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Opening a PayPal account won’t cost you a
dime. It’s also a snap for your prospects to open their own account if
they choose to pay through PayPal. I’m not sure why a business wouldn’t
include PayPal as one of their payment options. There is a benefit to
having more than one choice for a payment. People buy with different
methods. Some people absolutely love charging on their credit card. So
be sure to give these types a convenient method for doing so…
You may accept credit cards on your site
by investing in a merchant account with Authorize Net or another
reputable provider. A merchant account will enable you to accept credit
cards online and to type in a credit card number from a customer given
to you by mail. It will cost to set-up a merchant account, but the cost
will most certainly pay-off in the long run.
You can also set-up an account to allow
people to pay via electronic check through a company like ElectraCash.
In addition, I’d suggest allowing people to pay by mail (checks or
credit card). This is especially important if you offer a high-priced
item or service. What reason would you ever have to refuse a bona-fide
payment method? Heck, let them come give you cash if they want. Money is
money.
Now let’s move on to fulfilling your
orders.
You can set-up a simple system where
digital products are sent out immediately. It’s quite simple to do using
an autoresponder or shopping cart system. For tangible purchases, you
can use a fulfillment company or do it yourself. I usually ship
purchases made by credit card the next day, regardless of whether the
money has been deposited, unless there is reason to be suspect of the
order.
Here are a few reasons to be suspect of
an order…
The shipping and billing address are
different. In these cases, you may want to give the customer a ring.
Simply call them to confirm the order. They will greatly appreciate
this.
The order is a high volume order. In
these instances you may also want to call the customer to confirm that
they really meant “10” and not just “1” (of course you don’t want to say
it quite like that).
Your customers will value all of
this effort.
Here’s another important point. Be
careful of orders placed from certain countries.
It might not seem fair, but after I
personally had a $2,000 fraudulent order placed from Nigeria, I watch
out. A chargeback like that can cost you your merchant account, so just
be careful. Remember, always make sure the address matches the card
holder’s address before shipping anything out or call to verify it if it
doesn’t.
Put your interests in the equation
Also remember to watch out for your
interests by making sure you have a Fraud prevention system in place if
you plan to accept credit cards. Merchant accounts through Authorize Net
will automatically reject cards when the address, name and number do not
match. If you use Authorize Net, you can customize your account to
provide you with the level of security you want (I’d suggest setting it
to high).
If ever a customer is having problems
placing their order online because their card is rejected, you will
naturally want to help them. After all, you want to help them purchase
from you. But chances are good that there may be a valid reason why the
credit card was declined. It is also possible that the customer may
simply need to update their address with the credit card company. Offer
PayPal as an option in these instances.
Secure and professional
If you offer online ordering make sure
the webpage you expect customers to enter their credit card number into
is secure. People recognize the yellow lock symbol at the bottom of
secure pages and trust VeriSign or other security enabled pages. Many
people simply refuse to type their credit card info into a page without
these features.
A simple, easy way to get this type of
security is to use 1ShoppingCart.com. They will provide you with a very
professional order form that you simply link your web pages to.
Customers may pay via PayPal, your merchant account (if you have one),
or by check online (again, if you have an account) if you have a
1ShoppingCart account. It’s easy and reliable. They have a variety of
plans to choose from.
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