Web Site Mini-Guide Using PayPal
You can connect your Web site to PayPal to take credit card orders. This guide describes the pros and cons, and explains how to go ahead with using PayPal.
Overview
PayPal (at paypal.com) is an internationally-used system for making and taking payments. Anybody with an e-mail address can use it to take payments, even if they aren’t running a business or don’t have a merchant account. In fact, some years ago, the popular auction system eBay bought PayPal because it allowed individuals to accept payments easily.
A few years ago, PayPal was inconvenient to use as a business, because your customers had to be PayPal members before they could pay you. This meant that they had to go through a laborious sign-up process at the PayPal site. Many businesses lost orders simply because customers couldn’t be bothered going through this sign-up process.
However, PayPal recently removed that restriction, and now allows anybody to pay you using PayPal, as long as they have a credit card or they are a PayPal member themselves. The money goes into your PayPal account, and you can transfer it into a regular bank account at any time.
PayPal charges a very reasonable fee of 2-3%, which compares very favourably with a merchant account from a bank.
Pros and cons
As a business owner using our e-commerce system, you have three options for taking credit card payments:
- You get a merchant account with a bank, and Web site orders are e-mailed to you for processing. You treat them just like a phone/fax order – i.e. you process the transaction manually using your merchant account.
- You get a merchant account and a “real-time payment gateway” for automatic processing of transactions. You still get the orders e- mailed to you, but this is only for you to ship the orders; the payment has already taken place.
- You use PayPal. This is just like option 2, except that you don’t require a merchant account.
In an ideal world, you would use option 2. You get the benefit of your own merchant account and you have the transactions processed automatically.
Download Web Site Mini-Guide Using PayPal
Related PDF Manuals Guide:
PayPal Virtual Terminal User Guide
PayPal Setup Guide
PayPal Merchant Gift Certificates Guide
PayPal Sandbox User Guide
Guide to adding PayPal to multiple Listings
PayPal Website Payments Standard Integration Guide
Tutorial Guide for Creating a PayPal Page in Sitebuilder
Guide for Online Payment Using PAYPAL
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