How To Accept Credit Cards Online

by: Jim Edwards
(c) Jim Edwards - All Rights reservedhttp://www.thenetreporter.com=====================================Anyone with an online business, whether for auctions,services, or virtually any type of product, has asked thesame question at some time during their quest to createthe ultimate online business - "How do I accept creditcards?"Since over 90% of all transactions on the Internetinvolve customers paying by credit card, acceptingplastic money rates a must for almost any business. The problem for most small online business ownersinvolves the high cost of setting up and maintaining acredit card merchant account. With startup fees ranging from $200 to $500, minimummonthly fees of at least $40 to $50, plus per transactionfees and a percentage of sales, most people who want tosupplement their income online or test an idea can't riskthat kind of money.Add in credit checks, 48-month service contracts,expensive equipment purchases or leasing, financialstatements, and last 3 years' tax returns and most peoplethrow up their hands and give up before they even getstarted. Fortunately several companies responded to this problemwith unique solutions that enable smaller onlinemerchants to accept credit cards at a fraction of thosehigh startup costs with no long-term commitment, noequipment purchases, and zero minimum monthly fees.~ PayPal.com ~PayPal has gotten some negative press over the lastcouple of years, but that press has been mostlyundeserved. PayPal makes it easy for you to collect money for youronline sales, send money to merchants, bill peoplemonthly, collect dues and donations and integrate a freeshopping cart into your site. Of all the payment and money transfer services online,PayPal ranks as the absolute lowest in cost and theeasiest to set up. PayPal allows merchants to sell physical and downloadableproducts along with personal services.~ ClickBank.com ~For a $50 one-time fee ClickBank enables online ebook,software and other electronic information sellers to notonly accept credit cards, but provide instant delivery oftheir products to online purchasers. ClickBank allows any merchant to accept virtually everymajor credit card on the planet. The online merchant simply adds a purchase link to theirsite, the customer clicks the link, fills in theirpayment information and the credit card gets authorizedon the spot. Once the card gets approved ClickBank redirects the buyerto a page that enables them to download the ebook,software, or other product they have just purchased. ClickBank also operates a fully integrated affiliateprogram that automatically pays affiliates who sell yourproducts for you.ClickBank heavily restricts what merchants may sellthrough the service and does not allow the sale ofphysical goods.~ PaySystems.com ~Of the three, Paysystems behaves most like a traditionalcredit card merchant account. The service allows the merchant to integrate with anumber of third-party shopping carts as well as use thePaySystems shopping cart system. Merchants pay a small transaction fee and a percentage ofthe sale, but don't sign up for any long-term servicecontracts or equipment leases.