What are My Payment Receiving Options?
Paypal is commonly accepted as the simplest solution to exchange money between buyer and seller. To receive payments from credit cards, you can opt to receive them through a middleman like Paypal or receive it directly into a merchant account you opened for your business at your local bank. So, let's look at the options :
Paypal. It is great. It simplifies your life and that of your buyer. But you do pay a hefty price if you are not located in the USA. More and more, it seems, Paypal is charging huge amounts for payments received by their merchants. You can loose anything from 3-8% of your selling price if you accept payments through Paypal. If you have to convert your money from US Dollars to another currency, you'll be charged some extra, and more too if your buyer is paying you directly from a credit card.
Then, you will need anything from 3-5 days before you actually do get your hands on your money. You can transfer what is in your Paypal account to your bank account, and although you are not charged by Paypal for this service, it will take that long for your money to credit in your account. Some banks may even charge you for the receipt of that transfer.
There?s another problem with Paypal. Buyers can submit a complaint about a merchant and demand a refund. Although you have been careful to stipulate all your terms neatly and concisely in your website for all to read, you can be sure that the vast majority have not even bothered to skim over that. Buyers use and abuse the Buyer Complaint option they are given at Paypal. They may have placed an order with you. You have advised the buyer how long it will take you to prepare the shipment of the purchased good. You are preparing the shipment, and the buyer, out of the blue, submits a complaint with Paypal and demands a refund. Maybe the buyer found a better deal, or didn?t read your terms properly. But what do you do? It?s a hassle to deal with. But it will happen, and you will loose a lot of time and possibly even money because of this.
My suggestion is to consider other options too.
I am not here to suggest any names because nobody is paying me to promote their services. The best thing you can do is to review a few options that you will find by doing a simple search in Google or Yahoo search engines. There are plenty.
To receive payments through a credit card without a middleman like Paypal, you need to open a merchant account at your bank. Requirements for this will vary from country to country, and you should check with your local banks for more information on this. Payments from credit card companies are transferred directly to your account.
Do take into account that the receipt of credit card payments will incur charges from your bank. Given that most online shoppers use a credit card to shop over the internet, you may just have to swallow these charges and absorb them within your gross profit margin. Remember that when preparing your retail prices.
