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PayPal: The Granddaddy Of Online Sales Transactions
By Merle ©
2005
PayPal
makes it easy for anyone to take payments over the Net with no need for
a merchant account. If you've been hesitant to start your online business
because you thought you couldn't afford your own merchant account, PayPal
is all you
really need. What
that means to you is lower fees and a level playing field.
I love PayPal. They've been doing business online almost as long as
I have, and they're constantly improving and adding new features to their
service.
According to their website ( http://PayPal.com ), they have over
63 million accounts and more than 53,000 people who sign up for new access
every
day. They deal in transactions totaling over $48 million per day.
There are three
types of accounts:
- Personal: For
your personal shopping use. You cannot accept debit or credit card
payments, but
sending and receiving money is free.
- Premier: For buying
and selling under your own name. Send payments for free, with low fees
for accepting
money.
- Business: This
is perfect for your online business. Add your own name to be included
on your customer's credit card statements. Sending
money is free, but you are charged small fees to accept payments.
There
are no set up fees and the fee you pay PayPal when accepting cash is based
on your sales volume for the month.
- Standard Rate: $0
to $3,000 - pay 2.9% and .30 per transaction
- Merchant Rate: $3,000
to $10,000 - 2.5% and $.30 per transaction $100,000 and up - 1.9% and
$.30 per transaction.
To apply for the merchant
rate, you'll have to have one month of sales that meet the ranges above
and fill out a short application to get approved.
Many of the options I'm going to
point out to you are for "business accounts" only, so you'll want to go that
route when registering or upgrade your current account to that
level.
Paypal has added so many new features over the years, it's hard to
keep up with just how powerful it is. I'm amazed every day at the
variety
of features that can make your life as an online entrepreneur run
as smooth as
silk.
Let's take a look at
some of these options:
- Shopping
Carts: If you sell multiple items on your site, PayPal has a built
in shopping cart. Just copy and paste their buttons for an instant
store
front. No
third party software needed.
- Subscriptions/Recurring
Payments: If you sell a service that needs to be paid for monthly,
you can set up this
type
of payment option on your site. This is great for trial periods and
membership
sites.
- Donations: Maybe you
don't sell anything, but you have a very informative site or newsletter.
A PayPal button suggesting your
readers
make a donation is one way to help defray your costs.
- Optional
PayPal Accounts: One of the drawbacks to using PayPal used to be
your buyer had to register for their own PayPal account. This is no
longer true
and you
can select
in your control panel to make it optional, not mandatory.
- Customized
Payment Pages: You can add your website colors and logo to PayPal's
payment pages. You can create and save up to three different
page styles for a
seamless check out process.
- Logo
Center: If you accept
PayPal on your site you'll want to add logos to your website letting
the
world
know. You'll find many shapes and sizes to use.
- Invoicing: Send your customers detailed invoices via email. You can include
detailed line items,
descriptions, tax and more. You can save up to 10 customized
invoices for
later billing purposes.
- Payment
Request Wizard: Did you know you can add payment buttons to your Outlook and Outlook
Express
messages? This
is
a quick and easy way to get paid faster.
- PayPal
Debit Card: If you have a PayPal account you'll want to get a debit card
to go with it
so you can easily access your funds at at any ATM.
The card
has a
Mastercard logo so
you can go shopping
and the money will come out of your PayPal balance.
You can also use it to draw
out cash from your account up to $400.00 per day. You'll
also earn
1.5% cashback on your purchase.
- Refunds: Anytime you
receive a payment, you can easily refund it by clicking a button
up to 60 days
after
the sale.
- Mass
Pay: Easily send
payments to large groups of people. This would be an easy way to pay
your affiliates
if
you run your
own affiliate
program.
- Packing
Slips: If you
sell hard goods you can create packing slips for your shipments.
- Shipping
Calculator: Easily add shipping costs for your "buy it now" buttons
or your PayPal shopping cart items.
- Seller
Protection Policy: If you meet their guidelines
you can protect yourself from liability and
PayPal will
absorb
the chargeback
at no cost to
you. Covers up
to
$5,000 on any fraudulent transaction and
is for tangible goods only.
- Auto
Return: You set
the url for your buyers to come back to after they make their payments.
Great
for
setting up
your download
page
for what they
purchased
and makes for instant delivery.
eBay Tools
Since eBay
also owns PayPal, they've also integrated some pretty cool tools
for eBay
Sellers:
- End
of Auction Emails: When your auction ends, wouldn't
it be nice if you could send a customized
email
with
all of
the details
included
automatically?
Now you
can. This is great for putting nervous
buyers at ease when they are waiting
to hear
from you.
- Auction
Logos: If you
want to offer an option in your eBay listings so
buyers can
pay you
directly you
can
manually add
a
PayPal logo to do so.
- Post
Sale Manager: If you sell many items on eBay it can be a full
time
job tracking
it all.
With PayPal
Post
Sale
Manager you
can easily
manage invoices, shipments, and
feedback on everything you sell.
- Shipping
Center: USPS and UPS have teamed
up with PayPal to offer you integrated
service
in one location.
Calculate
shipping
costs,
print shipping
labels, track
shipments and much more.
- Buyer
Financing: Add promotional financing to your "big ticket" items
so your eBay buyers can more
easily afford to purchase
with monthly payments. Buyers are
approved within 30 seconds
and you get paid
your full price immediately.
- eBay
Gift Certificates: Send eBay Gift certificates
to your
friends
and family
so they can buy anything
on eBay as long as
the
seller
accepts
PayPal.
As you can see, PayPal
is all you need to run your
online
business. If you
thought all
you could do was accept
or send payments, you're missing
out
on the powerful
features that
makes PayPal
the
perfect business partner
for any
entrepreneur. And as partners
go, that's one thing
you can both agree
on.
About the Author:
| "Must Have Marketing
Resources" Ebook by Merle is loaded with VALUABLE online resources you need to
know about, when it comes to running your web business. Get your copy now at ...
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