Other Payment Solutions for Online Merchants

Of course, PayPal and Google Checkout aren't the only online payment services to choose from; they're just the biggest and most well known. If you want the complete picture, you should evaluate several other alternatives.

Online Payment Services

When you're evaluating online payment services, several companies offer services similar to those offered by Google Checkout and PayPal. These services include

  • 2CheckOut (www.2checkout.com), a shopping cart and merchant credit card solution, for both physical products and services.
  • Amazon Payments (www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?node=3309511), the payment service offered by Amazon.com to its Amazon Merchants. For buyers, Amazon Payments consolidates payments from multiple sellers into a single shopping cart, which should be familiar to frequent Amazon shoppers. The service itself has no transaction fees; the costs of the service are factored into the normal Amazon Marketplace commission structure.
  • BidPay (www.bidpay.com), a payment service similar to PayPal that is accepted for use in eBay auctions. BidPay offers a slightly lower 2.5% transaction rate—plus a slightly higher 50 cent per-transaction fee.
  • BitPass (www.bitpass.com), an e-commerce solution for sellers of subscription services.
  • CCNow (www.ccnow.com), a shopping cart and merchant credit card solution for e-commerce websites.
  • ClickBank (www.clickbank.com), a selling/payment solution for downloadable software and other electronically delivered products.
  • DigiBuy (www.digibuy.com), a shopping cart/checkout solution for sellers of downloadable software.
  • InterWallet (www.interwallet.com), a London-based payment service for U.K. merchants.
  • Nochex (www.nochex.com), an online payment service similar to PayPal, limited to users within the United Kingdom.
  • Paymate (www.paymate.com), an Australian-based online payment service, similar to PayPal.
  • ShareIt (www.shareit.com), a shopping cart/checkout solution for sellers of downloadable software.

Merchant Credit Card Services

In addition, if you're a high-volume seller, you may be able to get a lower per-transaction rate by signing up for a merchant credit card account from a traditional banking or financial institution.

However, there are a few issues around establishing this type of traditional merchant credit card account. First, it's more hassle than signing up for PayPal or Google Checkout; you may have to submit various business documentation and possibly have your own credit checked. Second, getting everything up and running may also be more involved than simply plugging into the PayPal or Google Checkout systems. And finally, upfront or monthly fees may be involved.

Note

Setup fees for a merchant account can range from $25 to $400 or more, and there's probably some sort of minimum transaction amount that you must maintain each month. Some services also make you purchase expensive software or credit card terminals. Since these fees vary so much, make sure you shop around before you commit.

That said, if you can save half a point or more on every credit card transaction, setting up this type of account may be worthwhile—if your credit card volume is high enough. Most merchant credit card services have rates in the 2% to 2.5% range, which beats PayPal's standard 2.9% rate—but is no better than the rate charged by Google Checkout. As always, it pays to shop around.

If you're interested in establishing a merchant credit card account, here are some services that specialize in providing credit card services to online merchants:

You may also want to check out the credit card services offered by your local wholesale club; both Costco and Sam's Club offer merchant credit card processing to their business members at affordable rates. For example, Costco offers credit card accounts to its Executive members through Nova Information Systems, with a discount rate of just under 2%. See the Costco website (www.costco.com) or call 888-474-0500 for more details.

Note

Want to find out more about Google Checkout? Keep up-to-date with changes to Google Checkout and other Google services at my companion website, Googlepedia: The Blog (googlepedia.blogspot.com).

..................Content has been hidden....................

You can't read the all page of ebook, please click here login for view all page.
Reset
3.144.127.232