Online Payment Solutions

Use cost-effective, secure online payment methods to boost your sales

No matter what your business, the sooner you set up to accept payments online, the more quickly your sales will accumulate. If you sell products or services through your Web site you can use a service such as PayPal to accept payment or you can make a shopping cart available. On a more basic level, you can even invoice customers via email.

No matter what your setup, you'll need to take these three steps to shore up your online payment strategy:

1. Calculate your average monthly transaction volume. If you anticipate a small number of transactions, your needs might be quite simple. However, they'll be more complex if your transactions number in the hundreds or thousands.
2. Determine how much money you can allocate toward an online payment budget. Some online payment solutions involve monthly fees, startup and cancellation charges.
3. Assess your risks. Online and credit-card fraud could wipe your business out. Look into services like chargeback protection.

If your needs are simple, keep it simple

If you accept payment on your Web site through PayPal, your customers can use credit cards and debit cards, even if they don't have a PayPal account. PayPal has several plans including ones with no annual commitment, monthly, startup or cancellation fees. Transactions fees start as low at 1.9 percent + $0.30 USD.

Get yourself a shopping cart

Shopping-cart software converts an existing Web site into an e-commerce store capable of handling multiple purchases and processing credit-card transactions.

Starting from scratch?

Online store-builder software creates e-commerce stores with features such as Web space, shopping carts and credit-card processing, so if you don't have a Web site and don't want to develop your own, consider a software package with lots of bells and whistles.

Merchant accounts and gateways

A merchant account is an account you establish with a bank to accept credit cards. Unless you use PayPal, you'll need a merchant account to accept credit cards through your Web site.

Cut risk and minimize loss from fraud

Cutting-edge security, fraud prevention and chargeback protection are a must in online commerce.

• Appearances count, so keep in mind the customer interface your e-commerce store presents.
• Include shipping choices and multiple payment options for buyers.
• Remember, the faster the transaction, the happier the customer.

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