PayPal may seem like the way to take money online at first glance but there are some problems. Here are three reasons your website needs more than just PayPal when taking payments online.
1. Consumer confidence
When PayPal is the only option for payment on your website it tells would be buyers you're small time. Anyone can get a PayPal account and the world knows this. When I personally see PayPal as the only payment option I get skeptical. It makes me think it could be a fly-by-night operation.
2. PayPal asks users to login
One of the biggest points of friction when it comes to online transactions is logins. Many people have a hard time remembering all their usernames and passwords, especially if they're not using them regularly. When someone goes to checkout with PayPal they'll be asked if they'd like to login to their PayPal account. If they can't remember their username and password or get lost in the process there's a good chance you'll lose the sale.
PayPal does offer payment options that don't prompt their users to login but once again the process navigates you to PayPal's website. Whenever you change websites in the middle of a transaction there's going to be some confusion a certain percentage of your purchasers won't get over. With PayPal your conversion rates will never be as high.
3. PayPal makes it difficult to get your money
In the name of security PayPal requires you to send them a lot of information before you'll ever be able to withdraw your money. It doesn't benefit PayPal if you take your money out of their system , so there's little reason to simplify this process. For the most part you're required to provide a tax ID number, name, phone number, email address, physical address, type of goods sold, photo ID, and verify two random deposits in your bank account. What a hassle.
Not only does PayPal make it difficult to begin withdrawing money but often times they'll freeze your account altogether. Of course they always say this is for your protection. If PayPal doesn't like the type of product you're selling or if you sell something to another user and they complain, or just about any reason they'll freeze your account and you could end up waiting more than six months to get your money.
There's no doubt PayPal creates some challenges when trying to provide a reliable and fluid online buying experience. PayPal is a good option as a backup form of payment acceptance because some people feel more comfortable going that route. To maximize your conversion rates you need to be in control of the checkout experience. The easiest way to do this is with a WebStarts Shopping Cart.
At WebStarts we've partnered with WePay to allow you to begin accepting credit cards directly from your website instantly. All you need to do is sign up for a WebStarts Shopping Cart and start selling. Our integration with WePay allows you to accept payments right away without a lengthy underwriting process. And best of all your purchasers will never have to navigate away from your website and you'll be able to start getting deposits right away.
To sign up for a WebStarts Shopping Cart and start taking payments directly from your website today click here.