how many orders am I losing?

only have paypal and google checkout

[apauto]

I only offer paypal and google checkout currently. lately a few customers asked how they can pay with credit card not knowing they could with paypal or google checkout

has anyone offered just these then added standard credit card processing and increased sales?

how many of your sales are cc vs paypal vs google checkout?

thanks guys

dan ( on his iPhone )

[apauto]

anyone ? ;)

[benevolent001]

I don't if you say properly on website that all credit cards are accepted , you will loose any customers. Since paypal can process all major credit cards it is not a big issue. Just make the customers comfortable while checking out , that whatever way they want to pay all are accepted.

I have been using JUST paypal for processing payments on my website and never had any issues with this.

[apauto]

You haven't noticed anyone asking specifically to not use PayPal because they don't want to create a PayPal account?

[salewit]

In my opinion you may be losing a few. People don't like to sign up for things they don't want. Both PayPal and Google CO force you to sign up to use their services (or at least they did). And the fact that their payment is being done away from your site may also ding you a little. Again it's my opinion that a site that only sells with PP and GCO buttons is not "really" committed to selling online. Of course it also depends on what you're selling.

Having said that, we've found that PayPal payments account for about 40% of our sales now. GCO is about 5% (hardly worth adding), and CC's through our merchant the remaining 55%.

BUT, things are changing fast. PayPal is becoming HUGE (not a good thing) and there may be a day where that's all you need. I don't think it's there yet though.

My 2 cents.

[apauto]

salewit, PayPal accoutns for about 60-65% of our sales, and the rest to Google Checkout... Checkout is doing pretty well.

I just wish someone here had experience with adding credit cards after having just PayPal and seeing if their orders increased....

[dpd1]

I try to make it very clear on the site that you don't have to be a member to use PP. Every once in a while there's still people who don't get it, or there's a business that has a bizarre rule about using PP. How many actual sales have been lost? I would be very surprised if it was that many. It would be a tiny minority. At some point, I have to ask myself... is it worth it to go through more hassle just to satisfy a few people who have some weird issue with PP. For me personally, I have to say no. They can always send a check or MO if they're that bent about it. I bend over backwards in so many ways when it comes to helping customers... I kind of feel like, if that's not enough... Then tough. I did the best I could. But I'm not selling tons of stuff each day. So in a more retail environment, I don't know... I guess it could make more of a difference maybe. It's not logical, but I just have a hard time changing things for irrational reasons. And even though it might technically help, I find it difficult to offer a whole other option, just because a small minority have a mainly unjustified negative attitude towards PP. In my experience, some people will always have some problem with something. So where does it stop? Next they'll want to choose the shipping company... then the way it's packaged... on and on. There's some people that just won't quit.

[dickbaker]

PayPal accounts for about 15% or so of my sales. The rest are MasterCard, Visa, Discover and American Express.

Assuming that you can explain to people that they don't need a PayPal account is taking a lot for granted, and I would have no doubt that you're losing more than a few customers.

Every product I have shows the price in big red letters and then "including free shipping." I can't tell you how many people call or email to ask how much shipping is.

[rachel123]

well, I don't have quite the experience that you are looking for - I started with a traditional processor and then added paypal. I got a 10% increase in conversions.

But I think it is naive to think that you are missing out on only 'a tiny minority' of sales. People don't like to sign up for stuff. I know with PayPal you don't HAVE to, but the perception is that you do have to and that is what counts.

If you are using PayPal as a standard gateway (WebPayments Pro or whatever they call it) then I don't think you will see a difference. But if there is any impression that you only take PP or GCO, a significant amount of consumers will bail.

Think about it this way: Of merchants who offer straight cc payments, and PP, and GCO, the majority of payments go thru the merchant account, followed by PayPal, followed distantly by GCO. That should tell you something. Sure maybe if someone really wants the stuff they'll go thru the hassle of setting up an account or read whatever you've written about them not having to sign up. But most people, given the options - PP and GCO are not their preferred payment methods. And there is some percentage (probably not tiny) who will go to checkout and see the PP/GCO option, and think - oh, I don't have a PayPal. Guess I have to go somewhere else.

What does that tell you?

At any rate, every niche is different and you won't know until you try. If you can integrate PayPal's webpayments pro (or whatever they call it) you may be able to use your existing PP account...might be the easiest way to go.

[dpd1]

I'm not speaking for everybody. As I said, I'm sure it would be different in a more traditional retail store type of environment. That's why anything talked about here is very generalized, because everybody's situation is different. For us though... We make our own stuff, much of which is custom and not really offered anywhere else. It's almost business to business in some cases. So for those types of customers... Just the fact that we offer any way to purchase online at all, is a lot more than a lot of people do. There's many people in our line of work where they offer zero way to buy anything, other than starting an account over the phone. That's a lot bigger hassle than using PayPal.

[HRoth]

I started with just taking Paypal, and when I added the ability to take credit cards the regular way, my sales q1uintupled the first month. Paypal now constitutes about 20% of my sales, but nine years later I still get people who do not know what Paypal is. Sounds weird, but if you don't shop online much, you could very easily not know. So to my mind, having only Paypal means lost sales--a LOT of them.

I also make a lot of my own stuff and it is unique. I do get phone sales, but these tend to be pretty small and a waste of time, basically. Usually they are people who want free advice or who are gabby.

[dpd1]

Yeah, anytime somebody emails and asks me to call them, a red flag goes up. It's usually just people who want to yap about technical stuff and I don't have time for that. I'll call reputable businesses who I know want to buy stuff. But anything else and answering their question in email should be plenty good enough.

[apauto]

HRoth,

Thanks for this info. Did you change anything else? All you did was add the ability to pay with a credit card form, over PayPal?

Did you get anyone emailing you when all you had was PayPal, asking how to pay with a credit card?

Thanks for your help!

[HRoth]

Yes, I did get people emailing me how to pay with a credit card when I had only Paypal. I had to tell them I couldn't take credit cards, because at the time Paypal did not do the "transparent" thing. You had to sign up for Paypal, and that meant having to verify your bank account by their depositing a few cents in it.

I didn't change anything else except that I kept adding products and pages.

[T_Miller]

Been many years since we graduated to regular CC processing in addition to PP. But it was an INSTANT huge increase in completed sales.

[trinorthlighting]

Why use Google Check out and Pay pal when their rates are high? If a customer wants your product they will pay any way that you offer. So I suggest you look into other processors such as authorize who have much better rates.

[trinorthlighting]

Why use Google Check out and Pay pal when their rates are high? If a customer wants your product they will pay any way that you offer. So I suggest you look into other processors such as authorize who have much better rates.

[wheel]

I dunno. I see paypal on a business site, I'm not too impressed. I see paypal as the only option, no credit card direct, and I abandon the cart. I don't like to pay by paypal and will go elsewhere. Perhaps I'm just paranoid though.

My wife on the other hand doesn't have a paypal account. She does shop online. No idea what she does if she sees a paypal only store, but obviously it's not 'buy stuff' since she doesn't have a paypal account.

Her father buys stuff online like a drunken sailor. He's 80 and will use a credit card online. No way is he paying by paypal, he doesn't have an account and wouldn't understand paypal if presented with it.

My teenage children need me to buy stuff online on occassion. That means my cc. And I'm not buying stuff targetted at teens from someplace that only offers paypal again. So no sale there either.

Setting up a merchant account these days is nothing. Just go ahead and do it. Use paypal only and you're going to use sales and money. Use your merchant account only and I doubt you're going to lose any sales at all.

Heck, I sell online calculators and I've only been asked 2 times in 10 years to use paypal. I actually let a guy pay by paypal once too. Then my wife yelled at me over it because it caused her extra book keeping.

Keep the paypal for your ebay purchases. that's where it works best. (disclaimer, i'm no cc or ecommerce expert)

[T_Miller]

Similar thread:
[webmasterworld.com...]

As I mentioned then we still get about 45% using PayPal.
But we also have a strong presence on eBay, so many of our website customers migrated from eBay and are avid PayPal users.

Definitely having direct CC processing is the way to go.
And I think offering PayPal as a payment option is beneficial.
We also offer Google Checkout, but after the initial bump after launch, GC usage has dropped to almost nothing...

[MrHard]

I think everyone who goes to a site that only offers PayPal or Googlecheckout finds it a little weird. That's probably why you are asking, you have a hunch that it looks weird. Some don't want to admit this for whatever reason, but the hesitation is there.

You can get away with it if you are super legit like some discussion boards or amazons, but most places, no.

[merchantmaverick]

I think rachel123 put it best...

But I think it is naive to think that you are missing out on only 'a tiny minority' of sales. People don't like to sign up for stuff. I know with PayPal you don't HAVE to, but the perception is that you do have to and that is what counts.

Even though Paypal did away with the necessity to sign-up for an account, some people still familiar with the brand don't know that yet.

At any rate, every niche is different and you won't know until you try. If you can integrate PayPal's webpayments pro (or whatever they call it) you may be able to use your existing PP account...might be the easiest way to go.

This all that matters. Not what our sites do. You need to test it on your own, and Website Payments Pro is definitely an option.

Setting up a merchant account these days is nothing. Just go ahead and do it.

Although it's easy to setup a merchant account, it's difficult finding a merchant service provider that is reputable and ethical. We're talking about a HUGE business expense here, so choose wisely.

My advice...

Find a merchant service provider that either doesn't have an "early-termination" fee (most do), or they have an "early-out" clause that'll let you try it out to see if it's right for your business. Also, make sure you have enough cash reserves to cover any chargebacks or holds that the processor will most likely inflict upon you. Especially if you fall into a "high-risk" category.

<snipped>

[edited by: lorax at 3:58 am (utc) on Oct. 10, 2009]
[edit reason] promo plug removed [/edit]

[webtress]

One of the sites I work with accepted Paypal only for the first couple of years. In Oct of year 2 we added authorize.net as a additional payment method, the total sales between OCT-DEC for authorize.net was just over the total for Paypal Jan-Oct. Paypal accounts for a very small percentage of their sales now. When given a choice customers seem to go non-paypal mostly.