Alternative online payment processing
by Ryan Cassano

Anyone who's had a (credit card) merchant account for their business knows it can be a real headache in determining a service provider. Those with online merchant accounts would probably also say that it's generally more costly than physical card processing. Granted, the cost has gone down a great deal since the mid 90s, when security was less refined than it is today. Still, it makes little sense for a smaller merchant to pay costly monthly service fees when they may be selling only a handful of products or don't have high sales volume. Fortunately, there are online services out there that recognize this dilemma and provide solutions. I'll cover only two of the larger ones, but I encourage you to do your own research as well.

PayPal :// This company has grown a great deal in its short history. Its service provides anyone with e-mail access to send money to anyone else with e-mail access. It does this by pulling money from either a credit card or bank account provided by the user. Its popularity has stemmed primarily from eBay, as thousands have turned to it as a way to make and receive payments for auctions. PayPal also provides a service for merchants where you can create links and buttons for your own products on your Website. PayPal provides you with HTML code to insert into your Web site. When a user purchases something, they are taken to PayPal's secure checkout and you receive an e-mail with the order. PayPal is free to anyone sending money, and a person receiving the money is charged a small percentage* on the transaction. There is no monthly fee.

Pros: PayPal is very easy to use and widely accepted. They provide the option to earn interest on your funds. They have good guarantee policies and provide handy bookkeeping features like the ability to export history to a spreadsheet or Quicken. Optimum for auctions or Web sites selling 25 products or less.

Cons: The largest downfall is that someone paying through PayPal must be a member. This means that if someone purchases something from your Website, (unless they are already a member) they will have to sign up for its service to complete the order. Some buyers won't go to that kind of trouble.

Feel free to try PayPal's demo.

*This rate fluctuates. Check PayPal's Fee Schedule for the latest rates.

CCNow :// This company provides a similar service as PayPal's Web store service, where you setup your own products, then provide links from your site to CCNow's shopping cart for the completion of the order. CCnow provides some nice options for products, like allowing for product specifications like colors, sizes, etc. One huge benefit over PayPal is that you don't need to sign up for anything to purchase through it. Like Paypal, there is no monthly service fee, but you pay a whopping 8.5% per transaction. It keeps track of your monthly sales and is very straight forward in generating new or modifying products.

Pros: CCnow is very easy to use and does not require any type of credit check to establish an account. It has an easy-to-use interface, and maintenance is pretty painless. No monthly fees.

Cons: The transaction fee of 8.5% is very steep. It really adds up if you're selling large ticket items. However, for lesser expensive items it's bearable, especially for the convenience factor. CCnow doesn't payout upon request; they only issue payment on the 1st and 16th of each month. This can be critical for a business operating on little working capital.

Feel free to try CCnow's demo.

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