Thread: How to accept payments on my site

Hello,

I'm currently having a new website built for me to sell various digital products. I want to find the easiest way to accept payments. My web developer is suggesting that I use PayPal because it is so easy to sign up for and use.

Reading some of the other posts on here I believe that it might not be wise to use paypal for digital products. Did someone mention something about proof of delivery being difficult with them?

So what are my other options? I need to get this site launched in the next 2 weeks which could be why my developer is hesitant about applying for a merchant account right now. So any other alternatives instead of paypal?

Also I presume if I applied for a merchant account later on down the line it would be possible to incorporate it into my site? Do you think it's possible for me to do this myself? Or would I need to hire my develoepr again?!

Please let me know. This is a very useful resource by the way, I can't seem to find this information anywhere else on the net! I've been visiting for a few months but only just signed up today because I need to know this quickly

John

Good Morning John,

Some people have said that selling digital products with Paypal can be difficult. This is especially true if a buyer ever disputes the purchase. There are other similar services which are just as easy to sign up for, but much less restrictive. One of the best appears to be Google Checkout. This can be signed up for very quickly.

A merchant account will take a long time to set up and 2 weeks is probably pushing it a bit. You could start the ball rolling now though. Yes you will be able to integrate your site with the merchant account later on. However depending on whether you have a custom designed site or are using ecommerce software this might be fairly difficult. It could be something you can do yourself depending on your ability using a computer.

There's no harm offering google checkout alongside another payment option anyway. So you might as well sign up for google checkout now if that's the service you choose. You can continue using it even when you get a full blown merchant account

Hope I could help!

Andrew

John,

I use Google checkout and never have a problem. It's also easy to integrate, or just add a button and people like it because you don't need to sign up for anything.

I use it for both digital and physical products.

You can even invoice customers.

It's a merchant account, it's not like PayPal. The money is transfered automatically to your bank account, just as any merchant account would and the set up is easy and only takes a limited amount of time. You still need to verify things like PayPal, but it's much faster then a regualr merchant account.

Gordon

Hi Gordon,

It's great that you agree with me about Google Checkout! Although I already know that you're pro Google Checkout! Everything google seems pretty good actually although the new hotmail seems quite nice.

How is your apprentice (Ed) getting on?! Haven't heard from him lately, maybe he's too busy with all your literature!!

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

Acutally Ed has been quite busy studying both my course and taking finals at University.

Gordon

Originally Posted by envnet

Hi Gordon,

It's great that you agree with me about Google Checkout! Although I already know that you're pro Google Checkout! Everything google seems pretty good actually although the new hotmail seems quite nice.

How is your apprentice (Ed) getting on?! Haven't heard from him lately, maybe he's too busy with all your literature!!

Andrew

The best is paypal