"I need to find a quick and inexpensive way to have my clients go to my site and purchase my photos with their credit card. Marisa help me!! How do I do this so it doesn't cost me a bundle?".

This was part of a telephone conversation I had this week with a good friend of mine. You see he has a flourishing photography business and one of his clients asked him if he had an online photo album where he could view and ultimately purchase his photos online. My anxious friend doesn't have a merchant account yet nor does he have a secure server to be able to handle credit card transactions. I told him not to despair. There is a perfect solution for his predicament. It is called Paypal.

Founded in 1998, Paypal, an eBay Company, enables any individual or business with an email address to securely, easily and quickly send and receive payments online. It is available in 45 countries and is used by over 56 million online buyers worldwide.

When you signup for Paypal, you can start accepting credit card payments instantly. Best of all, it's completely free to sign up! Paypal charges the merchant ~2.9% of the money received. You would have to visit their website for full details. There are no setup fees or monthly fees as you would by having an internet merchant account.  You are then notified via email when someone sends a payment via Paypal.

When a client chooses to pay by Paypal at your website, they can use a major credit card, or pay with funds they may already have in their Paypal account. You then access the money whenever you want by withdrawing it from your account. Paypal offers many withdrawal options including electronic bank transfer or cheque.

Paypal just got even better!

In the past if you had Paypal as a payment option and your clients did not have an account open, they had to set one up in order to do business with you. Personally, I had an issue with this since it should be easy for someone who wants to give you money, to do so effortlessly. The last thing you want is to drive a potential client away because it is inconvenient for them! Now that's all changed. For new buyers, signing up for a Paypal account is now optional. This means your clients can complete their payments first, by using their credit card and then decide whether to save their information in a Paypal account for future purchases.

What I absolutely adore is their shopping cart capability. You can create as many product/service items as you like. Integration to your website is quite easy since they provide you with all the necessary codes and instructions you need.

Needless to say, my photographer friend was so relieved and happy to see that such an inexpensive way of doing business online exists. His shopping cart and items were set up in two shakes of a lamb's tale. He is ready for his clients now! The only click he wants to hear is from his clients visiting his online catalogue searching to buy his photos.

Click here if you are interested in signing up for your free Paypal account. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about Paypal.

To your continued success!

 

About the Author
Marisa Ramondo is a web consultant and founder of Alexram Internet Services, where her mission is to help small businesses establish themselves successfully on the Internet. Be sure to visit her website to find out how she can help your business to succeed at AlexramInternetServices.com.