Taking online/offline payments & Paypal merchant acc

[toddmeister]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking at setting up an online store as a sideline to my full time job. I'll probably be using a platform such as Shopify. My orders will mainly be online but I would like the option to take manual payments if customers don't want to order through my site.

Initially to keep things simple I'm looking at using Paypal to take payments (I realise their fees aren't the best). Also initially the sideline will be run as a sole trader with a view to going limited if it takes off. I just have a couple if queries about how a merchant account works.

Do I need to have a business bank account for PayPal to deposit payments or can they initially be paid into my personal account?

Will PayPal need a company reg number etc to approve a business account? Obviously being sole trader I won't have one

Do they have a facility to take payments "offsite"? I noticed they have a card reader for £69, how would that work?

Sorry for the naive questions

Thanks





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[toddmeister]

Can anyone advise on this please?

Thank you


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[dx3webs]

Start as you mean to go on.. get a business account setup. Keep you business funds separate to your personal funds (even though as a sole trader they are one and the same)

Setting up a business bank account will help you establish all the paper work you will need to setup a merchant account in the future. For now stick with paypal. They wont require any real info to get started. Just open an account and opt for a business account when they ask

 

[toddmeister]

Thanks DX3. I've looked at PayPal and it looks easy enough to either upgrade my current personal account to business or just create a new business account with them.


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[fisicx]

Create a new business acount. That way you can still use your personal account for private purchases.

And with a business account you can personalise your paypal page, use IPN and sorts of other funky things.

Is there a reason you want to use shopify? I know it's easy to set up and manage but there are many more ways to set up your own store, all of which mean you aren't tied to one compnay for the rest of your life.

 

[toddmeister]

To be honest I'm looking at Shopify, and other "out of the box" platforms to keep it simple as not the most techy person in the world.

I thought about doing something with wordpress & woo commerce or similar (I already have a hostimg account which I use to run a blog) but I just thought using something like shopify would allow me to get the store up and running more quickly


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[fisicx]

You could have a working wordpress site up and running woocommerce in under an hour. If you have the product info ready you can import it straing to the shop. Admin is no more difficult than shopify.

Most people I know using shopify get frustrated at the lack of flexibility and the extra costs needed to add new features. With WP+Woo once you have paid for a theme or a couple of extensions your only ongoing costs is hosting.

 

[toddmeister]

Thanks again. I'll have a look at the wordpress options too

Thank you


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[LancashireLad]

If you intend to take payments over the phone then stay well clear of PayPal. In the event of charge back you are not covered by PayPal protection even if you can demonstrate that that you delivered to the address provided by the customer. Basically there is no address match checking service or fraud protection checks in place like there are with for example Sage Pay.