I am doing a small side project, selling items online and on craigslist locally. I am considering using Paypal, but wondering if there are better free alternatives, maybe with less fee's? Do you think having someone taken away form my site to checkout would deter someone from ordering?
If your looking for less fee's your probably going to run out of luck, PayPal has pretty good rates. Other alternatives could be a merchant account, Google Checkout, AlertPay, etc...
Since paypal is the most used online payment methods it can affect your sales because not many have other payment method. However you can charge including the fees. Other payment good payment method: - Moneybookers.