Saturday, January 10, 2009

How to Accept Credit Card Payments Online

By Justin Harrison

Customers who use the internet to shop are spoiled for choice, so if you don't offer them what they want right away, they will simply go someplace else. They expect different payment methods to be available, but credit cards get the most use because they are so convenient and the money doesn't have to be in a checking account right away. They also generate more revenue from impulse purchases.

Credit cards payments can be accepted by an ecommerce site in two different ways. The prefered way is to use a third-party processor and the later is to establish a merchant account with a bank.

Internet businesses have a much harder time gaining approval for merchant accounts than brick and mortar retail businesses despite the fact that almost all banks offer merchant accounts and processing gateways to all of their account holders.

PayPal and other third party services do away with the need for an account with the merchant. They also offer real time payment and fund transfer into the account of a business owner for a small fee, which is usually a small flat rate plus a percentage of each transaction's sale.

For this purpose PayPal has the most appropriate solutions for using credit cards and the features that they have consist of a shopping cart where the company website can be placed, the ability to interchange international money, and receive various types of payments including debits electronically or echecks.

If you want to begin accepting credit card payments the fastest route to do so is with a third party service like PayPal, which is more affordable and a great alternative to traditional banking options. - 16890

About the Author:

No comments: