It pays to pick the right payment options

You haven’t made a sale until you have the money in your account. Making it easy for your customers to pay online not only improves your cash flow but helps your increase sales.

There are a number of misconceptions about payment options, this article will provide you with an overview of the two most popular payment options used by ezimerchant customers and their associated costs.

PayPal

PayPal was the first true online payment solution, owned by eBay PayPal has grown a large Australian customer base. Merchant's customers have the option to either pay using their PayPal account or credit card.

PayPal is an ideal solution when you are starting out in business as their are not fixed monthly fees.  It is also a convenient option if you do not yet qualify for an internet merchant account with your bank. 

The multi-currency service is great when selling overseas and you want your customers to pay in their local currency.

Even if you already have online credit card facilities with your bank it is worth adding PayPal as an alternative payment option. Reports* show that most merchants gain incremental sales after adding PayPal to their website.

PayPal pricing

Standard PayPal services for domestic transactions are based on transaction volume and range from 2.4% + 30 cents per transaction down to 1.1%  30 cents per transaction. There are no monthly or setup fees, for more information visit PayPal.

Credit Card

Credit cards account for the majority of online sales. Behind each transaction is  a complex network of intermediaries allowing transactions to be transmitted safely put the money into your bank account.

As the owner of an ecommerce business there are two main components of the payment network you have to deal with, the credit card gateway (provided by ezimerchant) and an internet merchant facility (provided by your bank).

Gateway

The credit card gateway encrypts your customers credit card information and transmits it across the payment network, then returns if the payment has been accepted or rejected. The ezimerchant platform has gateway facilities integrated make it simple and easy to setup your credit card facility.

Merchant facilities

To process credit cards you need an internet merchant facility with your bank, this does differ from your EFTPOS and offline credit card facility. Our experience has found that you should allow 4-6 weeks to setup online facility with your bank.

Costs of process credit cards online

Credit card gateway have 3 sets of costs associated with the facility, a setup fee, a monthly fee (this is covered within your monthly fee) and a per transaction charge.

Internet merchant facilities usually have a setup fee, a monthly fee and a per transaction fee hat consists of a fixed and variable component based on the total value of the transaction.

Payment options as your business grows

Most new websites will use PayPal as their sole payment solution, as their business grows   they then add a direct credit card facility. Top merchants know there is value in retaining their PayPal option as they see the value in this payment option.

Setting up the right payment options can help increase your sales and see money in your bank account faster.

* IPSOS - “Eight in Ten (83%) PayPal Merchants Say Sales Have Increased Since Offering Popular Payment Method” March 2011

eCommerce has gone mobile?

The rise and rise of mobile commerce continues to astound most people in the ecommerce and retail sectors. Mobile phones have created and destroyed fortunes in the telecommunications industry and are in the process of doing the same in retail.

The numbers are amazing, just about everybody in the western world has a mobile and the penetration of phones in developing countries is not far behind. 

eBay Australia reports to sell an item every 2 seconds and a vehicle every 8 minutes through a mobile phone. While eBay have developed sophisticated mobile apps there is no doubt all merchants are experiencing higher sales via mobile particularly when they have a mobile friendly site.

PayPal recently reported mobile sales on Black Friday to Cyber Monday increased 196% on the same time last year.


Email is still the key driver of traffic to the mobile, which makes senses as promotional emails to merchants existing customer base drivers most ecommerce sales and most consumers now read the majority of their personal emails on their mobile.

The question for your business is not, if I build a mobile site will they come but how much money am I missing out on everyday by not having a mobile site. So how prepared is your business for the mobile revolution?

ezimerchant provides all version 5 merchants automatically a mobile friendly site. Just like a standard website merchants have the ability to make changes to their mobile site either with the assistance of their developer or ezimerchant.

This rapid mobile sales growth is quickly being surpassed by ecommerce growth activity on tablet devices. I predict that in a few years tablets will be the main device used by consumer to conduct ecommerce. 

As consumers continue to blur the lines between offline and online commerce, being online is not longer good enough. You need to also go mobile.