Using Online Payment Methods Effectively to Drive Down Costs

15 November 2010

As the Internet and business has evolved, so too have online payment methods. In the golden days of mom-n-pop stores, it was one step ahead of the Jones to even have a credit card processing unit in your shop, and this is only recent history. In the past two decades, with the online business boom, digital payments are just the norm.

Any online business looking to effectively keep their costs low would be wise to streamline their payment methods. Not only does it make things a lot more convenient for the customers if they can quickly pay via multiple methods, but today's methods keep you from having to fork over percentages and flat rates for processing fees, enabling you to save some serious cash over time.

Only a few short years ago, a lot of online businesses were turning to the above-mentioned processing companies to deal strictly with credit card payments. While this was and still is in some cases convenient for both the purveyor and the customer, it's a rather expensive way to deal with online payments seeing as you have a slew of other options available at your disposal.

One of the most flexible and inexpensive systems people use today is PayPal. Not only will PayPal provide you with a shopping card to use on your main site, blogs and more, but their one-touch purchasing option is the real secret behind eBay's massive success. They're just so easily accessible to most of the world, and certainly cost effective.

Of course, you don't want to be a one-trick pony when it comes to processing. Systems like PayPal and those similar are great for a niche, but some people just don't have an account set up nor do they want to take the time to set one up. The occasional shoppers are bringing credit cards to the table, more often than not, and more and more debit cards (with major credit carriers).

If you're running a larger operation and wish to keep your costs down, then it is probably in your best interest to get in touch with a payment processing company. However, make sure they're one of the new-age, low-cost companies out there, catering to the mobile market, walk-ins (if you have a land-based location), and other various forms of payments.

The best processors out there will cost mere pennies on the dollar, so you wont have to worry about paying a fee unless you're making sells. And, if you also keep a method like PayPal around, the processors services will only be needed for the customers who don't have an online account set up elsewhere.

Payment processors you can find deal with various types of payment: ACH processing, checks/images, cash, debit/credit, billing and payments, and more. Obviously, you can choose to avoid this and go with big-name sites, but having an all-in-one processor will help to keep costs down in the long haul, and will definitely be more wallet-friendly than conventional methods.