Accept Credit Cards Online Through an Online Payment Processor

If you are not ready to set up your own credit card merchant account and/or you want to offer additional online payment options, you can turn to a variety of third party, online payment processors.

An online payment processor provides ways for you to accept credit cards and other payments online without the extra cost and obligation of a merchant account. To compensate, transaction fees for the third party processors are significantly higher than for merchant accounts.

Each program is a little different and no single online payment processor is right for all situations. Clickbank, for example, helps you accept credit cards and online checks for downloadable, digital products. CCNow, on the other hand, is a payment processor for only online tangible items.

Deciding Which Online Payment Processor is Right for You

This site can help you through the decision of how to accept credit cards online and suggest resources to consider. You will find pros and cons associated with each choice, questions to ask before signing on, and potential pitfalls.

Whether you accept credit cards online through an Internet merchant account, through an online payment processor, or both, read all agreements carefully before committing. Do not hesitate to ask a payment processor / provider questions if you find that information is unclear or incomplete. Doing so can help you avoid costly or time-consuming mistakes.

Popular Online Credit Card Processors

As with any product or service, there are both advantages and disadvantages to each option. Each online payment processor has its own characteristics which may or may not fit your needs. To help you decide how you will accept credit cards online, I explain each of three generally popular online payment provider programs - 2checkout.com, PayPal, and Clickbank.

Merchant Accounts - Like Cardservice International (just below) - Are an Alternative to Online Credit Card Processors:

Note from Bobette Kyle, the person behind Take-Payments-Online.com.

I have singled out 2checkout.com, PayPal, and Clickbank as mentionable payment processors for three reasons:

(1) I currently use all three to accept credit cards online and, overall, have been pleased with these online payment services.
(2) All three have been around a while and have a large customer base.
(3) Because I am a client of each, I am in a better position to understand pros and cons of these specific online payment processors.

After researching various options, I chose these three processors to help me accept credit cards online because they each offer a little different type of service. Each seems most appropriate for different types of online payments and in different situations:

• 2checkout.com is the online payment processor for my HowMuchForSpider.com Web site. I sell a blend of digital and tangible products on the site, so 2checkout.com's versatility makes it easy for me to accept credit cards online regardless of product type.

• Clickbank has a good built-in affiliate program with a wide range of payment processing options. This was a good "starter" affiliate program for my How Much For Just the Spider? target marketing and Website promotion manual.

• PayPal is a good "back-up" payment processor, useful for accepting or sending miscellaneous credit card or checking account payments, or as an additional customer payment option (Sometimes online customers prefer to pay with PayPal because they already have an account, are comfortable with making payments that way, and/or they have a balance in their account). PayPal is also a handy way to accept credit cards online when you give a temporary discount or special price to a specific group of people.

Follow the links above to read advantages and drawbacks ( as I see them) to accepting credit cards online through each online payment processor. You can also view fee structures, transaction types accepted, and how to get more information about each.

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