Pricing and Costs of Online Payment Solutions

Choose a cost-effective online payment solution for your customers
By Terri Deno Online payment systems are very important to any business that buys or sells items through its website. There are many options when it comes to the pricing and costs of online payment solutions. You could find online payment software, set up an e-commerce merchant account, or work with other online payment companies to secure payments from the customer. Most fees are relatively low when you consider the overall sales you could potentially bring in.

Online payment services have different ways of charging you for their product. They may take a percentage of the final sale total, charge a flat monthly fee, or charge a flat fee that applies to each sale. In order to choose the right web payment solution for your company, consider the following:

1. What will cost your more: a percentage or a flat fee.

2. How many customers you get.

3. The average amount spent at your online store.

Choose an e-commerce merchant account or other e-commerce tool

Choosing an e-commerce merchant account is one of the simplest ways to make an e-commerce payment for products and services from your website. Merchant accounts are relatively low in cost and you can add on different features to make it easier for customers to shop, such as a shopping cart e-commerce tool.
Try:  The e-commerce shopping cart packages from Network Solutions are easy-to-use tools that provide your customers with a way to buy multiple items from your store for around $50. ACH Direct offers an e-commerce merchant account that can be customized to your business's needs.

Try different brands of online payment software

Shopping for online payment software is just like shopping for any other type of software. Software is similar to ecommerce payment solutions, but more of the process is done by the program instead of a web resource. Make sure to check out product demos or trial versions of online payment software before choosing the best one for your website.
Try:  Yellow Zone has a variety of software products for the basic web based business, up to the most professional sites on the Internet. The costs for standard and custom products start at $3,500. If you want to check out a program before purchasing it, check out the demo for Web Payment Software from Mountain Media. This software is under $1,000 for the licensing, and you can choose to host your site with the company as well for a small monthly fee.

Consider online payment services without software

There are many online payment services that do not use software at all. This drastically cuts down the cost of turning your website into a store. You do not have to purchase any type of program, and setting up an account is usually free. The only time you pay is through a transaction fee.
Try:  PayPal offers a simple way to turn any website into a store with small transaction fees and no software to install. Transaction fees are between 1.9 and 2.9 percent with a standard $0.30 fee. E-gold is a similar type of payment system to PayPal, but E-gold works differently when you need to cash out your account or transfer funds to a traditional bank. To liquidate E-gold funds, you usually have to pay a higher transaction fee than PayPal.

• No matter what you use for electronic payment solutions, prepare to check up on the system at regular intervals to make sure it's working correct. You want to be sure you're not cheated out of any ecommerce payments owed to you.