Merchant Account - Increased conversions?

When to make the switch from third party processing

[dotme]

Has anyone started out using a service like PayPal and later switched to their own SSL and a Merchant Account, keeping buyers at their site through the entire purchase process?

I have a client who is using PayPal and she converts about 1 our of 50 registered visitors (people who actually provide email information etc) into a sale.

Of course, I can't ask her competitors what their conversion is - so we're not sure if 1 in 50 is good, or awful :-)

We were wondering if anyone has an opinion on whether being taken to an off-site processor like PayPal is a turn-off for buyers and we might increase conversions by investing in the Merchant Account and Gateway processing.

Maybe an increase in sales would more than offset the increase in costs. If you have experience, please share?

Thanks!

[benevolent001]

i think paypal i trusted all over so its great to use it,although i doesnt look professional when ur website store is so big and you are using paypal instead of processor,otherwise its great i vote for paypal

[lorax]

It's a bit disconcerting to anyone to be taken to another site for payment. This alone will cause a significant number of would-be customers to abandon the process. And it takes longer to get them through the process than if you had simply used a payment gateway integrated into your cart. The longer or more clicks it takes, the less likely they will complete the purchase.

You are likely (notice I won't guarantee it) to see an increase in sales by skipping off-site payment solutions.

[chodges84]

I have been in exactly this situation in the past.

I used to use paypal, but then I upgraded and I now use a Worldpay account. The thing with paypal is, that you have to sign up to use it. So people's Credit card details might be 'on file' somewhere. (even if they are not, people may not like creating an account with a third party).

Paypal was a good way to start off, as it showed me that my site would work, and would generate sales. I was then sure that I could try with a merchant account.

I signed up to Worldpay. Although it does take the customer to their site to make the payment, you have a lot of control over how the payment page looks, the customer doesnt have to make an account with them, and only about 1%-2% of people don't make a payment when they reach the Worldpay page. I have kept Paypal on as an option as well,a dn maybe 1 in 20 are paypal orders.

Just out of interest are you using the paypal shopping cart or a different one.

So did sales increase? Yes. but I relaunched the site with a much better, more professional design, and incresed my adwords campaign as well as signing up for a Merchant accopunt with Worldpay. I can't tell you how much of an effect it had, but I imagine it made a significa impact.

Craig.

[dotme]

Interesting answers so far. I developed the cart for my client. She sells intangibles... not sure if I'm permitted to say more under TOS. It's best described as an informational service, and reputable. Most, but not all, of her customers are women.

She sells "credits" with can be redeemed immediately or over time. Several buy levels, so customer gets to choose how much to spend. The more the purchase amount, the cheaper each credit is. (10 for 20, 20 for 30, etc)

It's proven to be viable, but sales aren't stellar - and I did wonder about the effect of making a buyer leave the site to purchase. Thanks to all who have answered so far. All opinions welcome, and appreciated! I'd really like to help her grow her side business into an occupation.

[beauzero]

You can get a merchant account and stay with PayPal if you find the fees resonable. Look at the PayPal "SDK" they have what is called IPN to send and receive a response through https that you can easily hide from your customers. I only know about it because we are using it to track incoming orders from Ebay without having to pay the Ebay SDK fees or process emails.

Good luck.

[lorax]

Welcome to the WebmasterWorld Forums beauzero!

So PayPal merchant account comes with a gateway that we could use? Or are you saying that it's just a Merchant Account?

[beauzero]

The best place to start looking is here:

[paypal.com...]

Don't worry about most of the stuff in the SDK. Some of it takes a higher level of tech than other portions. Look at the section on IPN (Instant Payment Notification). I believe it goes both ways (you initiate or initiated by another site).

You also have the ability to do more in depth with Credit card only if you have a Merchant Account at a bank. I believe (may well be wrong) that you can bypass other gateways such as Verisign, etc.

Let me know if this is useful and if you find out anymore.

[dotme]

Thanks beauzero

But sadly, no. PayPal insists on the purchaser leaving your website, look and feel, and going to theirs in order to process the payment. There's no way around it. Yes, you can customize the look of the PayPal payment screen to an extent, but it still looks nothing like the site that the visitor is buying from. It's painfully obvious that they are being taken elsewhere to pay.

I implemented IPN 2 years ago for my client. It works well. But my original question remains... Is taking a buyer to another, different-looking web page for payment a turn-off? Does it hurt conversions?

I think so far, the answer appears to be yes. But nobody knows how much.

Thanks everyone!

[netdtek]

I currently have PayPal integrated on my site, but I haven't tested it in the sandbox environment yet. This is my first experience with a shopping cart and selling my own stuff online. I've been looking around for Merchant accounts because I want to have more options for buyers other than just PayPal. I believe, like most, that off site payment processing deters sales. I haven't made any sales off my site yet. I'm still working on basic customization, site optimization and seach engine tactics, but credit card authorization (a merchant account?) is really important to me. I have been trying to get one, but most have wanted a large fee up front that I can't afford. Authorize.net seemed like a good start, but integrating with them has been a pain. Just to get a couple lines of code I needed to get setup with one of their resellers... which has been a hassle too. I feel it's worth it to have as many payment options as possible to make the sale.

[beauzero]

Thanks dotme,
I have only worked with gateways like Verisign. Currently using Verisign as the key to gateway and using First Data as the actual processor. Yes the pricing is very expensive. I would have to say that integrated processing is one of the key factors for trust. I don't think there has been an actual study by Gartner, etc. netdtek...nothing I know of. I do know that "trusted" seals are a big bonus such as having a Verisign secure site seal. It seems ridiculous to me that they increase buy through because most general users don't know what to look for as far as a valid seal is concerned. The web is still the wild west in some ways...which is good for us :)
Thanks again dotme...I will have to look into the PayPal processing a bit more.