Other reasons for accepting credit cards online include:

• Automated order process. With credit card processing abilities, you can automate the payment aspect of your business. There is no need to bank in the check every time you receive an order – the money is directly credited into your bank account.
• Satisfying the needs of impulse buyers. If buyers are able to make purchases instantaneously, they’re much more likely to buy, as compared to them having to write a check and mailing it to your address.
• Credit card processing functions also build credibility in your customers - People are more likely to trust businesses that can accept credit cards than those that do not.

It’s thus a ‘must’ to accept credit cards online, or else you’ll be missing out on a huge portion of your potential sales.

The question now is – which payment processor should you choose?

Paypal (http://www.paypal.com)

Paypal is an eBay company formed to help individuals send and receive online payments quickly, with email addresses. Lately, it has become an increasingly popular method of making payments online.

Paypal is a unique payment processor because customers can choose to make payments either through their Paypal account or directly from their credit card. If you accept credit cards with Paypal, the funds are credited into your Paypal account first, not to your bank account. After which, you can withdraw the funds from your Paypal account to your bank account.

Paypal is an ideal payment processor for the following reasons:

• Paypal accepts most credit cards like American Express, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and also bank transfers and debit cards.
• There are no setup or monthly fees. The only fee incurred for receiving payments is (2.9% + US$0.30) of each transaction you make.
• Paypal offers strong security measures, including fraud prevention and chargeback protection.

2Checkout (http://www.2checkout.com)

An alternative payment processor you would like to consider is 2Checkout. You can use it to accept all the major credit cards securely and instantly.

There is a $49 onetime signup fee to setup an account with 2Checkout. Recurrent costs include $0.45 per sale or 5.5% of the transaction value. On the upside, you can get started in accepting orders immediately, and there’s also a 30-day money-back guarantee to remove the risk.

Since 2Checkout is a slightly more expensive payment processor compared to Paypal, you may prefer Paypal as your payment processor instead.

ClickBank (http://www.clickbank.com)

If you sell an information product like an ebook, then ClickBank is a viable alternative you can look into. Although it offers the ability to accept credit card payments, ClickBank is different from other payment processors in several aspects:

• After you setup an account with ClickBank, they will sell your product for you. (Not you selling the product yourself.) ClickBank has a community of over 100,000 affiliates who can help promote and sell your product.
• The funds are not transferred into your bank account directly. ClickBank sends you a paycheck twice each month.

The costs to accept credit cards with ClickBank include:

• A onetime $49.95 setup fee.
• $1 + 7.5% of the value of each transaction.
• Commission payouts to your affiliates when they help you sell your product.

If you would like to recruit affiliates easily to promote your products, and would like to accept online payments at the same time, then ClickBank is your ideal Payment Processor.

Other Payment Processors

Other payment processors include iBill (http://www.ibill.com), WorldPay (http://www.worldpay.com) and Authorize.Net (http://www.authorize.net).

Conclusion

The choice of your payment processor depends on your exact business requirements. Remember to alleviate the customers’ worries by including security information, the ‘padlock and key’ security symbols, and a proper Privacy Policy.