Paypal vs. Shopping cart

[Anna Conlan]

I am not sure if this belongs in here or in the other thread on technology, but anyway...

I don't understand the benefits of putting a shopping cart on my website vs Paypal. Someone told me that the shopping cart does the same job as Paypal, except you have to pay twice (as you have to pay Paypal as well as the shopping cart), so it's best to stick with Paypal. Do I have this right?

Thanks,

Anna

[Liveformx64]

It really depends on what you are selling, and who you are selling it to?

I think paypal is great for my information products.

But for tangible goods, at large quantities Paypal can be limiting.

[Anna Conlan]

Thanks for your reply.

I am selling services, not products.

If anyone can tell me what the benefits are of the shopping cart, that would be helpful. I can't actually see any, but there must be some because not everyone uses Paypal...

[seeker5]

Originally Posted by Anna Conlan

If anyone can tell me what the benefits are of the shopping cart, that would be helpful. I can't actually see any, but there must be some because not everyone uses Paypal...

I for one refuse to sign up for Paypal. I had signed up a family relative a good number of years for some minor transactions. After I read all the bad things associated with paypal and not needing the account anymore, I decided to cancel the account. It was extremely hard, had to go through a bunch of hoops. After spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to close it, I ended not being able to close the account, and so I resorted to removing the stored credit card information. For a number of years afterward (and maybe still to this date), I still get a yearly email from paypal to update the status of the account.

So, that experience left me pretty dismayed with paypal, there's no way I'm willing to open an account of my own.

So, I don't buy from people whose only option is paypal. I had to send a check to someone on this forum whose coaching I used because they only had paypal, and if Erin Pavlina required me to have paypal, I'd never have gotten a reading from her.

Now I'm assuming you're talking about requiring payment from users through paypal. If you're using the merchant version of paypal where the user doesn't have to sign up for paypal, then forget what I said. I'd still use it as long as I myself don't have to sign up for a paypal account.

[Liveformx64]

It really boils down to your transaction rates per month.

Over a 100, and you may want to look into something like authorize.net

We use this company for one of our clients, and it is efficient, and easy to integrate into your site.

I still think Paypal gets my vote because of the mutual buyer/seller protection. They do hold your payment in escrow in the event of a dispute, but if you have a legitimate business with legitimate products you will never have to worry about losing your money. In my 5 years of doing this, I have never lost a dime to a dispute.

My final word of advice is, under 100 transactions per month stick with Paypal merchant services. If you go over, you may want to start seeking other options.

Good luck!

[FuzzyLogic]

We have a website that offers both. The advantage to a merchant account is that it adds a layer of credibility. Depending on the bank and your volume, you can also negotiate fees (something you can't do with PayPal that I know of). Having said that, we also offer PayPal as an option for those people who seem to prefer it.