To PayPal or not to PayPal

[irbk]

Going to need to create a shopping cart for my webstie. Debating about if I should use PayPal or develop my own cart.

If I use PayPal, they do the security, they process the credit card and all I have to do is pass the the right information in the button.

However, I've been told by another web dev professional that PayPal looks unprofessional at best and shady at worst. Plus with PayPal pressuring customers into becoming members, it can be a real "turn off". He also told me about one client that he had that more then half of the customers who put stuff in here cart cancelled when they got to PayPal to pay.

If I don't use PayPal, I have to write my own shopping cart (not that big of a deal) but also do all the CC transaction stuff by setting up a merchant account with someone, etc...

So, as the subject says, to PayPal or not to PayPal? What are your thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[Foamcow]

I've been told by another web dev professional that PayPal looks unprofessional at best and shady at worst.

Without knowing you from "Adam" and possibly not knowing the brand of the site either I, as a member of the public, are much more likely to trust a PayPal transaction than some unknown.
Wouldn't you?

Maybe they cancelled because it was the type of Paypal account that required the customer to also be a Paypal customer?
Then again, perhaps it's a misconception on the customer's behalf that they need to be a Paypal member.
If you sign up for a merchant account with Paypal then the customer can pay via normal credit/debit card without opening a Paypal account.
Using Paypal in this way is no different from using a merchant account from a Bank. In fact some banks (HSBC for example) take the customer off your site to do the actual transaction anyway.

If you choose to build it yourself be prepared for the responsibility of making the system absolutely watertight. Actually, be prepared for the moment someone breaches your security. And as I mentioned, if you use any kind of payment processor then it is possible you will need to hand over to them for the actual transaction to occur anyway.



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[irbk]

I understand that they don't need to be paypal customers and they can pay via a normal credit card just like using any other account.
I agree with you and, as I told the web dev,

"I'd think that the "paypal" name/cart would put more people at "ease" because it's a big trustworthy (if anything on the internet can be trustworthy) name"

I've also asked this person if they moved from paypal to a different provider and once moved to a different provider if the stats changed. I trust this person but when one option (using paypal) seems to really outweigh the other (not using paypal) I'd want some pretty hard evidence that not using it is a more professional choice... then again, I've seen several websites out there that use paypal and I never felt it was real unprofessional....

 

[johnwm]

As a consumer I'm a LOT happier buying from a PayPal payment site than from a site with a 'home-grown' card processor. From a developer view I've found the support and backup from Paypal to be excellent, their code generally works, and the sandbox testing facilities are vital.

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[Wullie]

I use Paypal on both the buyer and seller side and personally I have very little problems with it, I am more likely to buy from a site that uses Paypal than a site that accepts cards directly.

With Paypal, you know that the company does not have direct access to the card details, they cannot bill you for anything or any amount without your consent and you can stop payments at any time. If they have your card details, you are trusting them with full access to the funds in your bank account.

As for people going through the process and then cancelling, this is something that will happen no matter what. Remove Paypal, accept credit cards only and you will have people who want to use Paypal cancelling when they realise they can't use it.

You will always have people cancelling for one reason or another anyway, this is just the same as you will have people walking towards the checkout in a real store and then putting the item back and walking out. The reasons for this you will never know, but it will still happen.

Hope this helps

Wullie

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[Kjonnnn]

Never had a problem with Paypal, nor any of my purchasers. Paypal pretty well known and affordable. Some of the other processing fees of other company are kinda high.

 

[irbk]

Seems like I getting a lot of "yea"s and not a single "nea" in sight!

 

[ChrisHunt]

more then half of the customers who put stuff in here cart cancelled when they got to PayPal

The paypal thing may be a red herring. I've been to sites - and I'm sure you have - where you don't get the full low-down on postage costs etc. until you've loaded up your cart and got some way into the paying process. Maybe that's why 50% drop out?

I can't speak with any personal experience in this area, but it seems sensible to me to start off using PayPal - since it's relatively cheap and easy to set up - and only consider alternatives if you're getting high drop-out rates.


-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[irbk]

Very true Chris. Not sure if this was the issue or not but it is a good point to consider.