True, but it can still be used in place of having both. You simply need to drain the Paypal account into your bank account regularily.zhenjie said:Paypal really isn't a 'merchant account' in the traditional sense. it's really its own Payment gateway where they process transactions on your behalf and the funds go into their account before they forward it into yours.
I used to do it that way, but it can make processing lots of orders pretty slow.what i would do is make the website so you get the CC info from the customer in a SSL form or over the phone and get a manual portal instead of using an online merchant gateway
Defiinitely. For a start-ups and those new to eCommerce its a fantastic service. But when you start establishing yourself I always recommend a proper merchant account and gateway as it allows full control over the money instead of letting Paypal take control of it. I've heard some horror stories with Paypal and them holding or suspending accounts with some merchants.Twinge said:True, but it can still be used in place of having both. You simply need to drain the Paypal account into your bank account regularily.
Oh, I'm aware of those stories =) I'll probably look into something else when I'm doing enough sales to make it worth it. But for someone doing a relatively small number of orders Paypal is more affordable to work with. Just drain your Paypal account into your bank account often so there isn't any money for them to freeze.zhenjie said:Defiinitely. For a start-ups and those new to eCommerce its a fantastic service. But when you start establishing yourself I always recommend a proper merchant account and gateway as it allows full control over the money instead of letting Paypal take control of it. I've heard some horror stories with Paypal and them holding or suspending accounts with some merchants.
A mobile terminal perhaps. All it needs is access to a phone line or you can use your cell in some cases depending on the terminal you receive. That should let you swipe cards and have them approved on the spot.lgiglio1 said:How would you suggest being set up if I am going to travel to events to sell t-shirts and want to be able to take credit card payments? Would I need to have a computer with me and Internet access? I am completely new to this. Thanks.
I really hate those things. So much room for error - writing the date wrong, forgetting to get a signature, forgetting to write the sale amount. One time I slid it through wrong and I didn't get an imprint of the card number, so I had to chase the guy through the crowd to get him to come back and do it again. He was not a happy camper!Twinge said:The other, probably more common, method is to have a manul card slider for events and you later process the cards by hand after the event at an electronic terminal. This way you don't need electricity and a phone line at your booth, which won't be available at all in some cases.
I recently had one of my cards compromised from an online purchase. It's not only offline transactions you have to be leary ofPeople are not happy having their credit card info floating around on a little piece of paper somewhere.
And that's the key point. I never said manual sliders were easy or fun (not too fond of them either, myself). If you CAN get a phone line and electricity to your booth to run a full credit card machine, great - if not, the manual sliders are still going to be better and more professional that just writing all the info on paper forms.Jasonda said:Still, they are much better than not accepting credit cards at all. Sometimes 1/3 of my sales in a day would come from cards.![]()