Taking Payments on Small Business Websites

Taking payments on-line for products and services can be difficult for small business website owners.

If you only have a small number of items using shopping cart software can be overkill and expensive. Some can be difficult to incorporate into your website you also have to use a payment processor to take the payments.

There are plenty of services available but not all are easy to use and charges vary.

So if you only have a few products or services, using PayPal or Google Checkout could be your best, easiest and cheapest option.

PayPal

We have used PayPal to take payments from clients in the UK and other countries for our own services (web services and photo sales) for a few years now. We find it convenient and easy to implement website "Buy" buttons and we set up custom pages on our websites for repeat customers.

We have also used PayPal on a number of websites we have built for our clients and find it particularly good where only a few items are being sold.

With PayPal the money from sales is paid into your PayPal account meaning it is quickly available for on-line purchases if needed. You can then transfer money from PayPal to your bank account when you need it.

Google Checkout

Google Checkout is available for use by UK and US merchants. It offers some similar functions to PayPal and also provides easy to implement "Buy" buttons for products, services and subscriptions.

It differs from PayPal insofar as payments from Google are transferred to your bank account at pre-determined intervals.

Fees are similar to PayPal.

Which to Choose?

• PayPal and Google Checkout each provide ideal options for small business owners with a few items to take payments for on their websites.
   
• They are both cost effective and easy to use.
   
• Both allow you to add more items as you need to and change your pricing easily.
   
• They each also offer the advantage of their brand names as they are instantly recognisable as two of the biggest and most reputable companies operating on-line. This could provide your customers with confidence that their transactions will be as safe and secure as they can be.
   
• Fees are similar between PayPal and Google and both provide some fraud protection.
   
• PayPal provides an advantage - people can pay using money from their PayPal account as an alternative to their credit card.
   
• If you sell products via eBay you have to use PayPal, but on your website you could use either with confidence or you could use both. Offering your clients an alternative could have advantages but means more work for you of course.