If you want to sell on
internet, your need to accept credit cards. To accept credit cards, you need a merchant account, or access to one. There're two ways of getting this: Get your own merchant account, or 'pimp' off someone else's. The latter is option most new merchants choose. You use a third-party to process your payments, and they take percentage. Here are a few popular ones:
PayPal.com (http://www.paypal.com)
I don't recommend them as your main processor. See http://www.paypalsucks.com. PayPal is popular because it was 'firstest with mostest' on auction sites. For this reason, eBay bought them out. PayPalSucks.com) alleges that if you have a bad order they freeze your account, and can even dip into your bank account to make up any shortfalls. Mitigating circumstances are not taken into account. I've read enough complaints about PayPal on webmaster forums to heed them.
The usual rejoinder is; "But I've never had any problems with PayPal". To which is usually retorted "Just wait 'till you get a chargeback!"
A chargeback occurs when someone asks their credit-card company for a refund. They say they didn't get goods, or they never made order, or goods were not as advertised. This is passed on to processor, who in turn debits merchant. Or drops him entirely. You don't want too many of these.
I've used them for years for small amounts, with no problem, but on basis of others' complaints in webmaster forums, I wouldn't use them for large ones. Don't leave large amounts 'on deposit' in any internet-based company; they're not banks, and even banks go bust occasionally.
The best use for PayPal is to entice customers who already use it. Find another provider to be your main one. One like ...
2Checkout.com (http://www.2checkout.com)
This is a factoring service like PayPal. Unlike them, they have a pretty good reputation with webmasters. Like PayPal, they don't provide you with a merchant account; they process your orders through their own.
This is why such sites have to be very stringent; they are answerable to their own merchant account provider. Too many bogus orders, and they go out of business.
This is why third-party factoring services like 2Checkout are very useful to a newbie merchant: fraud prevention. They can screen out suspicious orders.
Most merchants would like to think they can sell worldwide. The fact is most of world is poor; MOST countries can't afford your goods. So some citizens try to get them fraudulently.
A smart merchant would bar most of world from accessing his cart, and only accept orders from USA, Canada, western Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and his home country. Harsh, but you'll sleep better at night.
WorldPay (http://www.worldpay.com)
A well-regarded service. I found adding it to Oscommerce cart (http://www.oscommerce.com) a bit of a chore, but it worked. More expensive to join than 2Checkout. You don't hear many gripes about WorldPay, which is rare in webmaster circles.
ClickBank.com (http://www.clickbank.com)
Handy if you're selling a few items of inexpensive software to start off your business. They'll let you up price once they're sure of you. I managed to get them to go up to $150 (whoo!). I was very jealous of their system. It's well designed and extremely 'viral'; they're basically a huge affiliate program. Join ClickBank, and others will try and sell your product for you.
