Streamlined Shopping Carts
Recently, I've set up or am in the process of setting up four online shopping carts using PayPal as the merchant provider.
Shopping carts set up for, left to right above:
Kitty Cat Loft, Liz Ward Art, Gotta Have It NY, Katie's Modern Rugs
My brilliant designer friend, Tracy Schloss, is the one who put me onto this offering from PayPal. This system is a great way to set up relatively simple online stores. Customers can pay using any major credit card, PayPal or a bank account. Advantages include:
NO up front fees
NO monthly fees
NO higher percentages for using certain credit cards
NO need to obtain a merchant account
NO need to obtain a secure shopping certificate (SSL); you use PayPal's
Merchant accounts are not easy to set up, cost more money and require a difficult approval process. The only negative to this PayPal option is its limited depth, which is part of why it's relatively easy to use. Things such as inventory levels and other nitty gritty details are not within the scope of this setup.
From the designer's end, the programming is simpler than with carts such as Zen Cart, OS Commerce or Miva, all good solutions for more complicated scenarios but much more work. From the vendor's end, the fees and hassle are considerably less. From the customer's end, any payment option carts normally let you use is available. This solution has made quite a few of my clients very happy and has enabled them to offer shopping on their websites when they could not do so with a regular merchant account.