It’s an achievement whenever a visitor to your site likes what they see enough to make a purchase but frustrating for them on reaching the checkout only to discover that the only payment options on offer is by cheque or via BACs.
Amazingly, there are still some businesses albeit smaller and possibly home-run enterprises that only accept cheques and occasionally others where bank transfers are the only way in which a customer can pay for their purchases; neither way is very practical any more especially if the website in question is a busy one sales-wise.
More often than not, for many smaller online businesses PayPal is perhaps the favoured option because it’s fairly easy to obtain and allows traders to have a basic payment gateway up and running in a very short space of time although PayPal now also have systems that lets online businesses accept payment via credit and debit cards as well.
As most shoppers prefer to pay using a credit or debit card, websites that don’t cater for these potential buyers could and probably already are losing a significant amount of business.
Of course for some businesses, securing other payment options such as Visa and Mastercard isn’t always easy or straightforward because of the need to obtain merchant accounts; something that isn’t always as quick, straightforward or hassle-free as you’d expect.
However, there are growing numbers of payment gateway providers offering payment processing services who are now making it much easier than it once was to take online payments. There are obviously commission charges to consider before you choose and they vary from company to company but a good look around for the best deals should be very worthwhile.
Aside from the limitations for online buyers and the effect it could have on sales, many visitors are likely to view a single payment option or indeed the inability to accept any online payment as being rather amateur; an opinion that in most cases isn’t deserved but unfortunately practically unavoidable when encountered. Nevertheless, website owners currently offering only one method of payment would do well to rectify the situation as early as possible.
Until next time.
