subject: Choosing Between PayPal and Merchant Account for Online Business [print this page] Choosing Between PayPal and Merchant Account for Online Business
One of the toughest decisions that you'll have to make when starting your online business is deciding whether or not you want to use PayPal or your own merchant account. If you use PayPal you'll have the ability to allow millions of people that use PayPal all over the world to pay for your product or service without entering their credit card information. When you use your own merchant accounts it will be easier for you to accept any credit card from anywhere without worrying about losing some people that don't use PayPal.
It may be a difficult choice to decide whether or not to use your own merchant account or PayPal but here are a few reasons that can make your decision a little easier.
You can make your decision based on your market. All you have to do is look around in the market that you are in and find out whether or not a majority of the people have a PayPal account. For example if you sell a lot of products on eBay it may be a good idea for you to start out with a PayPal account. Most people that use eBay won't purchase a product if they can't use their PayPal account. But if you're selling a product to regular consumers that aren't that familiar with PayPal it may be better to use your own merchant account because you'll be able to make your order pages look different and not worry about confusing people when they see that they may have to log into PayPal.
The negatives of using a PayPal account is the fact that some of your customers who are not used to shopping online may be confused when they see the PayPal login form when they go to your order page or they simply may not be able to enter their credit card information because PayPal already has it on file. The one major negative to using a merchant account is the fact that you have to keep your customer's credit card information secure and your customers may not feel as safe when they enter their credit card information on your website.
A solution to both of these issues may just be to allow your customers to choose whether or not they want to use PayPal or pay through your own merchant account. Allowing your customers to choose between paying with PayPal or actually using your own merchant account can be a great way to increase your profits while at the same time putting your customers needs first.
