Payment options you can offer to your customers

Posted by hecto on March 10, 2009 under Business Ideas, Security, The Internet, Tips | Read the First Comment

Offering your services online also means that you have more options then ever when it comes to payment and it’s always an advantage to have as many payment options as possible.

Even a study by CyberSource Corp. stated that generally websites that offer a wide variety of payment options other than just the usual credit card option had a sales conversion rate of 12 higher then those offering one payment option additionally to credit cards to the credit card option.

So the more online payment options you offer the more online payments you will receive, different people like different options for their own personal reasons. It may be that some people view some payment options safer then others.

Anyway here are some of the online payment options you could offer on your site:

1) PayPal

PayPal has become known via the internet site Ebay as it is the main payment method used there. This has made millions of people worldwide of PayPal, generally it is a trusted payment option by people which is also why you should consider offering it as a payment method.

Now Paypal is a all-in-one payment solution. By using PayPal you are accepting Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express credit card payment. PayPal enables people to make use of Bank transfers and using their debit card to top their account up. The best thing about PayPal is that it’s a bit of a Pay As You Go system, what I mean is that there are no monthly fees for it nor are there any cancellation or setup fees. The amount PayPal charges depends on the your sales volume, however it is 1.9% to 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction. For more information got to here to compare the PayPal payment solution .

2) Credit Cards

This is probably the payment method to have available if you are looking to receive payments online. It is also the payment option to have if you are going to offer only one option, (which I personally strongly don’t recommend) this would be the option to pick. Payment via Credit Cards is still the most widely used method when making payment online.

To be able to set up a credit card processing on your website you need to get an internet merchant account.

3) Debit Cards

As most people nowadays have a credit card this is definetly one of the payment methods to have as your payment option. During 2007 debit cards continued to be the most used payment method for online buyers in the UK so it would dfinatly be a mistake to ignore this fact.

4) Give Them Offline Payment Options Too

For some reason some people are unable to make payment online at all and it may be an idea to give your buyers the ability to make payment offline, so for example you could allow them to send you a cheque and only once the cheque has cleared you post the product or offer the service. The offline payment options are also relatively cheaper even though it takes longer to complete the transaction.