
|
|
|
Thinking Of Taking Money Online? Whats Best For Merchants? PayPal, WorldPay or Something Else?
It's now easier than ever to take payments on the web. As people selling their wares take pot shots at eCommerce providers in an ever-increasing battle to sabotage their "competitors'" success it gets harder and harder to find an honest unbiased opinion. So that's what I'm setting out to do in today's article. You see, as we've enabled 3 different payment methods at www.BookShaker.com I feel I can comment in a far less biased way than people sticking with a single solution. *** IMPORTANT NOTICE *** Obviously, these are just my opinions and any solution you choose will have pros and cons. What's best for one company might not be right for another. So take your time to really understand what's involved by asking the provider before committing to a solution. PayPal - www.PayPal.com Some people, rightly or wrongly (in my opinion - wrongly) are afraid to pay via PayPal which has given it a bad rep and does lead to a loss of sales for merchants using it if they are unknown to the customer. Pros: * It's really easy to get a payment button up and running on your site * You can use it to securely send payments to others * Anyone who's ever used eBay will already have an account * Giving refunds is a doddle * Great low-cost way of adding secure credit card payments to your site * They're not greedy with commission or charges * Multiple currencies supported Cons: * Poor perception in the marketplace (in my opinion this is due to people who've paid through the teeth for another solution trying to make it hard on people just starting out) * This is the biggy - people from many countries (such as South Africa) are unable to get a PayPal account which reduces sales potential if you sell internationally. Summary: I've used PayPal a lot in the past and still do. If you are planning on accepting payments from clients that already know you then this is the best and fastest option for enabling the process. You need to check your own biases (ie did you just hear it was bad) and encourage reluctant clients to try it out - it's safe! WorldPay - www.WorldPay.com This is seen as THE standard for online stores and eCommerce. Customers trust merchants with WorldPay because they know it costs the store owner a lot more to set up - which goes someway to proving they're a bone-fide company who won't do a runner. Pros: * Good customer perception. Adds kudos and helps customers feel safe with you. We noticed a peak in sales pretty much immediately after making WorldPay live on our site. * International currencies (but at a cost) * Their checking procedure ties in with Distance Selling laws so when you pass you can be confident you're applying good practice as an online merchant. * Looks good and can be customised to fit pretty seamlessly into your site's style. Cons: * They charge you a small fortune just to get started and then make you wait for a few weeks while they do their bit * High - bordering on extortionate - charges means they can eat your profit - individual transaction fees mean that tiny payments (I'd say anything sub £4) are also out of the question. * They pay you your own money 4 weeks in arrears - bad for cashflow of smaller firms and seems to benefit them more than anyone else! * They MAKE you put their logo (which I personally think is awful) on your site. This, again seems to serve their interests rather than the customer or merchant. * Integrating with your site is not as easy as PayPal or NoChex (will probably need a techy) * Every additional currency accepted costs you extra to set up * They charge you an additional transaction fee on top to protect you against fraud NoChex - www.NoChex.com Last time I checked NoChex was only available to UK companies - but if you're providing a service or product to UK customers only then this could be your best bet for a fast, low-cost way to start taking payments. Pros: * Easy to set up and add payments * Customers don't need to register * They're really generous on the charges front - not greedy at all. * It's totally secure Cons: * Hardly anyone has heard of them which could lead to people being afraid to provide card details * The payment page is a bit 90s and looks garish * It's just for UK Oh and NoChex give you a breakdown to show you just how varied the range of charges can be... http://help.nochex.com 'Dangerous' Debbie Jenkins (c) Copyright 2005 www.BookShaker.com SUMMER CAN BE SLOW FOR BUSINESS I'm wondering if... You Know Other People who should be reading this too? So do us all a favour (they get 2 free books - we get a new subscriber - you get to look good) when you Pass On This link... http://www.leanmarketing.co.uk
Add to these social bookmarking sites: 
MORE RESOURCES:
Notice: Undefined index: TITLE in /var/www/vhosts/harmonyhollow.net/httpdocs/webmaster-resources/web-development/inc/rss.inc on line 103 Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Your Future Profit Is In The Stars You don't believe in astrology but you check your horoscope in the newspaper just for fun. Me too. The Web: Your Window of Opportunity Thinking about starting up a business? The web is the way to go. Look around! More and more, people are relying on the internet as an information resource, a way to foster personal relationships, and method of purchasing goods and services. How to Get a Knock Out Website! The first step in setting up an online business.. 7 Reasons YOU Need a Website 1) A marketing necessityI still hear it said from time to time that you really do not need a website if you are a private practice professional. I disagree. Link Trades That Waste Your Time Never has competition been so difficult in the Internet world. Google and Yahoo keep indexing more and more pages, into the millions upon millions, and yet more and more people are creating super quickie links pages that are supposed to get other webmasters to want to trade links with them. Eight Deadly Web Site Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Creating and maintaining an effective presence on the Web has become increasingly complex and challenging as the power of the Internet as a marketing tool becomes more and more necessary to entrepreneurs and emerging businesses.The good news is that technologies that were only available to the big guys just a couple of years ago - audio, video, ecommerce, e-mail database management applications - are now affordable for almost everybody. Where on Earth is Your Websitee? You've just finished congratulating your marketing team. After six months of concentrated effort you can now actually find your own company web site within the search engines. Tips to Protect Your Downloads or Products 1. Upload robots. A Beginners Guide to Server Side Includes An Introduction to Server Side IncludesBeginner? That's OK!While much has been written about Server Side Includes (SSIs -also known as Virtual Includes) much of this information is designed for intermediate to advanced webmasters. This article is aimed at beginners. Why You Really Need Your Own Web Page In-order To Make Online Business! How many Web Sites did you stumble over telling you that you don't actually need your own? Now, this is true to a certain extend but not if you are heading for the real scoop.What we all aim for is to go from point A to B in the shortest time. Your Website Should Be Selling It may come as some surprise to a traditionally off-line business that their website should be attracting new sales, or at least supporting the sales they have made. There is a common misconception that a website is more of a cost than an asset. What Hosting Companies Dont Tell You, Could Hurt You? Did you know that hosting companies overcrowd their servers despite all the issues caused by servers running hundreds of accounts? Are you aware of what happens if your website is hosted on a server that's overcrowded? You're probably thinking to yourself, "what do you mean overcrowd their servers?" Overcrowded servers mean big money for your hosting company, but also big problems for your website.Hosting companies are willing to sacrifice the success of your website in order to build their own profit. Ten Ways NOT to Set Up a Website-based Service Business 1. As the first step, "Hire a web designer. How To Convert More Sales On Your Website One of the biggest mistakes that most online retailers make is they do not take into account typical buyer behaviour. The conversion from real world to online provides many benefits to the retailer, but present some real challenges for the customer because their buying decision is made more difficult in an online environment. Creating Compelling Content , Write It and They Will Come In a previous ezinearticles.com article,"I Need real visitors, Not Search Spiders" we discussed the need for content. Why A Simple Counter is Never Enough for Your Website A simple website stats counter is not enough if you are really interested in finding out information about your traffic. Certainly, a simple web counter will tell you how many people have visited your site, but that is it. Bring Your Visitors Back Clamoring for More! Maintain and Improve Your Web Site Weekly - Part 1 80% of your Web site is Maintenance!Once your Web site is up, you must maintain it. That means changes, and each time you make a change, you may make a mistake. Developing State-enabled Applications With PHP Installment 1Developing State-enabled Applications With PHPWhen a user is browsing through a website and is surfing from one web page to another, sometimes the website needs to remember the actions (e.g. What is SQL? What is SQL? SQL stands for Structured Query Language and is the lingua franca in the database world. SQL is a standard that is used by all database vendors and programmers to define, extract and access the information that is stored in databases. How to Increase Sales with Automation Improvements How popular is online shopping? And is there room for improvement? Let's check out some pros and cons of automated shopping and see.Digital carts offer convenience for people around the globe 24 hours a day.
|
| Home | Site Map |
|
| © 2006 | |