Payment Processors - User Friendly?

[MikeyBlakey]

Hey Again Guys,

Out of the payment processor options Shopsite gives you, which one is used mostly / trusted the most? Is there one that is cheaper to use than others? Is there a fee to use them? Thank you to all who have responded to my posts... seriously This Forum is amazing!

Mike

[Jim]

There are advantages and disadvantages of all of the payment gateways. It just depends on your business which would be better for you.
For most merchants just starting out PayPal is probably the easiest to get started with. It is fairly easy to setup and has a relatively low cost to use. Paypal has a number of different payment methods, PayPal Standard, PayPal Express Checkout, PayPal Payments Advanced, Payflow Link etc. Most beginning merchants would be best suited with PayPal Express Checkout which allows shoppers to either use their PayPal account or a credit card to pay. I haven't checked with the fees they charge now but you could check on paypal.com and find out. For the basic PayPal they typically charge a per transaction fee and a percent of the transaction but there isn't a set monthly cost.
For more established businesses it may be better to get a full fledged merchant account such as from Authorize.net or one of the higher end PayPal gateways. These type of accounts are harder for a small merchant to get because they often require a business history in order to get setup. These type of accounts typically charge a monthly fee and transaction fees, and some might charge a percent of the sale. Typically the higher the volume that goes through the account the lower the fees are.

If you haven't already read it you might want to read http://www.shopsite.com/cc_101.html which explains how to setup for using credit cards in your store.

[MikeyBlakey]

Jim,

Thanks a lot man. I am building this store for my buddys dad who is also my boss. He has had his business for about 30 years now but all of his revenue comes from face to face transactions at sporting tournaments or uniform orders done over the phone (we are a clothing vendor). To double check myself, when I use basic pay pal I wouldn't need to purchase an IP or SSL certificate, correct? The % of each transaction sounds like a pretty good avenue for us. I will look into it. Thanks again for posting.

Mike

[Jim]

You will need an IP that is associated with your domain name. Generally that is just provided with your hosting account but it must be a static IP not one that changes.

Technically you don't need SSL if you are using PayPal, because people won't be entering payment info on your site. However, it is a good idea to have SSL on checkout screens because people like to see the https or the browser lock icon on the shopping cart page where they enter their address and on the thankyou screen that says they paid.

[MikeyBlakey]

Gotcha, Thanks Jim. Really appreciate your help and responses.

Mike