PayPal vs. Credit Card Transactions?

Hey everyone, this is my first post to these forums, but I am a long time reader. I didn't want to add my 2 cents when I couldnt add anything valuable. To the q:

I am starting a service that will be offered through an Affiliate program. I was wondering if once you were to go to the site, and want the service, if having Paypal as the sole payment option is a major deterrent to finishing the transaction. I know that having credit card transactions is a definate plus in this regard, but how do you view a site/service that lacks this option? I am aware that many people do not like using Paypal, but how much weight does this opinion have? Does the service weigh more in the minds of potential customers, or payment options?

Thanks a lot!

 

My advice - Paypal is a must have, the main reason being that many people view their Paypal money as "play money" and psychologically give themselves permission to spend it easier than normal cash.

You have to AT LEAST have Paypal in my opinion, but also offer alternatives like 2checkout, check in the mail, western union, etc. It depends what you are selling of course, but keep Paypal as an option.

 

Thats a very interesting way of looking at it.

Has anyone ever noticed a larger number of order adandonments while they were not offering credit cards as a payment option on their affiliate sites?

 

What is the service?

If you are selling to webmasters/techies then you would be crazy not to use paypal because almost every webmaster has a paypal account.

If you are selling to the general public then accept credit cards (or both)

Andrew

 

Yaro is right on the money. Even I find I am more likely to buy something with the "extra" money all the affiliate programs keep putting in my PayPal account.

I prefer to register domains, purchase services and shop with merchants who let me use PayPal. Another reason why my traffic exchange accepts PayPal.

 

I don't think seniors would use paypal much, they would probably stick with credit cards.

 

Hi.

Andrew you are right. But if i want to sell services to webmasters and i can't use paypal do you think using the credit card way is an issue ? I mean do you think i will have the same ammount of sells ?

Thanks.

 

I must admit my sales have dropped considerably since I stopped accepting cc payments and opted for Paypal. I dropped it due to me being a victim of fraud. Cost me $4g's

 

Hi, I’m new to this forum but I’ve also been reading with interest for a while now. I have to agree with Yarow on this. I know first hand that adding paypal as an additional payment option is a must. People do view paypal money as play money, our company has profited greatly since introducing paypal to our platform. Prior to this we were using reversed billed SMS as our only payment method we have found that about 30% of our business now goes through paypal! I think it’s particularly effective for lower value purchases like ringtones. JesterMagic is also correct when he says that it’s not as popular with seniors. From our point of view it’s also a good payment mechanism in terms of cash flow. I think people trust Paypal especially those that use E-bay. Customers are happier to pay for goods using a service that they have already registered their payment details with, rather than giving out their information over and over again. If the customer is already registered with Paypal when they hit your site then impulse purchases are far more likely as customers know it’s a simple process to make the payment.

 

Yea, paypal is definately a must.

 

for one, most people have/use it. And it is easy, 2 clicks and $ is sent.

 

Keep Paypal as your first option for the same reason mentioned by Yaro. Adding Paypal has increased conversion rates for some of my websites.