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Butterfly Marketing's merchant account

by DEERFARMER
12 replies
After ordering butterfly marketing Mike suggest getting a merchant account. I was wondering if I already have a paypal account,do I really need a merchant account? They say It's free to apply but Im sure there will be charges later. Can anyone tell me If I need this account or not.
#account #butterfly #marketing #merchant
  • Profile picture of the author Alton Hargrave
    I looked at the merchant account they are pushing. It will cost about 50 dollars a month plus fees for usage. They fees are not revealed until you are almost through the signup. I am going to wait until I get the BM material and decide what to do about the merchant account. There have been some cheap deals on Ebay. The merchant acct I use in my brick and mortar business costs 12 dollars a month.
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  • Profile picture of the author DEERFARMER
    Thanks Alton, I think I'll wait too.
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  • Profile picture of the author Droopy Dawg
    Paypal has merchant account services... but I'm not sure if you have the correct Paypal account. Its called "Website Payments Pro".

    You may need to upgrade your account, which will cost $30 per month.

    Read all the details here: https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/we...erview-outside

    (not an affiliate link)
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Murphy
    Deerfarmer,

    You don't "need" a merchant account and can just use Paypal if you wish. However, you won't be able to use the "One Click Upsell" feature in Butterfly Marketing if you use Paypal, as Paypal would require the customer to log back in and make a new purchase.

    With a merchant account, you will be able to add the "One Click Upsell" feature, allowing the customer to add more purchases after they've already paid, without having to re-enter payment information. That's a pretty powerful feature to have.

    Hope that helps,

    Dennis
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    • Profile picture of the author stevenh512
      Originally Posted by Dennis Murphy View Post

      You don't "need" a merchant account and can just use Paypal if you wish. However, you won't be able to use the "One Click Upsell" feature in Butterfly Marketing if you use Paypal, as Paypal would require the customer to log back in and make a new purchase.
      That's exactly right, at least as far as I can tell. You need a merchant account with an Authorize.net payment gateway to do the one click upsells. I think the way it works is Authorize.net keeps a "payment profile" on file, so the script doesn't need to store your payment data or collect it again, it just bills the profile it created when you made the first purchase.

      I wonder how hard it would be to change the "flow" of the ordering process a little bit and make it work with PayPal (maybe using "add to cart" with a single checkout at the end of the ordering process?). Of course I wouldn't be able to do it for BFM since I didn't order it, so I'm just thinking out loud here.. lol.. I also wonder what changing the "flow" would do to conversions, I imagine it's a lot easier to convert the one-click upsell after someone's already entered their credit card number than it is at the end of the whole process when they see the final price at PayPal.

      BTW there are Authorize.net merchant account/payment gateway packages available for a lot less than the one that's being promoted to BFM customers. Any of them should work, as long as the payment gateway is Authorize.net, so I suggest doing a little research and not jumping on the first merchant account offer that's thrown at you.
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  • Profile picture of the author Frank Bruno
    Thats one of the reasons the BFM script is free, to get you on the backend for stuff like merchant accounts. (and other stuff as well as now becoming a "buyer" on his list).

    I've been using BFM since 2006 and you can just use Paypal but like was stated above the 1 click upsell most likely will require a merchant account.

    Frank Bruno
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  • Profile picture of the author Droopy Dawg
    Paypal does have a merchant service that functions JUST like Authorize.net and others... but you pay $30 per month for that service.


    Check out the demo video: PayPal
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    • Profile picture of the author Dennis Murphy
      The Butterfly Marketing system requires an actual Authorize.net account to make the "One Click Upsell" feature work, so Paypal's similar merchant service is still of no use for this actual feature.

      One of the main reasons Mike mentions that he has partnered with the particular company he links to is that they work with people who may not have the best credit and may get denied by other Authorize.net providers. So, I'd imagine that's where the higher monthly fees come from - you are paying a higher premium because you are a higher risk.

      If you have good credit, shop around for a different Authorize.net provider that has lower fees. If you don't have great credit or can't get approved by other providers, check out the company Mike links to.

      Hope that helps.

      Dennis
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  • Profile picture of the author IM Starter
    I know this may get me flamed but why are fees like $30/m putting people off?

    In my experience you get what you pay for. I have tried aweber, then moved to 1shoppingcart and now use Infusionsoft.com

    That's $300/m just for the licence and excludes the $5k it takes to get it and set it up.

    On the other side it makes me 4 figures most months and we'll be running a big Product Launch of our own on July7th that will net us considerably more!

    You get what you pay for when it comes to external services like these. Paypals tos mean that they can shut you down while investigating any complaint. ANY COMPLAINT.

    With a decent merchant account the money clears and is in your bank account in 3-7 days, minus a hold back of typically 5-10% for chargebacks, refunds etc.

    If you cannot afford $30/m or cannot see yourself making enough to cover $30/m in fees why are you here?

    Realistically that's what, 1 sale per month of a low cost ebook?

    Surely you can make that can't you?
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    • Profile picture of the author Chris Lockwood
      Originally Posted by JohnnySilvers View Post

      You get what you pay for when it comes to external services like these. Paypals tos mean that they can shut you down while investigating any complaint. ANY COMPLAINT.

      With a decent merchant account the money clears and is in your bank account in 3-7 days, minus a hold back of typically 5-10% for chargebacks, refunds etc.
      With Paypal, 100% of the money is in my bank in 3 days, no hold back. And no fees, except the per-sale ones.

      There are plenty of horror stories about merchant accounts freezing people's money... so don't pretend that Paypal is any worse.
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  • Profile picture of the author stevenh512
    Johnny, no offense, but.. realistically, some people here are just starting out and need to keep their costs low so they don't bankrupt themselves before they start making real profits. $30/month might not seem like a lot, but with all the different 3rd-party services you really need to be successful in this business those $20-$30/month fees all add up.

    So, why are those people here if they can't afford $30/month for a merchant account on top of whatever other monthly expenses they're already shelling out? The same reason I would hope everyone is here.. to learn.
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  • Profile picture of the author Cosmo Demopoulos
    And don't forget that some people simply don't and won't use paypal.
    My sister and parents for example I'm sure have never heard of and won't consider using paypal. Same goes for many other folks -- depends on your target market.

    Now Visa/Mastercard etc. they know and understand. Forget the "paypal does that" -- many people haven't heard of or will use paypal.
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