online natural product business

[brucewayne]

Hi,
I'm thinking of setting up an internet business selling natural products and wondered what people thought was the best payment option, paypal, worldpay etc.
Cheers
John

[RedEvo]

Paypal is gaining more and more respect as it doesn't disclose your cc details to stores. It uses to be a bit 'down market' but I think it's very respectable now.

As PP is free to set up you could offer it and RBSPay or something as well.

d

[wood1e]

I would look at all of them, for ease I would go with Paypal, but Barclays/Streamline I have found to be good.

Netbanx on the other hand....nightmare!!

[The Broker]

Not sure how things have changed but I used to use a company called ProtX

[adiaccounting]

Paypal is the best and easy way for transactions....

[Punched]

Not sure how things have changed but I used to use a company called ProtX

I think Sage have bought them? Called Sagepay now i think??

As with most startups i found that its worth going with paypal to start, with your online store, Most of the freebie stores and nearly all the paid ones have a paypal payment option.

Expensive, as stated by some?? Not really, when your starting off, the easiest way to start taking card and debit payments is paypal.

Later on, when your turnpover increases and you can affod your own Merchant account with your bank, as well as all the monthly fee's and terminal rentals etc.. All this has to come out of your profits, so if your just starting up and make a couple of hundred quid a week in orders, then paypal dosn't sound too bad does it.

Banks are also very particular who they give merchant accounts too, when i first started i was told i hadn't been trading long enough for them to decide, My arguement was if i don't start taking card payments, i may not be lasting long enough to prove to them.

My Site takes about £2,000 - £3,000 a month via paypal, Yes i pay a fee which they take with every transaction, but thats it, once they have their bit, the rest is mine and transfers direct to my bank account in a matter of days.

With my own merchant account, I still have to pay a fee, then perhaps a percentage, as well as any rental charges for the terminals etc..

Been Using Paypal since June 2009, apart from a couple of hiccups, i have no plans to remove them at all, as long as they stick to their side of the agreement then alls fine.

[Designer-J]

Here are some others to consider:

nochex
paypoint
securehosting
skypay
cybersource

Sorry but the forum won't let me post links yet!
You'll also need a shopping cart to admin your products, depending on how many products you plan to sell.

[coe114c]

Paypal is expensive but easy to set up. If you use SagePay (formally Protx) you can integrate Paypal into that but you will need a merchant account. If you join the FSB (Federation of Small Businesses) you can get a merchant account for free (worth more than the joining fee). Make sure you also play one bank off against another to get the best rate, they are not fixed in stone!

[Catka]

I've been researching this one too ... I think PayPal is more "out there" and people are more familiar with it.

[Punched]

I've been researching this one too ... I think PayPal is more "out there" and people are more familiar with it.

Paypal have been great for me, but after 6 months, and with many customers expecting to phone up and place credit card orders, i feel that a merchant account is the next stage.