Help wanted

[tony84]

Hi,

I own a shop website which is generating as decent amount of traffic. The problem is the payments go through paypal and not my site. Im wondering if there is anyone who can help me set up a proper shopping cart that looks more professional.

I was looking at worldpay but it looks too expensive for the amount of business im expecting.

Cheers
Tony

 

[Deleted member 27344]

There's your answer. Using anything other than paypal will incur extra charges.
Stick with paypal until the payment systems can easily pay for themselves.

Another option is to join the FSB and take advantage of their cheap payment systems.

 

[tony84]

I think that is stopping people buying though.

I think i would be earning more but i dont want to tak the plunge just yet. I thought three might be something cheaper than worldpay that someone is aware of.

 

[d30web]

Are you sure people are not buying because of paypal ? If paypal is the issue you could look at other alternatives like the google checkout and you offer both payment options.

 

[Deleted member 45239]

We set up an account with Streamline and through them an account with Worldpay on a % with no fees - in other words, if we don't sell anything it doesn't cost us anything.

 

[tony84]

im not 100% sure but people are hitting my site through some quite specific search terms so you would expect atleast the odd sale, im struggling to hit 1% conversion rate.

Imagine i typed in plain white t shirt and i came to your site and you sold a plain white tshirt and your price was very good, you would expect a sale. Thats not happening and i think the reason is down to the fact people have to be registered for paypal or gooogle checkout i want an on site processor but for paypals prices

 

[Moneyman]

i would always have paypal as well. for small purchases (<£50) i just cant be bothered to dig out a card.
http://www.electronic-payments.co.uk/online_payments.jsp
hit the link for all options. bung in price and turnover and find out.

 

[tony84]

cheers for that moneyman. There are companies on there ive never heard of but look to be cheaper.

A lot more options than i imagined i will get my head down and start doing my homework.

Thanks.
And thanks to everyone else, i will still check back to see if anyone else has any other suggestions.

Tony

 

[KateCB]

WE have just offered PayPal as an option - it is horrendously expensive! PayPal harge something like 4% commission (or thereabouts) whereas my merchant account with the bank charge only 1.4%....admittedly I have to pay PROTX £23.50 a month whether i sell anything or not, but generally that isn't a problem!

What is your business - are your keywords generating the right hits, is the site easy to navigate?

Kate

 

[Kev Jaques]

If your using paypal I recommend testing putting in a small thumbnail image of the paypal screen before the user hits the pay now button with a small amount of text saying they will be redirected to paypal, this is what the screen will look like and that they will return back to the site once they have paid.

This way your telling them what to expect and they will not expect anything else other than that, it's reassurance but can help with conversion.
You have to test this! It can increase your conversion but obviously cannot replace a proper eCommerce shopping cart/payment.

And if it helps you convert more, I gladly accept donations
If others use it, please test your conversion rates, I will gladly accept donations from you too

 

[Deleted member 27344]

i think the reason is down to the fact people have to be registered for paypal or gooogle checkout

You don't need to be registered to use Paypal, you do for GC.

 

[cycloneuk]

If you are struggling to hit a 1% conversion rate, then maybe you have other problems. Whats the URL? I would think that a merchant account with your bank and Protx would be much cheaper than PayPal surely.

 

[tony84]

I dont really want to mention the domain in this thread, i dont really understand all the merchant account things.

I might look at 1 of those paid for shops where it costs £x a month, atleast then i can find out if its my site or my products but i really dont think it is the products.

 

[Kev Jaques]

Try my tip, you have nothing to lose and it literally takes 5 mins tops, the key is to measure it.

There are lots of other things that can cause your issues and by looking at it people can help, seems daft not to take them up on that.

 

[Christiane]

I think most businesses who only offered Paypal and then moved on will tell you it's the best thing that they did.
I offer Paypal and card payments using protx. I get less than a third of my customers using Paypal and the rest using card payments.

You said it yourself ''you are afraid to take the plunge''. Do you want your business to grow? Taking risks and chances is part and parcel of doing business. And I think there are far bigger risks than changing from Paypal to protx. Join the FSB, get the cheaper rates from Streamline and sign up with protx.

 

[oz1982]

Mals e commerce
type that into google i think it is still free!!

 

[oz1982]

male ecommerce store will work for you its free
just type it into google

Design your own website

 

[tony84]

Mals ecommerce looks quite good but only paypal and nochex and a few others are free.
Ill give it a try. Any other suggestions?

cheers so far everyone

 

[cycloneuk]

You need to make sure that if you are changing software, all your URL'S stay the same or your traffic will drop like a stone over night. If you are serious then you need a merchant account, not much hassle at all. Once you have your merchant number from which ever bank you choose, you then sign up with Protx and you will be up and running, usually takes around 1 month from start to finish.

 

[rshome]

Try Protx

They are cheaper than Worldpay for online credit card processing, lots of online retailers use it.

Hope this helps.
PS I would give the URL but it won't allow me unless I have posted more than 15 times, sorry !

 

[tony84]

good point, i didnt think of that. I suppose i shouldnt really mess with the software if its getting my items listed quite highly.

I suppose im just going to have to take the plunge.

 

[MayflyInternetMarketing]

Tony,

Are you ONLY based online? If you run a shop that takes CC payments, why not have a SSL certificate on your site and put the payments through manually through a PDQ machine?

 

[tic-tac-toe]

I think i would be earning more but i dont want to tak the plunge just yet. I thought three might be something cheaper than worldpay that someone is aware of.

With Paypal you can have the money in your bank account within a couple of days. WorldPay hold on to your money for around 30 days.

Are you sure people are not buying because of paypal?

The way to find out is take a long hard look at your stats.

im not 100% sure but people are hitting my site through some quite specific search terms so you would expect atleast the odd sale, im struggling to hit 1% conversion rate.

Set up some funnels and see where people are dropping out. Once you've done this it should be clear where the problem lies.

 

[florenceij]

You can use paypal website payment pro this option allows customer fill in payment details on your site while paypal processes the payment behind the scene. It cost £20 a month plus some commission per transaction. This option doesn't require a merchant account and no set up fee is required.

Once you can acquire a merchant account would be cheaper to use services like Protx etc.

I hope this helps