Or do you? Whole groups of people are swearing on Paypal, so can you use this instead?
There are groups like clickbank.com and paypal.com who appear to be able to take transactions for you, the rumour of Google entering this marketplace has also created a stir.
Anyway, why would one need an online or internet merchant account?
Merchant accounts and processing gateways are Internet services that enable online processing of credit cards. Online merchant accounts are variations of the traditional credit card processing used by retail stores and phone order houses. A business must qualify for merchant account; each provider has a different set of requirements.
So, why can't Paypal alone, which is internationally recognized and used by millions, fill the gap for you?
For some it might, but for most itsimply can't.
There may be 78 million or more users who have access to Paypal and who may or may not have any funds in their paypal account but lets not overly dwell on this latter point.
Of the 700 million users who surf the internet, depending on your native language or demographics it is quite likely that only 1 in 10 have a paypal account and of that number perhaps less than 35% are maintaining a sizable balance in their paypal accounts.
Why, would we presume this? Because if Paypal accounts are used in a similar way to credit card accounts, there is rarely ever a positive balance on a credit card - in fact, this phrase written on any media even sounds a little strange.
What this means to you as a marketer who uses only PayPal as their merchant account gateway is that for every 10 potential customers that are seriously interested in your product, perhaps less than 1 will actually buy though there was interest on the part of 10.
This example is not scientific and there are other ways of collecting money online such as online checks, however they all have the same types of problems as PayPal, in that, at this time, relying exclusively on those services can cut off a large part of your market.
So, why do you need an internet merchant account?
Between Visa and MasterCharge the credit card industry has spent Billions of dollars in brand name recognition and has managed to get a very significant number of the 6-700 Million online browsing population to accept one or more of their cards.
Even those that don't have a credit card will attempt to either borrow one or use a Visa or MasterCard Debit Card which provides much the same service.
Of course, there are other credit card issuers too such as Amex and Switch.
So an internet merchant account becomes a necessity as this will be your primary gateway to the majority of your customer base.
Get an inexpensive Internet Merchant account here, and start pulling in money from your friends right away - lol.
P.S.
To its credit, Paypal does have an internal facility wherein a non paypal user can use a Visa or MasterCard to pay for a purchase, however this facility is not always clear to a user, and all too frequently its a user's perception that really counts.
