Quick Q's on Accepting Payments

Hey guys-
My head is SPINNING. I've read a ton, but just need direct answers to my questions...

I'm obviously setting up a store- I want to accept Credit Cards AND PayPal. I see there's this PayPal Express option... is that better/cheaper than going the other route (Merchant account at bank, getting a payment gateway setup, etc)?

I'm looking for the fastest/easiest/CHEAPEST way of getting my store up and running. I don't know how PayPal's fees compare to the other methods. Can someone fill me in here?

I appreciate all the input.

If one uses PP the customer is taken away from your site to pay

Not an issue for one that is familiar with PP

A merchant account and a processing gateway has monthly fees -
The customer never leaves your site as their payment is processed

Fees should all be close - 1.9 to 3 mpercent and depends upon volume in most cases

Is one method better than the other? Which do you prefer?

In my experience, PP is very simple to use. HOWEVER- 90% of the ecommerce sites I go to and use DO NOT offer it. I wonder why. Again, I'd love to be able to offer both options.

I see there IS an option via PP to have both- user can input cc info right on the site, without logging into PP at all.

Your thoughts?

This is swings and roundabouts stuff... There is no simple, definitive answer.

ALL clearing agents charge fees of one kind or other and the agent (clearing bank) you use will depend on three main factors:

1. Whether or not there is an available zencart module to handle the payment process (software) for that bank (If not, can you get one written?).

2. What fees you are happy to pay for CC services

3. What is easiest for (and familiar to) your customers.

PayPal has become popular because it is very easy to set up and integrate in MOST webshops. (Takes literally a few minutes in ZC).

There is PayPal WPP which does not take the user out of your site, but offers a credit card details entry screen during checkout.

For this you need a Business Account with PP, and that is a little more expensive than a standard "Premier" account.

I have clients whose websites are taking card payments ONLY via PP Standard - and they are turning over more than £500,000 p/a...

... people are comfortable with PayPal...

If your products are attractive, desirable and well-priced, people will even be prepared to use a messenger in a loin-cloth, carrying a cleft-stick as a form of getting the money to you...

Thanks for the reply- that's a big help. I'd PREFER PP, to be honest. Hearing that it's easy to integrate, even the WPP, is good news. I think I was more concerned about the FEES behind it all. Right now, I honestly have NO IDEA as to the volume we'll be doing. Starting out, it'll be low. But- in time... So maybe fast/easy is the way to go, if the fees are comparable either way... once Im making $10,000,000,000 a month- then I can worry about the other. LOL...

I also like the integrated shipping procedures PP offers. Notifies the buyer when I ship, there's auto tracking, etc etc. From my ebay selling experience, PP seems a little expensive tho.

Again, I guess I can adjust for that later, once I'm up and running and it's much more economical to switch.

eyal8r:

Thanks for the reply- that's a big help. I'd PREFER PP, to be honest. Hearing that it's easy to integrate, even the WPP, is good news. I think I was more concerned about the FEES behind it all. Right now, I honestly have NO IDEA as to the volume we'll be doing. Starting out, it'll be low. But- in time... So maybe fast/easy is the way to go, if the fees are comparable either way... once Im making $10,000,000,000 a month- then I can worry about the other. LOL...

I also like the integrated shipping procedures PP offers. Notifies the buyer when I ship, there's auto tracking, etc etc. From my ebay selling experience, PP seems a little expensive tho.

Again, I guess I can adjust for that later, once I'm up and running and it's much more economical to switch.

I had a UK client who (in typical Englishman fashion) dithered, and dithered, and dithered, and dithered... over whether to use paypal or not...

It held up his webstore for about 5 months.

At the same time I was doing a site for a guy in California that was also selling the same type of stuff (Cameras, Radios, Clocks, etc) and we got his site (with PayPal) up and running from scratch in about 4 days. Within 3 days of going live, orders were trickling in. After a month he was doing about $3,000 turnover (on a 20% margin).

I calculated that my dithering UK client (had he performed to the same level as the US guy) lost a potential £25,000 turnover because of the dithering...

I must admit.. the guy in California was a true entrepreneur. He could sell ice to Inuit.

yeah, and that's EXACTLY what Im thinking at this point. We have NO IDEA how much product we'll sell, how quickly, etc. I'm thinking to just get a very simple, easy store up and running FOR NOW. Make it as fast/easy as possible. Once it's up and functioning, spend a little time on SEO, marketing, etc. THEN- once it's profitable- spend my time/money/effort on re-developing the site into a full blown launch as I'd like to do it. Great insights.

Does anyone know how the WPP works for applying? With the recent turn in the economy, my credit isn't anything worth looking at. I'd hate to not be able to utilize that service because of it. Do they look at your credit? How do they determine if you're 'worthy' of using their WPP?
Thanks guys!

... looks like you're starting to dither... :D

Just get the store operational with PP standard. start getting the orders in and when the shop is bringing in some business, you will have time to investigate other options.

Yup- that's EXACTLY what I'm doing now. I am going with GoDaddy's Quick Shopping Cart FOR NOW- but once that's up and running, I'll start developing Zen Cart, as well as the rest of the site... I think it's GREAT advice. KNowing the way I am, I'd spend the next 4-6 months dithering, and maybe never finish it- let alone make any money. LOL.

eyal8r:

I am going with GoDaddy's Quick Shopping Cart FOR NOW- but once that's up and running, I'll start developing Zen Cart, as well as the rest of the site...

:shocking::shocking::shocking: Keep well away from GoDaddy for eCommerce. You will have endless problems.

For all CMS eCommerce (zencart, oscommerce, magento, prestashop...), GoDaddy is notoriously inadequate and unreliable.

The BIGGEST favour you can do yourself is to get as far away from GoDaddy as possible.

Why is that? They would just be hosting my ZenCart on my virtual dedicated server... can you give some details? I really appreciate it!

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showpost.php?p=824847&postcount=2

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showpost.php?p=810727&postcount=23

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showpost.php?p=793326&postcount=5

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showpost.php?p=779630&postcount=11

... are all examples of some recent posts by someone who knows lots about zencart (since he wrote much of it).

There are scores of posts similar to these, but the above may cause you to ponder...

All you need to do is search this forum for your host to see other experiences.

Wow. That sucks. Now- there's a lot of talk about the economy/low end hosting at GoDaddy being bad. I have a Virtual Dedicated server- I've ran a number of sites (mainly blog and forum based) and never had any complaints or real problems with them. Does that still apply to me, do you think?

What hosts are considered to be good for ZenCart?

I appreciate the help!

I think that whatever the hosting format they offer, the general consensus is that GoDaddy is not suitable for proper eCommerce hosting.

This is because of the way the servers are configured, and the load they put on their servers. The latter may not apply to you, but if you have FULL MANAGEMENT of your server, and are able to configure it at will, including the hosting of the databases you will need, then there may be a glimmer of hope for you.

Personally I would look elsewhere, and your choice of host will be based on whether you want to continue with a dedicated server, or move to shared hosting.

Again... there may be a glimmer of hope if you have your own server with GD... but making sure it is properly configured may require the analysis of an expert.

Interesting. Yeah, I have full access to the MySQL db and whatnot- it is a SHARED server, meaning, they split the box up to 4 users- each acting as it's own server within itself. I have 256MB Guaranteed Ram, up to 1GB Bursted, etc etc. Like I said, it's done well for me with everything else- but never done an ecommerce site on it yet- so I'm open that it could suck.

I'd love any suggestions on new hosts!
Thanks!

eyal8r:

Interesting. Yeah, I have full access to the MySQL db and whatnot- it is a SHARED server, meaning, they split the box up to 4 users- each acting as it's own server within itself. I have 256MB Guaranteed Ram, up to 1GB Bursted, etc etc. Like I said, it's done well for me with everything else- but never done an ecommerce site on it yet- so I'm open that it could suck.

I'd love any suggestions on new hosts!
Thanks!

These are all known to be excellent, with my own "preference" being King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table... :D

http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?main_page=infopages&pages_id=10