Accept credit cards on your website without a merchant account. Low cost third party processors offer online storefront and integrated shopping cart as well.
If you are going to do business online, you MUST be able to accept credit card payments. Traditionally, it has been very difficult and expensive for individuals and startups to get a merchant account set up, due to high monthly fees and lengthy contract requirements. You wind up paying $$ whether you sell anything or not.Now there are "third-party" processors who can allow you to accept credit card
payments without spending thousands of dollars on software and terminal equipment, and without committing to lengthy contracts usually required by banks. Third-Party processors usually charge only a small one-time setup fee plus a small per-transaction fee (usually from 2% to 3.5% of each sale), plus a monthly fee if they also provide hosting for your site. This way you only pay for their service when a sale is made.
Those featured below are the industry leaders in third-party processing. Some also offer package deals which include hosting for your site, "online storefront" builders, and other helpful features.
CHECKOUT SYSTEMS
Offers the perfect solution for existing websites that only need a shopping cart and credit card processing.
One-time setup fee of $49, after that you only pay a percentage on each sale. There are no recurring monthly gateway fees, statement fees, etc. If you sell nothing in a given month, you pay nothing for that month.
PROS: No monthly fees; if your sales volume is low you don't get stuck with a bill.
CONS: Does not offer virtual storefront, requires some technical knowledge.
BOTTOM LINE: A great system and a good deal for those with existing websites.
GO-E-MERCHANT
Deelzonline, in affiliation with Go E-Merchant, offers a complete e-commerce package which includes hosting, automatic online store builder, shopping cart, credit card processing, accept checks online (optional), and "Cyber-Circular"
The online store builder is very easy to use. No programming skills are necessary; just type in your product info (name, stock #, price, etc.), upload photos if needed, and the online store builds by itself. The result is a very slick, attractive, and professional-looking online store.
Cyber-Circular allows you to e-mail a customised circular to your customer list,
complete with product photo and "buy me" button so your customer can order directly from their e-mail. This feature is great for monthly specials and it generates follow-up sales to previous customers who might not have otherwise returned to your website to make a purchase.
PROS: The store builder is fabulous. The Cyber-Circular is a great sales tool.
CONS: ?
BOTTOM LINE: Our highest recommendation. You get a lot for your money.
Paypal offers an easy-to-use shopping cart that can be easily integrated into existing websites. Some knowledge of HTML is required to do this.
There are no setup fees or monthly fees: you only pay a per-transaction fee of 30 cents plus a percentage of the sale.
Your customer must also be a Paypal member in order for transactions to be processed (if they are not a member, they will be guided through the sign-up procedure upon checkout from your shopping cart).
PROS: Low cost (free)
CONS: Some customers may not want to spend 5 to 10 minutes for signup
BOTTOM LINE: Paypal is a very good service but you will lose some potential customers who are not patient enough to deal with the signup procedure. However, we recommend it highly if you do not expect enough sales volume to justify using a paid service.
