Merchant account vs. PayPal

I would keep your MA because of the control that gives you.

Before I had a PayPal account I was very very annoyed at companies that only accepted PP. I never bought from them because I didn't want to bother setting up an account that I figured I'd only use once.

I finally set up a PP account but still don't use it very much.

Stick with the MA because then you can still allow people to pay via PP but you cover those that don't have a PP account.

I switched from paypal to MA pretty early on. My sales definitely went up. I had a handful of customers uncomfortable with paypal and thus lost sales. I also think you "appear" more professional accepting credit cards on your site vs routing customers to paypal.

How much did it cost you to set up your MA? Did you do it through your existing bank, or from an internet-based bank or company?

Any good MA companies you can recommend. I know I'm missing a ton of sales because I don't directly accept credit cards, but just didn't do the volume to justify it...now I think the increased volume from being able to accept cc is worth it...

Any suggestions, especially for a reputable company would be helpful to me.
Thanks...

I went though my bank, Wells Fargo...What shopping cart do you use? A lot of times, they have done deals with merchants.

Right this minute I don't have a shopping cart installed--almost all of my items are one-of-a-kind hand crafted items and it is a lot of work to edit the shopping cart each time for one-time use. I had paypal on my items, but every time I set them up with the paypal shopping cart, I don't sell anything. I think it turns people off!! It could be coincidence, but my husband has a separate business and he tracks his stuff very carefully frequently people fill up the paypal cart and don't complete the transaction.

I do better when people just email me directly requesting items.

My husband is an internet "guru" and was going to write our own secure shopping cart program, but maybe I should look into using one that is connected with merchant services instead...

any suggestions there???

Mals-e offers a free cart. They have a relationship with Truscommerce that is a decent deal.

I just switched to the Mals-e cart and like it alot. I was paying alot for my previous cart, and it wasn't worth it.

I just use propay for cc's.......less fees than a traditional merchant account (no monthly service fees), and a good deal as long as you aren't selling more than 1K - 3K a month.

Good Luck!