Do you find yourself baffled and stressed out trying to decide which payment processor to use for your website and accepting payments?
With so many choices available on the market, I thought I’d share some thoughts about what I recommend to my clients…so here we go, in no particular order…and this list is in no way inclusive – there are many ecommerce solutions on the market.
- PayPal – it’s easy, it’s widely accepted and it integrates with almost anything. Fees associated with PayPal are taken on each transaction and are about 3%. PayPal offers a card swiper as well as the ability to pay online, send invoices, etc. PayPal support offers phone, email and community support.
- Square – becoming more popular, it’s quietly becoming more and more robust. Initially they accepted payments only, then they integrate a store, the ability to do invoices and recently, I understand, they are offering the ability to pay your employees / team. Square offers a card swiper and one common complaint I’ve heard is in relation to their customer service – it’s basically non-existent.
- 1ShoppingCart – it’s a bit more robust, offers email marketing as well as shopping cart (sometimes called ecommerce) and the option for affiliate management. It’s a good tool to use if you’ve got a list of less than 5000. They have varying pricing, so check out the packages and what you need before investing. Prices range from $59-249/month.
- InfusionSoft – much more robust, this software is very versatile in it’s offerings and also does email marketing, ecommerce and affiliate management. Ideally, I recommend clients who are either at 5000 or more on their list or if they’re bringing in $10K a month or more. The setup is what will be the costly upfront investment, and I highly recommend having your stuff set up by peeps that know what they’re doing (we do!). 🙂 Pricing ranges from $199-599 a month.
- Ontraport – A newer product on the scene, Ontraport is very closely rivaling InfusionSoft – and depending on your likes / dislikes, I have found that clients strongly prefer one versus the other. Same recommendations as InfusionSoft users – this one is for those who are either at 5000 or more on their list or if they’re bringing in $10K a month or more. Same here with set up. Monthly expense is between $297-597.
- WP eStore – There is a free version and a paid version of this plugin for your WordPress site and it’s fairly user friendly. There are lots of help and support videos available if you get stuck. I find this a great “starting out” product. There’s some creativity in how you can display payment options, etc. In the paid version, they offer free upgrades to their software forever, so you’ll always have access to the latest version.
So the thing about picking a shopping cart is whether or not it plays nice with all of your other stuff. One way I recommend finding out what your cart is capable of is looking for third party integrations as well as doing a Google search to find out if it’s compatible with your existing X, Y, Z software, etc.
The other thing to remember is if you’re using a system like 1ShoppingCart, InfusionSoft or Ontraport, there needs to be a merchant account in place. The merchant account is the interface from your store front shopping cart where people pay, to you getting the money in your bank account. And yes, in some instances PayPal can be the merchant account. In my opinion, if you’re upping your game and investing in a bigger shopping cart tool, invest in a merchant account. In the end, you’ll have more versatility and ability to do more with it.
I hope you found this post helpful, I welcome you to share your comments below. 🙂