When someone is thinking about start some form of online store, it is important for them to realize how they are going to be accepting payments. There are plenty of different options to choose from when it comes to credit card processing and merchant accounts these days, and the stores that were created in the early days of the Internet did not have things this easy. Anyone who has a decent credit score can setup an online store in a few minutes, and there is no reason to think that some kind of help from a credit card processing company is not going to be needed. At the end of the day, working with PayPal or Google Checkout can be the different between a successful business and a complete failure.
The Benefits of PayPal
PayPal is the recognizable name in credit card processing that everybody knows about. The main reason that so many people already have PayPal accounts is that they probably created those accounts when they purchased something on eBay. eBay actually owns PayPal, but many of the transactions that go through the PayPal system have nothing to do with the online auction website. Accepting PayPal at an online store is basically the best way to accept any kind of payment online. There are a large number of different ways that potential customers can get money into a PayPal account, and they can even convert their local currency to the currency of the business to make the transaction. The only downside of PayPal is that they tend to lock down accounts that they deem to be risky rather quickly without any kind of warning. This can lead to funds being frozen for many months without much explanation coming from the staff at PayPal.
Google Merchant Accounts
If someone just wants to be able to accept credit and debit card payments, then Google Checkout could be the best option. Many people are familiar with the Google name, so there is an extra bit of safety and security that the customer will feel when they checkout through Google. One of the best aspects of Google Checkout is that the customer does not have to trust the online store with their credit card information. The customer will actually be sent to the Google Checkout website when it is time to place their order, and all of the encryption for their credit card data will take place on Google servers.