Do you want to accept payments on your website for your products or services? That’s obviously one of the coolest roles your site can play for you – a tool to help you directly get paid! There are several ways you can do this.
One of the simplest ways is to use PayPal as your method of collecting payment.
Now, this probably isn’t groundbreaking news for a lot of you but I’ve found that with my clients who are over 35 years young, the PayPal concept is a little new/foreign? Those are people who grew up using credit or debit cards as an alternative to making a cash payment.
Topics ilke Identity Theft still have both older and younger web surfers justifiably leery of paying for things online.
The difference regarding how PayPal is viewed is this:
Age 35 and Up Perspective
- What is PayPal?
- I don’t really get it.
- Why don’t I just use a credit card?
Age 34 and Down Perspective
- PayPal makes things quick and easy.
- I don’t have to have a credit card.
- Why would I want to enter my credit card information on someone else’s website?
- Is that even Safe?
The good thing is that PayPal has had time now to develop itself as a trusted brand. More people of all age groups have at least heard of it now, and therefor are more apt to use it.
Also, PayPal gives people the option of still using a credit card if they would rather do that.
Other Options
There are other options, and PayPal might not be the best for you. If you’re selling thousands of dollars of products or services every month from your website, you might save money going with a merchant account from your bank and get a lower transaction rate. However using a merchant account and payment gateway (the thing that connects your website’s cart to your bank account) has monthly fees involved and this might not make sense for your online business right now.
If you’re just getting started with this ecommerce thing, PayPal could save you money and be the simplest solution.
Do Your Own Research
This article isn’t intended to tell you that you should be using PayPal, it just hopefully sheds a little light on it as a good possible option for you. Make sure you do your own research. It’s your business and it’s important that you know and understand how collecting money online works.
- Visit PayPal.com and read more.
- Talk to your bank and ask them about options.
- Talk to me and I’d be happy to answer any questions I can.
Any PayPal Stories?
What’s your experience with PayPal? Any good or bad stories? Would love to hear them!