Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

We`re a very small company, bootstrapping with zero capitalization. We sell enough product to matter in our personal lives, making us for the moment a boutique business. We have a planned growth path, but also some unusual requirements in how to accomplish some of that growth, so we`re taking it slow.

Right now, using PrestoSell, we`re paying $10/month for an order form that is not a shopping cart---only an order form. It includes a live link to PayPal, if customers want to pay the invoice they receive. We currently take ONLY PayPal, no checks, no money-orders, and no credit cards.

According to PrestoSell, we could add in a merchant account that they work with, for an additional $20/month. It`d be $10 for the gateway, then $10 for the services. Plus there`d be the 2.1% per transaction if we wanted to expand and take credit cards.

That`s what...a 300% increase in our monthly costs (I use Midwest math, so my numbers may be wrong). At any rate, we would have an extra $20/month ongoing, so would it be worth it?

NuEvolution (I think?) once mentioned a 40% increase in sales by taking credit cards, and not limiting customers only to PayPal. And we`ve had numerous discussions about the perception of PayPal. What are your experiences?

I know some people started right up with a shopping cart. That`s not our situation. I also know some folks also use only PayPal, then transition into a PayPal shopping cart. Our particular needs don`t lend themselves well to that path. How much have you specifically increased your orders, directly as a result of opening up to accepting credit cards?

Craig, I`d like to clarify something about what you`re asking.  When you say that you "only accept PayPal", what exactly do you mean?  From my understanding, PayPal is a system where people can purchase with a credit card.  So then you are accepting credit cards, right?  Or no?  I don`t quite follow.

I use PayPal and take orders by credit card that way.  (I`ve only once had a problem with it in over 5 years and it was partial customer error.)  However, I don`t know anything about PrestoSell.

Will this new service you are considering allow you to take credit cards directly on your site versus using PayPal`s checkout page?  Is that the main question?

Yes, PayPal does allow anyone to pay through them, member or not, with a credit card or otherwise. And yes, we want to take the cards directly. PrestoSell would send the invoice, and the customer would have an option of going through PayPal or entering a credit card number directly.

Right now our invoicing and order system says, "We accept only PayPal at this time, however you can use a credit card to pay through PayPal."

What we`d like to be able to say is something to the effect that we accept credit cards or PayPal. We`d like to be able to accept a credit card payment directly, without the customer having to go through PayPal at all. This add-on (upgrade) would make it so. But it would add $20 a month in addition to the existing $10, whether or not we sell anything at all.

We`re all over the place in terms of sales, but we can somewhat count on at least an order a week, and we`ve had no trouble covering the $10/month currently for the order form. If we can expect only a slight bump with taking direct CC, then it`s not worth it right now. But if we could double our orders or something, that`d be nice.

So it comes down to other people and their experience. How much of a bump did they get when they started accepting direct CC payments.

CraigL,
$20.00 dollars a month for a payment gateway is not bad. What you might want to consider is changing your shopping cart to something free like Oscommerce or Magento. These two shopping carts are free and you can handle any type of credit card processor you`d like including Pay Pal. It gives you the option to choose check, COD, Credit Card and Pay Pal IPN.
I think you`re struggling with your current system.
For now, I would keep Pay Pal, but would also look into a CC processor. Perhaps that can increase your sales.
As far as the urban legends that "Pay Pal is bad" they freeze your accounts, they do this, they do that. It`s not true. Pay Pal is reliable. and with pay pal people can pay you via E-Check



-------------------------

Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

Edgar, thanks for the note. We can`t at the moment use a shopping cart as we`re going to have to integrate it with our flags using some unusual programming. The expense for the programming is the issue.

That being said, what we were hoping to get from this thread is some indication of the *increase* in orders people have experienced when they started taking credit cards.

Loren, we`re happy with PayPal, and don`t really concern ourselves with the possible problems people mention. We`re not looking to use some other option other than standard Mastercard and Visa, AmEx and what...Discover, I suppose.

Simply stated, this is a two-part question:

1. Did you begin your business using only PayPal, then at a later time start accepting credit cards;
2. By how many new orders per month did your business increase after you started taking credit cards.
   

Thanks Janie, that`s the kind of anecdotal evidence we`re looking for. :-) I think our product tends to be more an impulse buy, many times, so whatever we do, we don`t want there to be errors.

CraigL,
If you were to go with OScommerce 3.0. The development of the site is as simple as editing 3 files.
How many items do you have? if it`s only 1 or two... I might be able to help you email me. As for the Pay Pal Horror stories, the only time Pay Pal freezes your account is when you do other`s dirty (this only happens with personal accounts). I`ve been a pay pal and CC processor user for the last 4 years, and never has Pay Pal frozen my account and I am running $2,500.00 tickets through Pay Pal every month.
Here is what it comes down to: Do you have a customer service number? Can it be reached at all times? Are you contesting to your returned tickets on time? How many cancellations are you getting per month? this can affect your status with any CC processor including stand alone.


-------------------------

Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net