Alternative Payment Methods: Getting it Right
01 April 2010
If you're running an online business, there are some pretty common sense things that you're probably well aware of. The biggest being, no matter how much you'd like to, you cannot accept payments in cash. This means you must offer alternative payment methods to your customers. This is something you must get right. There's absolutely no room for error when dealing with your business's money. Moreover, offering more options for your customers means that you will actually have more paying customers. Not everyone has credit cards these days. Due to the still-going worldwide recession, even some people with credit cards don't want to ring up charges due to the higher interest rates companies are charging. So this leaves you with a bit of a problem if you're only accepting one form of payment.
Apart from the dilemma of higher interest rates, there's also a big security issue. After all, your business isn't exactly eBay or Amazon. You're a startup without a huge customer base. Not everyone is going to be comfortable with giving you their credit card numbers and other personal information. This is yet another reason alternatives are important.Try as you might, you won't find any studies that suggest one-trick payment ponies do better financially than businesses offering multiple payment methods. One of the most popular payment methods out there is PayPal. This system works by allowing people to pay for items with one simple click. It's so successful not only for its ease in shopping, but also for the many ways it allows a member to fund their respective PayPal account. It could be through check, bank account, credit card, or wire transfer. The benefits of using PayPal are enormous. You won't have to pay anything up front. All you do is sign up for a Merchant account with the site, and they'll even help you set up a shopping cart. After that, they will take a small percentage for a transaction fee, but the money will immediately be in your account after every customer's purchase. There's no substitute for PayPal, and it's a must-have even if you're going to go with other payment methods on your site. Make sure you get it to get it right!Another great alternative payment method to have on your site is Google Checkout. There are a few others we could go over in some detail, but along with PayPal, there's no bigger - and more trusted! - name out there than Google. Google Checkout works relatively the same way as PayPal one of the only differences is that Google offers a much more hands-on process by tracking orders and keeping tabs on everything. This puts the customer's mind at ease and will help to boost sales. You can sign up for Google Checkout in pretty much the same way. Get an account, obtain the merchant ID, and put their payment method on your site. After you have the main alternatives set up on your site, you can then look into other options like Bill Me Later, a great alternate payment system that has well over three million users worldwide. It charges less than credit cards but allows the same flexibility. Read up on these methods, sign up for your accounts and get them installed on your site correctly. The rest should be smooth sailing.
