PayPal vs. Traditional Payment

discgolftraveler · 11-10-2009, 09:22 PM

I am looking to get into selling some products through my blog/website. Obviously the easy solution is to add a paypal button to different products on my site.

However, do you think it would be worth the extra effort to equip my site with full ecommerce functionality? Obviously, this would allow a wider array of users to purchase my products...but come at a higher cost.

Any thoughts from people who have started selling small quantities of products online?

AlexR · 11-10-2009, 11:57 PM

It's not so much the quantity, but the volume that you need to consider. If you can justify the monthly expected volume of sales it may be worthwhile to look at a merchant gateway, if you only expect to make a handful of sales per month then look at Paypal...at least initially...you can always add the merchant account later if you see a need for it.

Alex

TruWebPro · 11-11-2009, 12:28 AM

I'm not sure I follow you in terms of the perceived benefit to adding a full shopping cart. In my experience the primary benefit to that is the flexibility it gives you in product variety, presentation, upsells, and your own bookkeeping, as well as a chance to get away from PayPal's higher starter-account commissions. But that's all at your end.

As far as your customers are concerned, they can pay you with a credit card through PayPal just as well as any other merchant, and they normally do not have to have a PayPal account to do so, unless something has changed recently that I am unaware of.

Cheers,
Neil

11-10-2009, 09:22 PM	#1
discgolftraveler WordPress Guy Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Maryland Posts: 94 Thanks: 8 Thanked 10 Times in 10 Posts	PayPal vs. Traditional Payment I am looking to get into selling some products through my blog/website. Obviously the easy solution is to add a paypal button to different products on my site. However, do you think it would be worth the extra effort to equip my site with full ecommerce functionality? Obviously, this would allow a wider array of users to purchase my products...but come at a higher cost. Any thoughts from people who have started selling small quantities of products online?
	WP Oasis: WordPress Forum and Community The web's #1 Disc Golf blog

11-10-2009, 11:57 PM	#2
AlexR Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Chelsea, Victoria, Australia. Posts: 5,241 Thanks: 10 Thanked 19 Times in 17 Posts Contact Info	Re: PayPal vs. Traditional Payment It's not so much the quantity, but the volume that you need to consider. If you can justify the monthly expected volume of sales it may be worthwhile to look at a merchant gateway, if you only expect to make a handful of sales per month then look at Paypal...at least initially...you can always add the merchant account later if you see a need for it. Alex
	Sig released on parole.

11-11-2009, 12:28 AM	#3
TruWebPro Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Arizona and Hawai'i Posts: 86 Thanks: 11 Thanked 16 Times in 13 Posts	Re: PayPal vs. Traditional Payment I'm not sure I follow you in terms of the perceived benefit to adding a full shopping cart. In my experience the primary benefit to that is the flexibility it gives you in product variety, presentation, upsells, and your own bookkeeping, as well as a chance to get away from PayPal's higher starter-account commissions. But that's all at your end. As far as your customers are concerned, they can pay you with a credit card through PayPal just as well as any other merchant, and they normally do not have to have a PayPal account to do so, unless something has changed recently that I am unaware of. Cheers, Neil
	The Key to that #1 Spot on Google is Right Here! TruBacklinks