[thelist] Alternatives to PayPal

[Sales @ Lycosa]

>I'm trying to take a payment of £531 and the first paypal page I see is 
login, no option to just pay by card without an account. 

Is that because it's over £500, or did the merchant opted for paypal account
holders only?

Imho, paypal is useful because it is free to sign up, easy to use, and
pretty much ubiquitous. Ebay is very popular, and I would say a large
portion of the active online buying community understand paypal and are
comfortable using it. I think it makes people feel safe, as they are not
entering their credit cards into an unknown system, and that they have some
comeback from paypal if things go wrong. I'm not saying it *is* safer, but
imho it does make people *feel* safer.

I have customers who use both paypal and Protx (who are excellent, and very
cheap, btw), although you need a merchant account for Protx. This gives
people the option, and avoids the issue with the paypal £500 limit. Giving
customers the option of 2 payment providers also creates a good impression,
that you care about your customers and will do all you can to make it easy
for them to buy.

This can work the other way, also. For those who have a secpay, protx,
worldpay, etc payment methods and have snubbed paypal as being too common,
or whatever, I have anecdotal evidence that adding paypal as an additional
payment method can help increase sales. I personally purchased some software
online, and the payment screen showed a third party payment processor. My
credit card was in my wallet downstairs, and as I was in two minds about
purchasing the software, I thought 'forget it, I can't be bothered'. Then I
scrolled down to find paypal as an alternative. As it was only £20 or
something, I thought 'oh, go on, then'. They made an extra sale just by
having the paypal option.

Giving people choice (including snail mail) can make a difference to your
bottom line.

Phil