EBizInsider

With so many payment options available, which methods should you accept? The rule of thumb is to take whatever payment methods your customers offer. This doesn’t mean to suggest that you accept every payment method imaginable (most e-commerce operators shy away from payment in, say, live animals…).

It does mean to listen to your customers and try to be flexible enough to accept any reasonable payment methods that they actually want to use. As you decide, take into account your own financial situation, your demographics and price points. Remember, the methods you choose should match your customers’ needs and buying patterns.

What follows is a brief synopsis of each of the major alternative methods:

PayPal

What is PayPal? PayPal is an online payment processor owned by eBay. PayPal allows customers to create a PayPal account and pay for purchases using their credit cards or bank account. The buyer’s credit card or bank account information is never sent to the merchant – PayPal sends the merchant money instead. This protects the buyer’s information from being shared with endless different businesses and narrows the risk of having their personal information fall into the wrong hands.

Basically, PayPal works for—EVERYONE! Unless you have a good reason not to accept PayPal, accept it. Your customers will thank you.

PayPal Benefits:

• Already integrated with your Yahoo! store

• Rates are comparable to most merchant accounts

• Over 150 million online shoppers use PayPal worldwide

• Privacy: Actual credit card information is only seen by PayPal and not shared with merchants – this protects customers if a merchant compromises payment information

• Typically, PayPal users prefer to pay with PayPal because it gives them a single place to manage all of their purchases

• PayPal also offers express checkout

(Using express checkout, your customers’ information is already saved and populated for them so they don’t have to retype everything again. Because of this, express checkout conversion can be 40% higher than other modes of checkout.)

Bill Me Later

What is BML? Bill Me Later offers financing to your customers. When purchasing through your site and Bill Me Later, your customers are able to purchase high ticket items with no money down and no payments for 90 days!

Who should consider incorporating BML? Merchants who are doing at least $5M a year in online revenue and selling higher ticket items are obvious candidates.

Bill Me Later Benefits:

• Offers affordable payment terms
on high ticket items (jewelry, computers, etc)

• 50%+ increase in average order value, up to 150% when combined with promotional financing

• Easy integration through the industry’s largest payment processors, so authorization and settlement flow through existing interfaces

Google Checkout

What is GC? Google Checkout is a
fast, convenient checkout process that allows customers to buy from you with a single login.

Which businesses are the best candidates? Anyone advertising on the Google Adwords platform with an e-commerce website that is compatible with Google Checkout should consider GC.

Google Checkout Benefits:

• $50 in free adwords

• 21% discount on FedEx shipping

• Free credit card processing (as long as your sales don’t exceed 10 times your Google Adwords spend)

• Google Checkout users click on ads 10% more when the ad displays the Checkout badge and convert 40% more shoppers who have not used the Checkout in the past

• Checkout’s Payment Guarantee protects 98% of Checkout orders on average – when an order is guaranteed, you get paid even if it results in a chargeback

Summing Up

Each of the above methods has its strengths and each should be strongly considered, based on your business. PayPal is widely trusted by consumers who shop actively but want security. Bill Me Later offers credit options which can be particularly attractive to high ticket shoppers. Google Checkout offers the ability to buy with a single login and falls under the highly-trusted Google umbrella. Consider your business, consider your customers and choose accordingly.

Name (required)

E-Mail (required)

(Will not be published)

Website

Comments

Security Code

Enter the code above into this box. There's no letters, only numbers. We just want to make sure you're human.